Use RAR On Linux To Compress A File Into Multiple Parts

The rar command can be useful on Linux to not only compress a file but also split the file into multiple parts during the compression. This will make the files easier to transfer to other servers or easier for other people to download. First rar needs to be installed which can done on CentOS using the directions below. After that we describe how to easily compress and break a file into multiple chunks using one simple rar command.

Install rar On CentOS Linux Using RPMForge and yum:

First install the RPMForge yum repository if you do not already have it installed using the directions in this article. After installing the RPMForge repo issue the below command to install RAR on Linux.

[root@dev ~]# yum install rar
Loading "allowdowngrade" plugin
Loading "fastestmirror" plugin
Determining fastest mirrors
rpmforge 100% |=========================| 1.1 kB 00:00
primary.xml.gz 100% |=========================| 2.2 MB 00:02
rpmforge : ################################################## 10367/10367
primary.xml.gz 100% |=========================| 202 B 00:00
Setting up Install Process
Parsing package install arguments
Resolving Dependencies
--> Running transaction check
---> Package rar.i386 0:3.8.0-1.el5.rf set to be updated
--> Finished Dependency Resolution
Dependencies Resolved
=============================================================================
Package Arch Version Repository Size
=============================================================================
Installing:
rar i386 3.8.0-1.el5.rf rpmforge 264 k
Transaction Summary
=============================================================================
Install 1 Package(s)
Update 0 Package(s)
Remove 0 Package(s)
Total download size: 264 k
Is this ok [y/N]: y
Downloading Packages:
(1/1): rar-3.8.0-1.el5.rf 100% |=========================| 264 kB 00:01
Running rpm_check_debug
Running Transaction Test
Finished Transaction Test
Transaction Test Succeeded
Running Transaction
Installing: rar ######################### [1/1]
Installed: rar.i386 0:3.8.0-1.el5.rf
Complete!
[root@dev ~]#

Use RAR To Compress And Split Apart A File Into Multiple Parts On Linux:

Once RAR is installed you can easily compress and split apart a file using the below command. The file we start out with below is 368MB MySQL dump and after issuing the rar command below it has been split into 4 10MB files and 1 8.7MB file.