[zachmorris]

you use the vfs module rather than the extract built-in.

approximately

Code:

import xbmcvfs
xbmcvfs.listdir('rar://<url encoded path to the rar archive>/') to list the contents, then you use
xbmcvfs.copy('rar://<urlencoded path to the rar archive>/<file in archive'>, subdir'+/'+<file in archive>)

this works in all versions and for zips as well (with zip:// instead of rar://)

Any chance additional VFS modules will be added to support more than zip and rar?  Something like vfs.patool or vfs.p7zip would be beneficial for v18 and the ability to work with different files for Retroplayer.