hexutils

Comes with hd and hexdec

SYNOPSIS

hd

A ordinary yet another hexdump tool.

Usage: hd [options] [file ...]
  General
    -c: hexdump mode (default)
    -q: suppress chars in hexdump mode
    -f <N>: fold each N chars. (unlimited = 0, default = 16)
            (0 is not supported on hexdump mode)
    -h: this help

  Pre-defined hexencode mode
    -S: print hex in simple style   ; equiv. to -X '%02x' -G ' '
    -s: print hex w/ space prefixed ; equiv. to -X ' %02x'
    -u: print url encoded           ; equiv. to -X '%%%02x'
    -x: print hex in C style        ; equiv. to -X '0x%02x' -G ', ' -F ',\n'
    -l: print hex in lisp style     ; equiv. to -X '#x%02x' -G ' '

  Design hexencode format by hand
    -X <fmt>: set HEX style in printf format
    -G <str>: set GAP string between hex octets
    -H <str>: set HEADER string for the beginning
    -T <str>: set TAIL string for the end
    -F <str>: set separator for each FOLD (default to "{TAIL}\n{HEADER}")

There are two modes. hexdump mode and hexencode mode.

hexdec

A yet another hex(dump) reverser.

Usage: hexdec [options] [file ...]
  -h: this help

It convert sequence of hex digits (or hd hexdump format) to binary data.

Additionally, it also supports string literal injection. You can write ASCII string directly among hex digits.

It ignores address part of hexdump format to be convenient to forge binary data with editors such as vim.

EXAMPLES

hd (hexdump mode)

% hd hd | head -5
00000000: 7f 45 4c 46 02 01 01 09  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  |.ELF............|
00000010: 02 00 3e 00 01 00 00 00  c0 09 40 00 00 00 00 00  |..>.......@.....|
00000020: 40 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  30 1a 00 00 00 00 00 00  |@.......0.......|
00000030: 00 00 00 00 40 00 38 00  08 00 40 00 1d 00 1a 00  |[email protected]...@.....|
00000040: 06 00 00 00 05 00 00 00  40 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  |........@.......|

hd (hexencode mode)

% echo "日本語の文字列" | hd -u
%e6%97%a5%e6%9c%ac%e8%aa%9e%e3%81%ae%e6%96%87%e5
%ad%97%e5%88%97%0a

% echo "日本語の文字列" | hd -x
0xe6, 0x97, 0xa5, 0xe6, 0x9c, 0xac, 0xe8, 0xaa, 0x9e, 0xe3, 0x81, 0xae, 0xe6, 0x96, 0x87, 0xe5,
0xad, 0x97, 0xe5, 0x88, 0x97, 0x0a

hexdec

% hd hd | hexdec | diff -s - hd
Files - and hd are identical

% echo 'e6 97 a5 e6 9c ac e8 aa 9e e3 81 ae e6 96 87 e5 ad 97 e5 88 97' | hexdec
日本語の文字列

Using string literal injection

% echo '"Japanese language de "             e6 96 87 e5 ad 97 e5 88 97' | hexdec
Japanese language de 文字列

Combined with vim

These tools can be combined with vim to simulate ancient JVim3 (Japanized Vim 3) binary mode behavior.

Merge vim/binary.vim into your .vimrc(or whatever), and place vim/syntax/hd.vim into your vim syntax directory.

After that,

vim -b hd

resulting like;