HEXEDIT(1)                                                    General Commands Manual                                                   HEXEDIT(1)

NAME

       hexedit - view and edit files in hexadecimal or in ASCII

SYNOPSIS

       hexedit [-s | --sector] [-m | --maximize] [-h | --help] [filename]

DESCRIPTION

       hexedit  shows  a file both in ASCII and in hexadecimal. The file can be a device as the file is read a piece at a time. You can modify the
       file and search through it.

OPTIONS

       -s, --sector
              Format the display to have entire sectors.

       -m, --maximize
              Try to maximize the display.

       -h, --help
              Show the usage.

COMMANDS (quickly)
   Moving
       <, > :  go to start/end of the file
       Right:  next character
       Left:   previous character
       Down:   next line
       Up:     previous line
       Home:   beginning of line
       End:    end of line
       PUp:    page forward
       PDown:  page backward

   Miscellaneous
       F2:     save
       F3:     load file
       F1:     help
       Ctrl-L: redraw
       Ctrl-Z: suspend
       Ctrl-X: save and exit
       Ctrl-C: exit without saving

       Tab:    toggle hex/ascii
       Return: go to
       Backspace: undo previous character
       Ctrl-U: undo all
       Ctrl-S: search forward
       Ctrl-R: search backward

   Cut&Paste
       Ctrl-Space: set mark
       Esc-W:  copy
       Ctrl-Y: paste
       Esc-Y:  paste into a file
       Esc-I:  fill

COMMANDS (full and detailed)
       o Right-Arrow, Left-Arrow, Down-Arrow, Up-Arrow - move the cursor.
       o Ctrl+F, Ctrl+B, Ctrl+N, Ctrl+P - move the cursor.
       o Ctrl+Right-Arrow, Ctrl+Left-Arrow, Ctrl+Down-Arrow, Ctrl+Up-Arrow - move n times the cursor.
       o Esc+Right-Arrow, Esc+Left-Arrow, Esc+Down-Arrow, Esc+Up-Arrow - move n times the cursor.
       o Esc+F, Esc+B, Esc+N, Esc+P - move n times the cursor.
       o Home, Ctrl+A - go the beginning of the line.
       o End, Ctrl+E - go to the end of the line.
       o Page up, Esc+V, F5 - go up in the file by one page.
       o Page down, Ctrl+V, F6 - go down in the file by one page.
       o <, Esc+<, Esc+Home - go to the beginning of the file.
       o >, Esc+>, Esc+End - go to the end of the file (for regular files that have a size).
       o Ctrl+Z - suspend hexedit.
       o Ctrl+U, Ctrl+_, Ctrl+/ - undo all (forget the modifications).
       o Ctrl+Q - read next input character and insert it (this is useful for inserting control characters and bound keys).
       o Tab, Ctrl+T - toggle between ASCII and hexadecimal.
       o /, Ctrl+S - search forward (in ASCII or in hexadecimal, use TAB to change).
       o Ctrl+R - search backward.
       o Ctrl+G, F4 - go to a position in the file.
       o Return - go to a sector in the file if --sector is used, otherwise go to a position in the file.
       o Esc+L - display the page starting at the current cursor position.
       o F2, Ctrl+W - save the modifications.
       o F1, Esc+H - help (show the man page).
       o Ctrl+O, F3 - open another file
       o Ctrl+L - redisplay (refresh) the display (useful when your terminal screws up).
       o Backspace, Ctrl+H - undo the modifications made on the previous byte.
       o Esc+Ctrl+H - undo the modifications made on the previous bytes.
       o Ctrl+Space, F9 - set mark where cursor is.
       o Esc+W, Delete, F7 - copy selected region.
       o Ctrl+Y, Insert, F8 - paste (yank) previously copied region.
       o Esc+Y, F11 - save previously copied region to a file.
       o Esc+I, F12 - fill the selection with a string
       o Esc+T - truncate the file at the current location
       o Ctrl+C - unconditional quit (without saving).
       o F10, Ctrl+X - quit.

       For the Esc commands, it sometimes works to use Alt instead of Esc. Funny things here (especially for froggies :) egrave = Alt+H , ccedilla
       = Alt+G, Alt+Y = ugrave.

   Modeline
       At the bottom of the display you have the modeline (copied from emacs). As in emacs, you have the indications --, ** and %% meaning unmodi-
       fied, modified and read-only. Then you have the name of the file you're currently editing. Next to it is the current position of the cursor
       in the file followed by the total file size. The total file size isn't quite correct for devices.
       While in --sector mode, it shows the sector the cursor is in.

   Editing
       You  can edit in ASCII or in hexadecimal. You can switch between the two with Tab. When the file is read-only, you can't edit it. When try-
       ing to edit a read-only file, a message (``File is read-only'') tells you it is non-writable.
       The modifications are shown in bold until they are saved.  The modeline indicates whether you have modified the file or not.
       When editing in hexadecimal, only 0,1,...,9, a,b,...,f, A,B,...F are legal.  Other keys are unbound. The first time you hit an unbound key,
       the help pops up.  It won't pop again unless you call the help directly (with F1).
       When  editing  in  ascii,  you  can  find it difficult to enter characters like / which are bound to a function. The solution is to use the
       quoted insert function Ctrl+Q, the key after the quoted insert function is not processed by hexedit (like emacs' quoted-insert, or like the
        character in C).

   Searching
       You  can  search  for  a  string in ASCII or in hexadecimal. You can switch between the two with Tab. If the string is found, the cursor is
       moved to the beginning of the matching location. If the search failed, a message (``not found'') tells you so. You can cancel the search by
       pressing a key.
       The  search in hexadecimal is a bit confusing. You must give a hexadecimal string with an even number of characters. The search can then be
       done byte by byte. If you want to search a long number (eg: a 32 bit number), you must know the  internal  representation  of  that  number
       (little/big  endian  problem)  and give it the way it is in memory. For example, on an Intel processor (little endian), you must swap every
       bytes: 0x12345678 is written 0x78563412 in memory and that's the string you must give to the search engine.
       Before searching you are asked if you want to save the changes, if the file is edited.

   Selecting, copying, pasting, filling
       First, select the part of the buffer you want to copy: start setting the mark where you want. Then go to the end of the area  you  want  to
       copy  (you can use the go to function and the search functions). Then copy it. You can then paste the copied area in the current file or in
       another file.

       You can also fill the selected area with a string or a character: start choosing the block you want to fill in (set mark then move  to  the
       end of the block), and call the fill function (F12). hexedit ask you the string you want to fill the block with.
       The code is not tuned for huge filling as it keeps the modifications in memory until you save them. That's why hexedit will warn you if you
       try to fill in a big block.

       When the mark is set, the selection is shown in reverse mode.
       Be aware that the copied area contains the modifications done at the time of the copy. But if you  undo  the  modifications,  it  does  not
       change the content of the copy buffer. It seems obvious but it's worth saying.

   Scrolling
       The  scrolling  is  different  whether  you are in --sector mode or not. In normal mode, the scrolling is line by line. In sector mode, the
       scrolling is sector by sector. In both modes, you can force the display to start at a given position using Esc+L.

SEE ALSO

       od(1), hdump(1), hexdump(1), bpe(1), hexed(1), beav(1).

AUTHOR

       Pixel (Pascal Rigaux) <pixel@merd.net>,
       Home page is <http://merd.net/pixel/>.

UNRESTRICTIONS

       hexedit is Open Source; anyone may redistribute copies of hexedit to anyone under the terms stated in the GNU General Public License.

       You can find hexedit at
       <http://merd.net/pixel/hexedit-1.2.12.src.tgz> and
       <http://merd.net/pixel/hexedit-1.2.12.bin.i386.dynamic.tgz>.

TODO

       Anything you think could be nice...

LIMITATIONS

       There are problems with the curses library given with Redhat 5.0 that make hexedit think the terminal is huge. The result is  that  hexedit
       is not usable.

       The  shortcuts  work  on  some  machines, and not on others. That's why there are many shortcuts for each function. The Ctrl+Arrows and the
       Alt+. do not work work as they should most of the time. On SUNs, you must do Ctrl+V-Ctrl+V instead of Ctrl+V (!); and the Alt  key  is  the
       diamond one.

       While  searching,  it  could be interesting to know which position the search has reached. It's always nice to see something moving to help
       waiting.

       The hexadecimal search could be able to search modulo 4 bits instead of 8 bits.  Another feature could be to complete padd odd length hexa-
       decimal searches with zeros.

BUGS

       I  have  an example where the display is completly screwed up. It seems to be a bug in ncurses (or maybe in xterm and rxvt)?? Don't know if
       it's me using ncurses badly or not... It seems to happen when hexedit leaves only one space at the end of the lines... If anyone has a  (or
       the) solution, please tell me!

       If you have any problem with the program (even a small one), please do report it to me. Remarks of any kind are also welcome.

                                                                   12 July 1998                                                         HEXEDIT(1)