Skip to Content
CLI for Noobies: A Primer on the Linux Command Line
book

CLI for Noobies: A Primer on the Linux Command Line

by Joe Barr
July 2007
Beginner
347 pages
4h 40m
English
Pearson
Content preview from CLI for Noobies: A Primer on the Linux Command Line

Chapter 40. Hex Dump Unlocks Mysteries

The hex dump utility may not have been designed with an education goal in mind, or as an exploring tool, but it does a great job at both.

If you have ever been curious about what mysteries lurk within an executable binary, a word processing document, or even an image, hex dump can help you scratch that itch.

As a side benefit you will gain familiarity with the hexadecimal or base 16 numbering system, which is often referred to simply as hex.

To get started, try generating a hex dump of the file you want to examine without any syntax options, using a command like this:

A Hex Dump

linux~>hexdump /usr/bin/hexdump.
The first few lines of the output should look
 something like this: 0000000 457f 464c 0101 0001 0000 ...
Become an O’Reilly member and get unlimited access to this title plus top books and audiobooks from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers, thousands of courses curated by job role, 150+ live events each month,
and much more.

Read now

Unlock full access

More than 5,000 organizations count on O’Reilly

AirBnbBlueOriginElectronic ArtsHomeDepotNasdaqRakutenTata Consultancy Services

QuotationMarkO’Reilly covers everything we've got, with content to help us build a world-class technology community, upgrade the capabilities and competencies of our teams, and improve overall team performance as well as their engagement.
Julian F.
Head of Cybersecurity
QuotationMarkI wanted to learn C and C++, but it didn't click for me until I picked up an O'Reilly book. When I went on the O’Reilly platform, I was astonished to find all the books there, plus live events and sandboxes so you could play around with the technology.
Addison B.
Field Engineer
QuotationMarkI’ve been on the O’Reilly platform for more than eight years. I use a couple of learning platforms, but I'm on O'Reilly more than anybody else. When you're there, you start learning. I'm never disappointed.
Amir M.
Data Platform Tech Lead
QuotationMarkI'm always learning. So when I got on to O'Reilly, I was like a kid in a candy store. There are playlists. There are answers. There's on-demand training. It's worth its weight in gold, in terms of what it allows me to do.
Mark W.
Embedded Software Engineer

You might also like

CentOS 8 Essentials

CentOS 8 Essentials

Neil Smyth

Publisher Resources

ISBN: 9780132361705