Extracting .jar file with command line

I am trying to extract the files from a .jar file. How do I do that using command line?

I am running Windows 7

From the docs:

> To extract the files from a jar file, use x, as in: > > C:\Java> jar xf myFile.jar > > To extract only certain files from a jar file, supply their filenames: > > C:\Java> jar xf myFile.jar foo bar

The folder where jar is probably isn't C:\Java for you, on my Windows partition it's:

C:\Program Files (x86)\Java\jdk[some_version_here]\bin

Unless the location of jar is in your path environment variable, you'll have to specify the full path/run the program from inside the folder.

EDIT: Here's another article, specifically focussed on extracting JARs: http://docs.oracle.com/javase/tutorial/deployment/jar/unpack.html

Note that a jar file is a Zip file, and any Zip tool (such as 7-Zip) can look inside the jar.

In Ubuntu:

unzip file.jar -d dir_name_where_extracting

You can use the following command: jar xf rt.jar

Where X stands for extraction and the f would be any options that indicate that the JAR file from which files are to be extracted is specified on the command line, rather than through stdin.

Java has a class specifically for zip files and one even more specifically for Jar Files.

java.util.jar.JarOutputStream
java.util.jar.JarInputStream

using those you could, on a command from the console, using a scanner set to system.in

Scanner console = new Scanner(System.in);
String input = console.nextLine();

then get all the components and write them as a file.

JarEntry JE = null;
while((JE = getNextJarEntry()) != null)
{
    //do stuff with JE
}

You can also use java.util.zip.ZipInputStream instead, as seeing a JAR file is in the same format as a ZIP file, ZipInputStream will be able to handle the Jar file, in fact JarInputStream actually extends ZipInputStream.

an alternative is also instead of getNextJarEntry, to use getNextEntry

jar xf myFile.jar
change myFile to name of your file
this will save the contents in the current folder of .jar file
that should do :)

Given a file named Me.Jar:

1. Go to cmd

2. Hit Enter

3. Use the Java jar command -- I am using jdk1.8.0_31 so I would type

   C:\Program Files (x86)\Java\jdk1.8.0_31\bin\jar xf me.jar

That should extract the file to the folder bin. Look for the file .class in my case my Me.jar contains a Valentine.class

Type java Valentine and press Enter and your message file will be opened.

To extract the jar into specified folder use this command via command prompt

C:\Java> jar xf myFile.jar -C "C:\tempfolder"