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Quick start

Create, list, test and extract an archive in four commands.

Last updated

Four commands cover almost everything. Each one prints a single summary line when it’s done.

  1. Create an archive

    Terminal
    arca create photos.zip ~/Pictures/trip/

    The format comes from the extension. The summary looks like this:

    Output
    photos.zip: 412 files, 1.8 GB -> 1.7 GB (4.1% smaller) in 2.114 s · 871 MB/s · 16 threads

  2. Look inside

    Terminal
    arca list photos.zip

    One line per entry: size, method, ratio and name. Nothing is extracted.

  3. Check it

    Terminal
    arca test photos.zip

    Every CRC is verified, and nothing is written to disk.

  4. Extract it

    Terminal
    arca extract photos.zip -o trip/

    .zip archives are extracted in parallel, one entry per thread.

Short aliases

CommandAliasExample
createcarca c out.zip src/
listlarca l out.zip
extractxarca x out.zip -o dest/
testtarca t out.zip

Formats come from the extension

ExtensionFormat
.zipZIP, with Zip64 when needed
.tarustar TAR
.tar.gz · .tgzTAR inside a gzip stream
.tar.xz · .txzTAR inside an XZ stream
.xzOne file in an XZ stream, with no container

Any other extension is refused with an error that lists the supported ones. When reading, an XZ stream is recognised by its signature, and whether it holds a TAR is decided by its contents, not by the name.

Getting help

Terminal
arca --helparca create --helparca --version