NAME

       hexedit - view and edit files in hexadecimal or in ASCII

SYNOPSIS

       hexedit  [-s  |  --sector]  [-m  |  --maximize]  [-l<n>  | --linelength <n>] [-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.

       --color
              Display  colors.   This feature is only available if your operating system supports
              it.

       -l<n>, --linelength <n>
              Explicitly set the number of bytes to display per line to <n>.

       -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 unmodified, 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 trying 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.

       For    more     sophisticated     search,     see     Volker     Schatz's     patch     at
       <http://www.volkerschatz.com/unix/homebrew.html#hexedit>.

   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@rigaux.org>,
       Home page is <http://rigaux.org/>.

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
       <https://github.com/pixel/hexedit/archive/1.6.tar.gz>

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 hexadecimal searches with zeros.

BUGS

       I have an example where the display is completely 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)