Read content of RAR file into memory in Python

Question

I'm looking for a way to read specific files from a rar archive into memory. Specifically they are a collection of numbered image files (I'm writing a comic reader). While I can simply unrar these files and load them as needed (deleting them when done), I'd prefer to avoid that if possible.

That all said, I'd prefer a solution that's cross platform (Windows/Linux) if possible, but Linux is a must. Just as importantly, if you're going to point out a library to handle this for me, please understand that it must be free (as in beer) or OSS.

Answer 1

See the rarfile module:

• http://grue.l-t.ee/~marko/src/rarfile/README.html
• http://pypi.python.org/pypi/rarfile/
• https://github.com/markokr/rarfile