Using v2dat to Inspect Geosite and GeoIP Databases

What is v2dat?

v2dat is a CLI tool included with XRAYUI that allows you super fast to inspect and extract contents from geosite.dat and geoip.dat files.

v2dat is an essential tool for understanding and debugging your xrayui routing configuration. Use it whenever you need to verify what traffic your rules will actually match.

This is invaluable for:

Understanding what domains/IPs are included in specific categories
Debugging routing rules
Verifying custom geosite compilations
Finding the right category for your needs

Installation Location

When XRAYUI is installed, v2dat is located at:

/opt/share/xrayui/v2dat

The geodata files are located at:

/opt/sbin/geosite.dat  # Community geosite database
/opt/sbin/geoip.dat    # Community geoip database
/opt/sbin/xrayui       # Custom compiled geosite (if created)

Common Usage Examples

List All Available Tags

Geosite Tags

/opt/share/xrayui/v2dat unpack geosite -t /opt/sbin/geosite.dat

This shows all available geosite categories like google, netflix, telegram, etc.

GeoIP Tags

/opt/share/xrayui/v2dat unpack geoip -t /opt/sbin/geoip.dat

This shows all country codes like cn, us, private, etc.

Inspect Specific Categories

View Geosite Category Contents

# Print to console (useful for quick checks)
/opt/share/xrayui/v2dat unpack geosite -p -f netflix /opt/sbin/geosite.dat

# Save to file (useful for detailed analysis)
/opt/share/xrayui/v2dat unpack geosite -o /tmp -f netflix /opt/sbin/geosite.dat
cat /tmp/geosite_netflix.txt

View GeoIP Country Contents

# Print China IP ranges
/opt/share/xrayui/v2dat unpack geoip -p -f cn /opt/sbin/geoip.dat

# Save US IP ranges to file
/opt/share/xrayui/v2dat unpack geoip -o /tmp -f us /opt/sbin/geoip.dat

Advanced Usage

Extract Multiple Categories

# Extract specific categories
for tag in google facebook youtube netflix; do
  /opt/share/xrayui/v2dat unpack geosite -o /tmp -f $tag /opt/sbin/geosite.dat
done

# Now you have:
# /tmp/geosite_google.txt
# /tmp/geosite_facebook.txt
# /tmp/geosite_youtube.txt
# /tmp/geosite_netflix.txt

Extract Everything

# Extract ALL geosite categories (warning: creates many files)
/opt/share/xrayui/v2dat unpack geosite -o /tmp/all_geosites /opt/sbin/geosite.dat

# Extract ALL geoip categories
/opt/share/xrayui/v2dat unpack geoip -o /tmp/all_geoips /opt/sbin/geoip.dat

Search for Specific Domain

# Extract all and search
/opt/share/xrayui/v2dat unpack geosite -o /tmp/geosites /opt/sbin/geosite.dat
grep -r "example.com" /tmp/geosites/

# Or check specific categories
for tag in cn google facebook; do
  echo "Checking $tag..."
  /opt/share/xrayui/v2dat unpack geosite -p -f $tag /opt/sbin/geosite.dat | grep -i "example"
done

Understanding the Output

Geosite Domain Patterns

When you inspect a geosite category, you'll see different types of patterns:

# netflix (247 domains)
domain:netflix.com        # Matches netflix.com and ALL subdomains
full:netflix.ca           # Matches ONLY netflix.ca exactly
keyword:nflx              # Matches any domain containing "nflx"
regexp:^netflix\\.com$    # Regular expression matching

GeoIP CIDR Notation

GeoIP output shows IP ranges in CIDR notation:

# cn (8343 cidr)
1.0.1.0/24
1.0.8.0/21
1.0.32.0/19

Practical Debugging Scenarios

Scenario 1: Why isn't my rule working?

Check if the domain is actually in the category:

# Check if youtube.com is in the youtube category
/opt/share/xrayui/v2dat unpack geosite -p -f youtube /opt/sbin/geosite.dat | grep "youtube.com"

Scenario 2: Which category contains my domain?

Search across all categories:

# Extract all categories
/opt/share/xrayui/v2dat unpack geosite -o /tmp/search /opt/sbin/geosite.dat

# Search for your domain
grep -l "mydomain.com" /tmp/search/*.txt

# Or more specific
for file in /tmp/search/*.txt; do
  if grep -q "mydomain.com" "$file"; then
    echo "Found in: $(basename $file .txt)"
    grep "mydomain.com" "$file"
  fi
done

Scenario 3: Verify custom geosite compilation

After creating custom geosite files in xrayui:

# Check if your custom category exists
/opt/share/xrayui/v2dat unpack geosite -t /opt/sbin/xrayui | grep mylist

# Verify the contents
/opt/share/xrayui/v2dat unpack geosite -p -f mylist /opt/sbin/xrayui

Scenario 4: Compare categories

See what's unique between categories:

# Extract two categories
/opt/share/xrayui/v2dat unpack geosite -o /tmp -f google /opt/sbin/geosite.dat
/opt/share/xrayui/v2dat unpack geosite -o /tmp -f youtube /opt/sbin/geosite.dat

# Find domains in both
comm -12 <(sort /tmp/geosite_google.txt) <(sort /tmp/geosite_youtube.txt)

Quick Reference

Command Structure

v2dat unpack [geosite|geoip] [options] <dat_file>

Common Options

Option	Description	Example
`-t`	List all tags	`v2dat unpack geosite -t file.dat`
`-p`	Print to stdout	`v2dat unpack geosite -p -f google file.dat`
`-o <dir>`	Output directory	`v2dat unpack geosite -o /tmp -f google file.dat`
`-f <tag>`	Filter specific tag	`v2dat unpack geosite -f netflix file.dat`

File Locations Reference

File	Path	Description
Community Geosite	`/opt/sbin/geosite.dat`	Official domain categories
Community GeoIP	`/opt/sbin/geoip.dat`	IP ranges by country
Custom Geosite	`/opt/sbin/xrayui`	Your compiled categories
v2dat Binary	`/opt/share/xrayui/v2dat`	The inspection tool

Tips and Tricks

Pipe to less for large outputs:

/opt/share/xrayui/v2dat unpack geosite -p -f cn /opt/sbin/geosite.dat | less

Count domains in a category:

/opt/share/xrayui/v2dat unpack geosite -p -f google /opt/sbin/geosite.dat | wc -l

Find categories with specific domain patterns:

for tag in $(/opt/share/xrayui/v2dat unpack geosite -t /opt/sbin/geosite.dat); do
  if /opt/share/xrayui/v2dat unpack geosite -p -f $tag /opt/sbin/geosite.dat | grep -q "cdn"; then
    echo "$tag contains CDN domains"
  fi
done

Create a category reference file:

for tag in $(/opt/share/xrayui/v2dat unpack geosite -t /opt/sbin/geosite.dat | head -20); do
  count=$(/opt/share/xrayui/v2dat unpack geosite -p -f $tag /opt/sbin/geosite.dat | wc -l)
  echo "$tag: $count domains"
done > /tmp/geosite_summary.txt