Coder Perfect

On Unix systems, how to edit binary files [closed]

Problem

There are numerous third-party editors for editing binary files on Windows PCs.

Is there any way I can edit a binary file on a Unix system?

Asked by Hemant

Solution #1

In vim You can type :%!xxd to turn it into a hexeditor. :%!xxd -r to go back to normal mode. xxd is shipped in a vim installation.

For some notes on editing binary files with vim (boiled down to: set binary to avoid difficulty, modify text only with the “R” or “r” command, don’t delete characters), see here.

If you’re an Emacs user, check out this tutorial on how to edit a binary file with Emacs.

Answered by Paweł Polewicz

Solution #2

GNOME utilities ghex2 can also be used. The automated hex-to-ASCII conversion is on the side, and the various character/integer decodes are at the bottom. (image courtesy of googlepages.com)

Answered by Shannon Nelson

Solution #3

On Linux/Unix, there are a lot more hexeditors….

On Ubuntu, I use hexedit.

sudo apt-get install hexedit

Answered by Osama Al-Maadeed

Solution #4

Wikipedia is a good place to start.

BIEW is my personal favorite.

Answered by Francis

Solution #5

It’s written in mono/Gtk# and runs on GNU/Linux as its major platform. It should, however, be able to run without issue on any platform that supports mono and Gtk#. Main Characteristics The following features are presently available in Bless:

copied from http://home.gna.org/bless/

Answered by Brad Gilbert

Post is based on https://stackoverflow.com/questions/839227/how-to-edit-binary-file-on-unix-systems