---
name: "derb"
section: "1"
platform: "linux"
package: "icu"
version: "78.3-1"
release: "Arch Linux 2026-11-01"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/derb"
---

# derb(1)

disassemble a resource bundle

## NAME

**derb** - disassemble a resource bundle

## SYNOPSIS

**derb** \[ **-h, -?, --help** \] \[ **-V, --version** \] \[ **-v, --verbose** \] \[ **-e, --encoding** *encoding* \] \[ **--bom** \] \[ **-t, --truncate** *\[ size \]* \] \[ **-s, --sourcedir** *source* \] \[ **-d, --destdir** *destination* \] \[ **-i, --icudatadir** *directory* \] \[ **-c, --to-stdout** \] *bundle* ...

## DESCRIPTION

**derb** reads the compiled resource *bundle* files passed on the command line and write them back in text form. The resulting text files have a **.txt** extension while compiled resource bundle source files typically have a  **.res** extension.

It is customary to name the resource bundles by their locale name, i.e. to use a local identifier for the *bundle* filename, e.g. **ja\_JP.res** for Japanese (Japan) data, or **root.res** for the root bundle. This is especially important for **derb** since the locale name is not accessible directly from the compiled resource bundle, and to know which locale to ask for when opening the bundle. **derb** will produce a file whose base name is the base name of the compiled resource file itself. If the **--to-stdout, -c** option is used, however, the text will be written on the standard output.

## OPTIONS

- **-h, -?, --help**

  Print help about usage and exit.

- **-V, --version**

  Print the version of **derb** and exit.

- **-v, --verbose**

  Display extra informative messages during execution.

- **-A, --suppressAliases**

  Don't follow aliases when producing output.

- **-e, --encoding** *encoding*

  Set the encoding used to write output files to *encoding*. The default encoding is the invariant (subset of ASCII or EBCDIC) codepage for the system (see section **INVARIANT CHARACTERS**). The choice of the encoding does not affect the data, just their representation. Characters that cannot be represented in the *encoding* will be represented using **\\u***hhhh* escape sequences.

- **--bom**

  Write a byte order mark (BOM) at the beginning of the file.

- **-l, --locale** *locale*

  Set the *locale* for the resource bundle, which is used both in the generated text and as the base name of the output file.

- **-t, --truncate** *\[ size \]*

  Truncate individual resources (strings or binary data) to *size* bytes. The default if *size* is not specified is **80** bytes.

- **-s, --sourcedir** *source*

  Set the source directory to *source*. The default source directory is the current directory. If  **-** is passed for *source*, then the *bundle* will be looked for in its default location, specified by the  **ICU\_DATA** environment variable (or defaulting to the location set when ICU was built if  **ICU\_DATA** is not set).

- **-d, --destdir** *destination*

  Set the destination directory to *destination*. The default destination directory is specified by the environment variable **ICU\_DATA** or is the location set when ICU was built if  **ICU\_DATA** is not set.

- **-i, --icudatadir** *directory*

  Look for any necessary ICU data files in *directory*. For example, when processing collation overrides, the file **ucadata.dat** must be located. The default ICU data directory is specified by the environment variable **ICU\_DATA**.

- **-c, --to-stdout**

  Write the disassembled *bundle* on standard output instead of into a file.

## CAVEATS

When the option **--bom** is used, the character **U+FEFF** is written in the destination *encoding* regardless of whether it is a Unicode transformation format (UTF) or not. This option should only be used with an UTF encoding, as byte order marks are not meaningful for other encodings.

## INVARIANT CHARACTERS

The **invariant character set** consists of the following set of characters, expressed as a standard POSIX regular expression: **\[a-z\]\|\[A-Z\]\|\[0-9\]\|\_\| \|+\|-\|\*\|/**. This is the set which is guaranteed to be available regardless of code page.

## ENVIRONMENT

- **ICU\_DATA**

  Specifies the directory containing ICU data. Defaults to **${prefix}/share/icu/78.3/**. Some tools in ICU depend on the presence of the trailing slash. It is thus important to make sure that it is present if **ICU\_DATA** is set.

## AUTHORS

Vladimir Weinstein\
 Yves Arrouye

## VERSION

1\.0

## COPYRIGHT

Copyright (C) 2002 IBM, Inc. and others.

## SEE ALSO

[**genrb**(1)](/genrb/1.md)