Edit binary file

[j773303]

Which tool or command can edit binary file?
Thanks.

[RAC_1]

I don't think you can or moreover you should not.

In case you want you should change source code.

[j773303]

It is can be shown by xd command.
But I'm not sure which command could modify
the binary file contents. As I know, it could
be modified by UltraEdit tool, how about in
HP UNIX?

[Michael Tully]

You can't. A binary file is built by a program compiler from source code. If you need to make changes, you do this to the source code and re-compile it.

[Rajeev Shukla]

you can edit a binary file by writing a c program which does a direct I/O by using fwrite and fread functions.

Rajeev

[T G Manikandan]

I have not worked with editing the binary files but you are right,
you can use xd to make dump of the binary file.

open it using any editor and then re-create a new binary file after modifications.


Revert

[Ravi_8]

Hi,

xd creates Hexadecimal dump of the file which yu can't understand (edit)

[Ravi_8]

Hi,

xd creates Hexadecimal dump of the file which yu can't understand (edit) (you can't edit a binary file)

[Christian Gebhardt]

The main thing

You can do what you want but,

ONLY EDIT A BACKUP FILE !!!!

Chris

[Christian Gebhardt]

Hi

of course you can edit binary files with a hex-editor, look at
http://hpux.tn.tudelft.nl/hppd/hpux/Development/Tools/hexedit-0.9.7/

You can change textblocks, outputs, error messages and so on. The main thing is that the internal adresses of the binary may not change.

Chris

[Rainer von Bongartz]

Take a look at the ELVIS free vi clone
Elvis can edit binary files

http://elvis.the-little-red-haired-girl.org/gettingelvis/index.html

Regards
Rainer

[Eugeny Brychkov]

I would get this file to my pc and use some utilities to edit it. You know, windows (and sometimes DOS [norton-commander]) offers more 'user-friendly' interface than hpux command line :o)
Eugeny

[Tom Jackson]

You can edit binary files, but you need to know it's binary format. Getting the format can be a real challenge. It's often very difficult to decypher a binary file format. I have tried to get binary file formats from vendors. Vendors sometime have crazy algorythms to prevent users from using their format.

If you know the format, you will need to use a programming language that supports the data formats contained in the file.

Unless you have a good idea as to the format of the file, I would work with the vendor to determine the file format and language they use to read and write the files. Heck they may even give you an includes with some nice data structures!

hth,

Tom

[Frank Slootweg · Accepted solution]

For very simple binary edits, using standard HP-UX commands:

vis -n binary_file >text_file
vi text _file # Or other text editor
inv -n text_file >binary_file

[T. M. Louah]

Question for Eugeny Brychkov ... and how are you going to use that Unix-binary file after modifying (open/read/write/save/close) it on Wintho$e machine ?

[Shannon Petry]

The problem is not so easily answered. Is this a binary data file, executable, or library file?

If it's data, you can use a hex editor, but you can still wreck data if you dont know how it's formatted. So while it sounds easy, it's not.

If it's an executable or library file, I would not bother. You will most likely corrupt the file by making any changes to it. Simple text substitution even means that character count in strings MUST match. Adding or subtracting characters will corrupt the file.

Rule of thumb. Work on a backup copy so you dont hoze the original.

Regards,
Shannon

[Gregory Fruth]

Use emacs. If you want to get fancy,
emacs has a special mode called
hexl-mode.

About the only things you can safely
modify are strings, and perhaps numbers
if you are careful and know a bit about
the internal representation of them.

If it's a C-language program and you trust
that it's using libc strings (and not
roll-your-own strings) you can modify any
string in the file as long as the replacement
string is shorter than or the same length as
the original. The null byte at the end of libc
strings makes this work, even if the
replacement is shorter than the original. If
the replacement is longer than the original
you are out of luck.

Just out of curiosity, why would you want
to do such a thing?

[RAVI B. HIREMATH]

I've a tool called 'xvi', which can be used on HP-UX and is almost similar to vi. I've attached the binary here. Hope this helps.

rgds,
Ravi B Hiremath

[RAVI B. HIREMATH]

My previous reply miss the attachment. Here is the attachment.

rgds,
Ravi B Hiremath

[Tom Hayward]

A tool that I've used for editing binary files (specifically, editing header content in data files) is "beav" - binary editor and viewer. You can download it from the HP-Ux Porting & Archive Centre here:

http://hpux.ee.ualberta.ca/hppd/hpux/Editors/beav-14.0.6/

[doug hosking]

'adb -w' provides some ability to edit
binary files. The interface isn't exactly
intuitive, but it can be done.

As previously noted, some text editors can also edit binary files. It would help to know more about the types of files you need to edit and the types of editing you need to do to them.