What is this?
hexyl is a command-line hex viewer: it prints the raw bytes of a file in your terminal, with colors distinguishing NULL bytes, printable ASCII, whitespace, other ASCII and non-ASCII bytes.
hexyl is a command-line hex viewer: it prints the raw bytes of a file in your terminal, with colors distinguishing NULL bytes, printable ASCII, whitespace, other ASCII and non-ASCII bytes.So it runs in the terminal — what does the output actually look like?A pure terminal tool, no GUI. It prints a classic hex dump — offsets, hex values, printable preview — with each byte category in its own color so the file's structure is visible at a glance.
A pure terminal tool, no GUI. It prints a classic hex dump — offsets, hex values, printable preview — with each byte category in its own color so the file's structure is visible at a glance.Do I need Rust or any other dependencies installed first?None for everyday use — the packages ship a self-contained binary. The cargo route is the only one needing a toolchain: Rust 1.56 or higher.
None for everyday use — the packages ship a self-contained binary. The cargo route is the only one needing a toolchain: Rust 1.56 or higher.Anything that might trip me up on Windows?Only the terminal: hexyl's colored output needs ANSI escape support, so use ConHost v2 (Windows 10 1703+) or Windows Terminal (Windows 10 1903+) — older consoles render it poorly.
Only the terminal: hexyl's colored output needs ANSI escape support, so use ConHost v2 (Windows 10 1703+) or Windows Terminal (Windows 10 1903+) — older consoles render it poorly.Does it work on macOS and Windows too, or is it a Linux-only tool?All of them: there are packages or binaries for major Linux distros, macOS, Windows, the BSDs (FreeBSD, NetBSD, OpenBSD), and even Android via Termux.
All of them: there are packages or binaries for major Linux distros, macOS, Windows, the BSDs (FreeBSD, NetBSD, OpenBSD), and even Android via Termux.Can I change the colors it uses for different byte types?Yes, via environment variables: HEXYL_COLOR_ASCII_PRINTABLE, HEXYL_COLOR_ASCII_WHITESPACE, HEXYL_COLOR_ASCII_OTHER and HEXYL_COLOR_OFFSET accept the 8 standard terminal colors, their bright variants, or RGB hex like #ff7f99.
Yes, via environment variables: HEXYL_COLOR_ASCII_PRINTABLE, HEXYL_COLOR_ASCII_WHITESPACE, HEXYL_COLOR_ASCII_OTHER and HEXYL_COLOR_OFFSET accept the 8 standard terminal colors, their bright variants, or RGB hex like #ff7f99.What do the colors actually tell me about a file?Its structure at a glance: long runs of NULL bytes (often padding), regions of readable ASCII text, whitespace, stray ASCII control bytes and non-ASCII binary blobs each show up in their own color.
Its structure at a glance: long runs of NULL bytes (often padding), regions of readable ASCII text, whitespace, stray ASCII control bytes and non-ASCII binary blobs each show up in their own color.When would I reach for a hex viewer like this?Whenever you need to see what a binary file really contains — checking file headers, verifying encodings, or finding where readable text ends and raw data begins. hexyl is built around exactly that byte-level inspection.
Whenever you need to see what a binary file really contains — checking file headers, verifying encodings, or finding where readable text ends and raw data begins. hexyl is built around exactly that byte-level inspection.What are similar projects?edit, fx, cobra, dust, homebrew-cask, spotify-tui, ripgrep, turbocrypt
edit, fx, cobra, dust, homebrew-cask, spotify-tui, ripgrep, turbocryptWhich topics is it in?commandline, terminal-app, cli-app, nix, binary-analysis, devtools, debugging, homebrew, cli-tool, bsd, utility, command-line
commandline, terminal-app, cli-app, nix, binary-analysis, devtools, debugging, homebrew, cli-tool, bsd, utility, command-line