Extract text from RI files
To convert your RI file to another format, you need RDoc or other Developer software.
To convert other file formats to the "Documentation Data" file type, you need software like RDoc or a similar tool.
The .RI extension is most frequently associated with the Ruby Interactive documentation system. These files store indexed documentation data generated by RDoc, serving as a local database for the ri command-line tool. While efficient for terminal lookups, the format is a serialized binary (Marshaled Ruby objects) that is unreadable in standard text editors like Notepad++ or VS Code. Developers often struggle when they need to share this documentation or view it in a browser, as the native ri format does not natively export to formatted documents. Converting these files usually involves using the rdoc utility to regenerate the documentation into HTML, CHM, or PDF for easier distribution and archiving.
In industrial automation contexts, an .RI file may function as a Retain Information file generated by CODESYS (specifically V2.3). These files are critical binary dumps used to preserve the values of persistent variables (PLC memory states) during power failures or resets. Because they are proprietary memory snapshots, they cannot be opened by third-party viewers. The only practical workflow is reloading them into the compatible CODESYS runtime or attempting to parse the raw data into CSV if specific memory mapping tools are available. Additionally, in atmospheric science, .RI files store Refractive Index data, often as simple ASCII text or XML tables. These are the easiest to handle, as they can be directly converted to XLSX or CSV for analysis in Microsoft Excel.
Convert.Guru analyzes your RI file, detects the exact format, and lets you read the text inside.
Users also converted SID, CHP and DND files.
If you want to convert RI file to SYS, DLL, EXE, DRV, VXD, 386, COM, BAT, CMD, SCR, PIF or LNK, you can use RDoc or similar software from the "Ruby Documentation Index" category. In the File menu, look for Save As… or Export….
To convert MSI, EXE, REG, MST, LNK, CAB, CAT, DRV, INF, SYS, MSU or DLL files to RI, try RDoc or another comparable tool in the "Ruby Documentation Index" category.
The history of Convert.Guru began over 25 years ago in California with Tom Simondi’s file-format database. A former contributor to Space Shuttle development and a software pioneer of the 1980s, Simondi established a trusted resource for file type analysis that was even referenced by Microsoft Windows XP. Today, we use modern technology to process and convert thousands of file formats while continually improving our RI converter.