How should one decide which rook to put on a central file? How should one decide which rook to put on a central file? I usually just move the one which is closer to the file, unless there are weak squares in my position that one rook is defending. In positions where there are no weak pawns, how should I decide whether to move the rook of the side to which I castled or the other?
Essentially, you should ask yourself a broader question: where should both of my rooks go in this position? There might be another (half-)open file which can be used by the other rook. If there's only one open file and little chance of another one opening or a pawn needing extra protection, it might not even matter which rook you use, since it's rather likely for the rooks to be doubled up on the same file anyway.

[FEN "r4rk1/ppp2ppp/3p4/8/8/3P4/PPP2PPP/R4RK1 w - - 0 1"]


In a position like this (ignoring the position of other pieces) it's more common to move Rfe1, since the chance that one of the a, b and c pawns needs extra protection combined is greater than the chance that f2 becomes weak. Indeed, that's the nearest rook, as you already mentioned.