Hex dump utility

Last updated 12 Sep 2007

This basic but handy utility for programmers runs from the DOS command-line. In its simplest mode it just displays a combined hex and ascii dump of any file. You can pipe its output through the "more" command to view large files, or direct it to a file and use an editor to view it.

Additional features include a binary search, and the ability to edit the output of this utility with a text editor and then use the "-a" option to re-generate the original binary file to include your changes.

To see all options, run this program on the command-line with the "-h" (help) option.

hd.c (C source code)
hd.exe (Windows exe)

USAGE INFO

Hex Dump Utility (1997-2007)
----------------------------

Written by Anthony Dunk

Usage: hd [-d|-c|-e] [filename]            // Hex Dump
       hd -f string [filename]             // Binary find
       hd -a < infile > outfile            // Asc to binary
       hd -x[8|16|32] < infile > outfile   // Hex to binary
       hd -diff filename1 filename2        // Show file differences

       OPTIONS:
           -d: Supresses the line addresses.
           -c: Outputs the data in a form suitable for C programs.
           -e: Convert EBCDIC characters to ASCII.
           -f: Searches for all occurrences of the string.
               The string can be a quoted or unquoted string of
               characters or a sequence of hex bytes of the form
               \x41\x0D\x0A
           -a: Converts a hex dump back into a binary file. This
               allows you to modify binary files using a text editor.
           -x: Reads a series of 8, 16, or 32 bit hex numbers in (one per line)
               and outputs the numbers as binary data.
        -diff: Show differences between two binary files

Example output:

0000000:  4d 5a 90 00 03 00 00 00  04 00 00 00 ff ff 00 00  'MZ..............'
0000010:  b8 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  40 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  '........@.......'
0000020:  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  '................'
0000030:  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  00 00 00 00 d8 00 00 00  '................'
0000040:  0e 1f ba 0e 00 b4 09 cd  21 b8 01 4c cd 21 54 68  '........!..L.!Th'

Back to my software page