Hex Editor v3.0

Installation | Description | Features | Changes | Usage | Hotkeys | Credits | License | Contact

Installation

Put HEX in a directory on your computer. Simple :)
On my own computer, I have also added a shortcut in the C:\WINDOWS\SendTo\ folder.

HEX is a freeware console based hex editor. It works fine for me, but I make no guarantees or take any responsibility for what happens when you use it. You use this product at your own risk. If there is a problem, let me know, and I will attempt to fix it.

The original HEX was written for the DOS platform, but this version has been re-tooled to compile and run under Windows. It has been tested on Windows ME, but I make the assumption that other platforms will support this program.

I wrote HEX many years ago because I needed a portable binary editor that could handle very large files. At the same time, I wanted some basic functionality like searching, jumping, deleting, inserting...

I did this re-write for a number of reasons:
-- I was interested in making the original code more efficient (I wrote the original while still a student)
-- I wanted a version compiled specifically as a Windows console application
-- I finally had some free time!
-- Sometimes I like to edit files from a command line interface - it's the same reason I still use the vi editor!

I hope you will find HEX to be a useful tool, and I encourage you to e-mail me with suggestions, bugs, or just to say that you are using this program.

To those of you who have e-mailed me about previous versions, thank you. Even if your suggestion was not incorporated into this version, I no doubt learned something when I thought about how to incorporate the feature.

Features

Edit files up to 2 gigs in size
Resize files (insert/delete bytes)
Unsaved changes are highlighted in red, and unsaved deletes in yellow
You can undo changes in the order they were made, or you can undo a specific change
Current address is displayed
Current byte, word, dword, and 24bit grouping are displayed in hex, decimal (signed and unsigned), octal and binary
You can jump to any address in the file
Pop-up ASCII Character Table can be viewed at any time. Codes are given in hex, decimal, octal, binary, and displayed as a character.
You can search for a hex sequence or an ascii string (case sensitive or not)
Calculate the Hex/Decimal/Octal/Binary equivalent of a number
View read only files
Hexdump file contents
Stats display - CRC/MD5/Modification Times/Permissions

Changes from the 2.4 version

24 Bit Data Grouping Displayed
Display modified
Program specifically compiled for Windows
File statistics viewable

Possible Additions to Future Releases

Wildcard matching on ASCII searches
Expand Command Line Capabilities
Selected hexdump
Multi-language support
Port to Linux
Customizable Hotkeys
User suggestions

Usage

hex
You will be prompted for a file to edit, or to create a new file

hex <fileToEdit>
Opens <fileToEdit> for editing

I also recommend placing a shortcut in the C:\Windows\SendTo directory

HOTKEYS

KEY	DESCRIPTION
PgUp/PgDn	Up/Down one screen of data
Arrow Keys	Move around the data
TAB	Toggle between HEX and ASCII data views
F1	Help
F2	Save
F3	Jump To Address
F4	Display ASCII Character Table
F5	Search From Current Position --HEX Area - Find HEX Sequence --ASCII Area - Find String (Case Sensitive)
Shift-F5	Search From Current Position --ASCII Area Only - Find String (Case Insensitive)
Alt-F5	Repeat Last Search Continue One Byte Past Last Occurence
F6	Decimal/Hexidecimal/Octal/Binary Convertor
F7	Undo Last Change
Shift-F7	Undo Selected Change
F8	Hexdump If no directory given C:\Windows\Temp\ is used
F9	About
Ctrl-S	File Stats CRC/MD5/Modification Times/Permissions
Delete	Mark current byte for deletion
Insert	Insert bytes into file (after current position) Requires unsaved edits to be saved
Alt-Insert	Insert bytes into file (before current position) Requires unsaved edits to be saved
Backspace	Goes back without editing data
ESC	Quit

Credits

HEX is written in C and compiled with Bloodshed Software's Dev-C++ version 4.9.7.0
The Bloodshed Software website: http://www.bloodshed.net

The conio header is a conio implementation for Mingw/Dev-C++ written by Hongli Lai <hongli@telekabel.nl>, tkorrovi <tkorrovi@altavista.net>, and Andrew Westcott <ajwestco@users.sourceforge.net>. I have modified it for my own use.

License

HEX is freeware, and you can do just about whatever you want with HEX. You can give it to anybody you want, upload it to any archive or BBS, make it available by ftp, ..., provided that the original files as supplied by me remain intact and no charge is made.

HEX doesn't have to be registered, and you do not need to buy a license to use it. If, however, you want to send me money, I won't stop you.

As I stated before, HEX is offered as is, and you use this program at your own risk.

Contacting Me

Questions or Comments?
Don't understand one of the features?
Think HEX needs another feature?
Want a copy of the old version (compiled for DOS)?
You found a bug?!

Marc B.
marcjb@yahoo.com