Switch -VER[n] - file version control

Forces WinRAR to keep previous file versions when updating files in the already existing archive. Old versions are renamed to 'filename;n ', where 'n' is the version number. Supported only for RAR archives.

By default, when unpacking an archive without the switch -ver, WinRAR extracts only last added file version, the name of which does not include a numeric suffix. But if you specify a file name exactly, including a version, it will be also unpacked. For example, 'rar x arcname' will unpack only last versions, when 'rar x arcname file.txt;5' will unpack 'file.txt;5', if it is present in the archive.

If you specify -ver switch without a parameter when unpacking, WinRAR will extract all versions of all files that match the entered file mask. In this case a version number is not removed from unpacked file names. You may also extract a concrete file version specifying its number as -ver parameter. It will tell WinRAR to unpack only this version and remove a version number from file names. For example, 'rar x -ver5 arcname' will unpack only 5th file versions.

If you specify 'n' parameter when archiving, it will limit the maximum number of file versions stored in the archive. Old file versions exceeding this threshold will be removed.

When archiving with -ver switch, it is recommended to avoid names in 'filename;n' format among files to add. Such names can lead to duplicate entries if old version with same name either is present in archive or will be created later.