What is a .RC file?
The .rc extension names both Windows resource scripts and Unix runcom config files.
Windows resource script
- What it is
- A Windows resource script - text defining dialogs, menus, icons and version info, compiled into a binary .res. Analyser opens it as source.
- How to tell it apart
- Both are text; Analyser opens .rc as source.
- Did you know
- A Windows .rc is compiled into the binary .res that bakes a program's icons, menus and version info into its .exe.
- A resource script is fed through the C preprocessor first, so it can use #include and #define just like C source before the resource compiler builds the .res.
- Windows programs load these baked-in resources at runtime by numeric ID, which is how one executable can carry its interface in several languages.
Unix rc / runcom config
- What it is
- A Unix "rc" configuration file (runcom) - shell or app startup settings. Analyser opens it as source.
- How to tell it apart
- Both are text; Analyser opens .rc as source.
- Did you know
- The 'rc' in .bashrc and /etc/rc means 'run commands', a name inherited from runcom on MIT's early-1960s CTSS system.
- Louis Pouzin, who also coined the word 'shell' for a command interpreter, created runcom on MIT's CTSS in the early 1960s as the ancestor of every .*rc file since.
- Unix later borrowed the name for 'rc', an actual shell written by Tom Duff at Bell Labs to replace the Bourne shell's clumsier syntax.
- Depth of analysis
- .RC is an identification-grade format: Analyser recognises it from its bytes and decodes the header metadata it carries, rather than opening it in a full viewer. Formats that do get a full viewer are marked "Full" on the formats page.
- Open a .RC file
- Drag a .RC file onto the Analyser home page (or tap to pick one). It is identified entirely in your browser - nothing is uploaded, there is no account, and it works offline once installed.