Automating WinRAR Archive Creation with CLI: Keep Command Prompt Open

Abstract: Learn how to keep the command prompt open while creating big archives using WinRAR CLI in Windows.

Created: 2024-02-03 by UserComp.com Editors

Automating WinRAR Archive Creation using CLI: Keep Command Prompt Open

In this article, we will discuss how to automate the creation of WinRAR archives using the command line interface (CLI) and keeping the command prompt open throughout the process. This can be useful when creating large archives that take a long time to complete, as it allows you to monitor the progress of the archive creation.

Prerequisites

Before we begin, make sure you have the following:

WinRAR installed on your Windows machine
Basic understanding of the command prompt

WinRAR Command Line Interface

WinRAR provides a command line interface that allows you to create and extract archives from the command prompt. The basic syntax for creating an archive using the command line interface is:


winrar.exe a output\_path input\_path

Where:

winrar.exe: the WinRAR executable file
a: the switch to add files to an archive
output\_path: the path to the output archive file
input\_path: the path to the input file or folder

Keeping the Command Prompt Open

By default, the command prompt will close once the WinRAR process has completed. To keep the command prompt open, you can use the start command with the /wait switch. This will start the WinRAR process and wait for it to complete before closing the command prompt.


start /wait winrar.exe a output\_path input\_path

Example

Here is an example of how to use the command line interface to create a WinRAR archive and keep the command prompt open:


start /wait winrar.exe a C:\archive\example.rar C:\data\example

This command will create a new WinRAR archive named example.rar in the C:\archive folder, using the files in the C:\data\example folder as input.

In this article, we have discussed how to automate the creation of WinRAR archives using the command line interface and keeping the command prompt open throughout the process. This can be useful when creating large archives that take a long time to complete, as it allows you to monitor the progress of the archive creation.

References

Tags: WinRAR CLI Windows Tech Support

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