hexdump

A lightweight command-line utility to display the contents of a file (or standard input) in hexadecimal format.

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Usage

bash:

hexdump [FILE]

If no file is provided, hexdump reads from standard input.

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Options

Short	Long	Description
-G	--VT100	Use VT100 line drawing characters.
-r	--row	Number of bytes per line (default: 16).
	--help	Display usage help and exit.
	--version	Show version information and exit.

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Examples

Display a file in hex

hexdump myfile.bin

Read from standard input

echo "Hello" | hexdump

Show 9 bytes per line with VT100 borders

hexdump -r9 -G myfile.bin

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Sample Output

Example using hexdump -r9 -G:

00065355 00 00 00 00 │ 02 2c e7 ef │ 0a .....,...
0006535e 00 00 00 00 │ 00 09 a6 cf │ 0a .........
00065367 00 00 00 00 │ 00 ef f8 4f │ 0a .......O.
00065370 00 00 00 00 │ 03 36 10 80 │ 0a .....6...
00065379 00 00 00 00 │ 00 a2 c6 e0 │ 0a .........
00065382 00 00 00 00 │ 00 72 45 bf │ 0a .....rE..
0006538b 00 00 00 00 │ 02 cd 22 f0 │ 0a ......."..
00065394 00 00 00 00 │ 01 93 b0 a0 │ 0a .........
0006539d 00 00 00 00 │ 04 1b 3d 10 │ 0a ......=..
000653a6 00 00 00 00 │ 03 59 e8 ef │ 0a .....Y...

(Note: Line-drawing characters render correctly only in VT100-capable terminals.)

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Notes

Works with any file or standard input stream.

Offset reading is supported only on block devices.

VT100 mode improves readability with simple table borders when supported by the terminal.