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Top Forums UNIX for Dummies Questions & Answers Converting binary file to text file Post 302965057 by bakunin on Friday 22nd of January 2016 06:12:47 PM
Old 01-22-2016
Quote:
Originally Posted by dp0b
Im wondering how I can convert a binary file to a text file?
What a "binary file" and what a "text file" is is primarily determined by the files contents. So there is no "conversion" between the two, like "convert CSV to Excel format". The latter is just two representations of the same thing - tabular data - but the former are simply different types of contents.

There are (today rather unusual) meanings of "text file" as containing compiled code (calling a relocatible object file before linking "text" was the IBM speak of the seventies) and if you are using the term this way you will have to use a linker. If you are using "text" in the more common meaning of "sequences of characters transporting meaning to a reading human" then there is no (common!) way to transform one into the other.

There are of course programs which use binary representations for text files (simpliest example is a packing program which packs a text file into something binary). In such a case you need to specifically reverse the algorithm (i.e use an unpack-program to restore the text file), but this means to know the used algorithm first. And even this only works if a text file was packed beforehand. Put a binary file in and another binary file will come out, packing or no packing.

If you want to search for text parts inside a binary file, this is possible: use the strings command to list readable strings within otherwise binary files:

Code:
strings /path/to/file

I hope this helps.

bakunin
 

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CSREQ(1)						    BSD General Commands Manual 						  CSREQ(1)

NAME
csreq -- Expert tool for manipulating Code Signing Requirement data SYNOPSIS
csreq [-v] -r requirement-input -t csreq [-v] -r requirement-input -b outputfile DESCRIPTION
The csreq command manipulates Code Signing Requirement data. It reads one requirement from a file or command arguments, converts it into internal form, checks it, and then optionally outputs it in a different form. The options are as follows: -b path Requests that the requirement read be written in binary form to the path given. -r requirement-input Specifies the input requirement. See "specifying requirements" below. This is exactly the same format as is accepted by the -r and -R options of the codesign(1) command. -t Requests that the requirement read be written as text to standard output. -v Increases the verbosity of output. Multiple instances of -v produce increasing levels of commentary output. In the first synopsis form, csreq reads a Code Requirement and writes it to standard output as canonical source text. Note that with text input, this actually compiles the requirement into internal form and then converts it back to text, giving you the system's view of the requirement code. In the second synopsis form, csreq reads a Code Requirement and writes its binary representation to a file. This is the same form produced by the SecRequirementCopyData API, and is readily acceptable as input to Code Signing verification APIs. It can also be used as input to subse- quent invocations of csreq by passing the filename to the -r option. SPECIFYING REQUIREMENTS
The requirement argument (-r) can be given in various forms. A plain text argument is taken to be a path to a file containing the require- ment. This program will accept both binary files containing properly compiled requirements code, and source files that are automatically com- piled for use. An argument of "-" requests that the requirement(s) are read from standard input. Again, standard input can contain either binary form or text. Finally, an argument that begins with an equal sign "=" is taken as a literal requirements source text, and is compiled accordingly for use. EXAMPLES
To compile an explicit requirement program and write its binary form to file "output": csreq -r="identifier com.foo.test" -b output.csreq To display the requirement program embedded at offset 1234 of file "foo": tail -b 1234 foo | csreq -r- -t FILES
DIAGNOSTICS
The csreq program exits 0 on success or 1 on failure. Errors in arguments yield exit code 2. SEE ALSO
codesign(1) HISTORY
The csreq command first appeared in Mac OS 10.5.0 . BSD
June 1, 2006 BSD
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