Hex editor
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
A hex editor (or binary file editor or byte editor) is a type of computer program that allows a user to manipulate binary (normally non-plain text) computer files. Hex editors that were designed to edit sector, or parse, data from floppy or hard disks were sometimes called sector editors or disk editors.
[edit] Details
By using a hex editor, a user can see or edit the raw and exact contents of a file as opposed to the interpretation of the same content that other, higher level application software may associate with the file format. For example, this could be raw image data, in contrast to the way image editing software would interpret the same file.
In most hex editor applications the data of the computer file is represented as hexadecimal values grouped in 4 groups of 4 bytes and one group of 16 ASCII characters, non-printable characters are typically represented by a dot (".") in the ASCII dump.
[edit] Hex dumper
A hex dumper is a memory dumper which outputs in hexadecimal (and often ASCII too). Unlike editors, there are no editing commands; they are output only. The two standard Unix shell commands are hexdump and od. These programs output in a variety of formats and bases, not just hex.
Examples:
- hexdump -C <file>
- od -tcx1 <file>
[edit] See also
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The Wikibook x86 Disassembly has a page on the topic of |
- Comparison of hex editors
- Hex Editor Definition by The Linux Information Project (LINFO)
- Disk editor
