Hex dump converter

Want to convert Text to Hex? Use the Text to Hex converter! A hex to text converter can be useful if you're doing cross-browser testing. For example, if you have written your own UTF-8 decoder, then you can use this utility to generate test cases for your code.

Your test cases will have hexadecimal UTF-8 values as the input and Unicode text as the output. Another use case is if you're storing strings or other data in a database as hexadecimal code point values and you want to quickly see what they say, then you can load them in this utility and they'll be decoded back to textual data that you can read.

Additionally, if you see a code point value you don't recognize and want to convert it to a Unicode symbol, then you can enter it in the input field of this program and instantly get the result.

The symbols include and a-f sometimes A-F. An example of a hexadecimal number is 3BF2. Computer science applications can use hexadecimal for binary coding in computing and digital electronics. The primary use of hex is a more people friendly way to represent the value. While computers work with binary data, it can be difficult for humans to work with a large number of digits. Humans typically use a base 10 system, while for computer applications it is easier to work with hexadecimal than decimal.

As hex saves space either paper space or screen space , you can more efficiently use hex instead of a large number of ones and zeros. You can also go from hex back to binary bits if needed. For example A is Hex numbers represent large numbers compactly and are used in programming as computers use bytes as a unit of information.

In hex you need two digits where you need 8 binary digits to represent a byte. Hexadecimal is also used in the Red-Green-Blue color system in computers. Red, green, and blue are each represented by a byte that is two hex digits. The Linux Terminal Top 7 terminal emulators for Linux 10 command-line tools for data analysis in Linux Download Now: SSH cheat sheet Advanced Linux commands cheat sheet Linux command line tutorials If you read the PNG spec, you may notice that the data in the first 8 bytes looks different than what hexdump provides.

For that reason, hexdump has options to format and convert the raw data it dumps. First, run hexdump on a text file to see its raw data.

That output is helpful but unwieldy and difficult to read. The shorthand used for formatting is similar to what the printf command uses, so if you are familiar with printf statements, you may find hexdump formatting easier to learn. All formatting notation for the --format option must be enclosed in single quotes :. This output is better, but still inconvenient to read. Traditionally, UNIX text files assume an character output width because long ago, monitors tended to fit only 80 characters across.

Specifically, by dividing 80 by one, you can tell hexdump to treat 80 bytes as one unit:. You have now approximately implemented the cat command with hexdump formatting. Formatting is, realistically, how you make hexdump useful. First, you know that you want hexdump to process the PNG file in 8-byte chunks.

Hexdump is a fascinating tool that not only teaches you more about how computers process and convert information, but also about how file formats and compiled binaries function. You should try running hexdump on files at random throughout the day as you work.

You never know what kinds of information you may find, nor when having that insight may be useful. The default two-byte output respects the endianness of your system, so that can confuse new users. I know this tripped me up years ago when I first started using hexdump.

Shameless plug: I once wrote a tutorial on this exact same subject. Excellent post!