Working with the Filesystem, Drives, Data, and Search - File Expansion Utility

\windows\system32\expand.exe

Extract one or more compressed files from a cabinet (.cab) file.

To open

Command Prompt -> expand

Usage

  expand -d source.cab [-f:files]
  expand [-r] source.cab [destination]
  expand source.cab -f:files destination

Description

A cabinet file is a compressed archive commonly used to package application installation files. You use the File Expansion Utility to extract files embedded in these cabinet files. The utility takes the following options:

source.cab

The name of the cabinet (.cab) file from which to extract the files.

destination

The name of the folder in which to place the extracted files, a new filename to use for the extracted files, or a combination of the two. If using the -f option, destination is mandatory and must include a filename (with or without wildcards).

-d

Display (list) the contents of the specified cabinet file.

-r

Specify -r (recursive) without destination to extract all the files contained in the specified cabinet file. For example:

  expand -r package.cab

Specify -r along with destination to rename the files according to the file specification included in destination . For example, the following extracts all the files in package.cab and renames their file extensions to .txt:

  expand -r package.cab *.txt

-f:files

Use the -f option to specify one or more files to extract; use this if you don't want to extract all the files from the cabinet file. For example, the following extracts the file uno.txt from package.cab:

  expand package.cab -f:uno.txt uno.txt

Note that the destination  parameter is mandatory when using the -f option and is used to specify the target filename. In this example, as well as most times this program will be used, files and destination  will be the same.

Notes

• The easiest method for extracting files from cabinets is to simply double-click the .cab file in Explorer and then drag the desired file(s) out. You can also use it when installing or repairing Windows Vista when Explorer isn't available.

See also

"Cabinet (CAB) Maker," in Chapter 10

Next: File Properties >>
 

More BrainDump Articles
More By O'Reilly Media

Comments On: Working with the Filesystem, Drives, Data, and Search

· This article is an excerpt from the book "Windows Vista in a Nutshell," published by...   >>> Post your comment now!

Buy this book...

This article is excerpted from chapter four of the book Windows Vista in a Nutshell, written by Preston Gralla (O'Reilly, 2006; ISBN: 0596527071). Check it out today at your favorite bookstore. Buy this book now.