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

# genrb(1)

compile a resource bundle

## NAME

**genrb** - compile a resource bundle

## SYNOPSIS

**genrb** \[ **-h, -?, --help** \] \[ **-V, --version** \] \[ **-v, --verbose** \] \[ **-e, --encoding** *encoding* \] \[ **-j, --write-java** *\[ encoding \]* \] \[ **-s, --sourcedir** *source* \] \[ **-d, --destdir** *destination* \] \[ **-i, --icudatadir** *directory* \] *bundle* ...

## DESCRIPTION

**genrb** converts the resource *bundle* source files passed on the command line to their binary form or to a Java source file for use with ICU4J. The resulting binary files have a **.res** extension while resource bundle source files typically have a  **.txt** extension. Java source files have a **java** extension and follow the ICU4J naming conventions.

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.txt** for Japanese (Japan) data, or **root.txt** for the root bundle. In any case, **genrb** will produce a file whose base name is the name of the locale found in the resource file, not the base name of the resource file itself.

The binary files can be read directly by ICU, or used by [**pkgdata**(1)](/pkgdata/1.md) for incorporation into a larger archive or library.

## OPTIONS

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

  Print help about usage and exit.

- **-V, --version**

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

- **-v, --verbose**

  Display extra informative messages during execution.

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

  Set the encoding used to read input files to *encoding*. The default encoding is the invariant (subset of ASCII or EBCDIC) codepage for the system (see section **INVARIANT CHARACTERS**). The encodings UTF-8, UTF-16BE, and UTF-16LE are automatically detected if a byte order mark (BOM) is present.

- **-j, --write-java** *\[ encoding \]*

  Generate a Java source code for use with ICU4J. An optional *encoding* for the Java file can be given.

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

  Set the source directory to *source*. The default source directory is specified by the environment variable **ICU\_DATA**, or 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**.

## 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.

## VERSION

78\.3

## COPYRIGHT

Copyright (C) 2000-2002 IBM, Inc. and others.

## SEE ALSO

[**derb**(1)](/derb/1.md)\
 [**pkgdata**(1)](/pkgdata/1.md)