Is this what you want? : (example binary file was xxd)

root@sundude /usr/local/bin# file xxd
xxd: ELF 32-bit LSB executable 80386 Version 1, dynamically linked, stripped
root@sundude /usr/local/bin# cat -vte xxd > xxd.out
root@sundude /usr/local/bin# grep -c "@" xxd.out
57
root@sundude /usr/local/bin#

NOTE: cat -vte {file_name} will show all characters including carriage returns and such...
NOTE2: Use 'vim' (freeware) and or link vim to vi... vim can handle longer lines and larger pages...

HTH