hexdump

Additional Notes

hexdump displays file contents in hexadecimal, decimal, octal, or ASCII format. It is useful for inspecting binary files, analyzing file formats, debugging data streams, and examining raw storage.

On many systems, hexdump is a frontend for od with different default output formatting.

Syntax

hexdump [options] [file...]

Parameters

• options: Flags that change how hexdump behaves.
• file: File to display. Reads from standard input if omitted.

Common Options

• -C: Canonical hex and ASCII display.
• -n N: Read only N bytes.
• -s OFFSET: Skip OFFSET bytes from the start.
• -v: Show all data (do not suppress duplicate lines).
• -e FORMAT: Specify a custom format string.
• -s OFFSET: Skip bytes before reading.

Examples

hexdump -C file.bin
hexdump -C -n 64 file.bin
hexdump -C -s 512 disk.img

Practical Notes

hexdump -C is useful for inspecting binary headers, encoded data, and file signatures.