can I use 'vi' to edit the file with the suffix 'bin'??

[xxl_1]

ask a simple problem:

how I can edit the file with the suffix 'bin'?

[Vibhor Kumar Agarwal]

Yes you can but the ouput will not be understanable.

[Arunvijai_4]

If its a data file or ascii file, you can edit with "vi". If its a binary file, you cant do anything with "vi". Try # file and check the type before opening in "vi"

-Arun

[RAC_1]

what does file "your_file" say??
vi is not helpful if it is a binary file.

[Muthukumar_5]

Check out file information as,

# file

It has to be in text format to edit it. If it is a object file then it will not be in readable format.

If it is a text formatted one then use perl / sed to edit.

hth.

[Joseph Loo]

hi,

do this first:

# file
if it is a text/ascii file, editing will make sense, else quite pointless.

regards.
(p.s. please remember to assign points.)

[Orhan Biyiklioglu]

If you really need to edit a binary file try using hexedit http://hpux.connect.org.uk/hppd/hpux/Development/Tools/hexedit-1.2.10/

hth

[Kryno Bosman]

Check with file if the file is (read/edit)able. If it is you can try with vi. Otherwise, you can't.

[xxl_1]

I type the command:
#file cluma
cluma :command text( this is output)


can I edit it with "vi"?

[MarkSyder]

Yes you can.

Mark Syder (like the drink but spelt different)

[rariasn]

Hi,
Check out file information as,

# file file_name
# strings file_name

s2

[Wim Rombauts]

You can edit any textfiel with vi, whatever the name or extensions. Of course, when the file is not a textfile, vi can have difficulty reading it, but you can't trust the extension to tell you what type of file it is.
Extensions on unix don't really mean a thing. They are just a couple of characters that are part of te filename, just like any other character in the filename.
Filename extensions are only a way for humans to put something in the filename that is linked to the type of content in the file, but computers have no use for it at all.
To find out what is really in a file, don't look at the extension. Use the "file" and "strings" commands that are already referenced above.

[Vibhor Kumar Agarwal]

You can also use the od if you are facing some problems with vi.

[Andrew Merritt_2]

If it does turn out to be a binary file (i.e. one with control characters), you can use 'vis' and 'inv' to make it editable with vi.

E.g.

vis filename >tmpfile
vi tmpfile
inv tmpfile >filename

(See 'man inv' for the character substitutions done.)

Andrew

[Ralph Grothe]

Filenames are meaningless on Unix systems.
So one cannot say beforehand if a file is a binary just from its name
(though there are sensible naming conventions).
A better indicator of a file's content type is its magic number.
The "file" command that you used will read that and tell you from looking up a table what type it is if it found a match.
Since it tells you "command text" I think it's safe to open the file with vi.

[Shweta_3]

The suffix "bin" may or may not be an indicator of the type of file.
The command
"file " is a good way to see what kind of file is it. It may be an ascii text file/some kind of shell script executable/or a binary format etc
e.g
>file /usr/bin/ls
/usr/bin/ls: PA-RISC1.1 shared executable dynamically linked

In case it is an executable (which is what I assume you are looking for), you may get limited information about the file using commands like "strings" !!

However to edit the file, you will require to have the source for the binary, and only that you may edit and re-build the binary.