Uncompress one or more compressed .CAB cabinet files.
Syntax EXPAND [-R] Source Destination EXPAND -R Source [Destination] EXPAND -I Source [Destination] EXPAND -D Source.cab [-F:Files] EXPAND Source.cab -F:Files Destination Options Source Source file specification. Wildcards can be used. -F:Files Name of files to expand from a .CAB. Destination Destination file | path specification. Destination can be a directory. If Source is multiple files and -r is not specified, Destination must be a directory. -R Rename expanded files. -I Rename expanded files but ignore directory structure. -D Display list of files in source. The output display does not display the PATH, but will use it on the extraction.
The Microsoft File Expansion Utility dates back to MS-DOS 5 in 1990 supplied on floppy disc.
Versions of Expand prior to 6.0 (Windows 7) have buggy handling of cab files that contain filenames in subfolders - it will not preserve the path. Full details over on the forum.
Example
C:\> Expand -d demo.cab
"There's no limit possible to the expansion of each one of us" ~ Charles M. Schwab
Related:
ATTRIB - Display or change file attributes.
COPY - Copy one or more files to another location.
EXTRACT - Uncompress CAB files.
MAKECAB - Create .CAB files.
Equivalent bash command (Linux): gzip - Compress or decompress named file(s).