\input texinfo   @c -*-texinfo-*-
@c %**start of header
@setfilename hexeditor.info
@settitle Ncurses Hexedit
@c %**end of header

@dircategory Editors
@direntry
* hexeditor: (hexeditor).             Binary ascii/ebcdic terminal hex editor.
@end direntry

@ifinfo
[N]Curses Hexedit Manual

Copyright (C) 1999 Adam Rogoyski
@end ifinfo

@titlepage
@title [N]Curses Hexedit
@subtitle The hexedit manual
@author Adam Rogoyski

@page
@vskip 0pt plus 1filll
Copyright @copyright{} 1999 Adam Rogoyski

Permission is granted to make and distribute verbatim copies of this
manual provided the copyright notice and this permission notice are
preserved on all copies.

Permission is granted to copy and distribute modified versions of this
manual under the conditions for verbatim copying, provided that the entire
resulting derived work is distributed under the terms of a permission
notice identical to this one.

Permission is granted to copy and distribute translations of this manual
into another language, under the above conditions for modified version,
except that this permission notice may be stated in a translation approved
by the Free Software Foundation.

@end titlepage

@node	Top, 	Introduction, (dir), 	(dir)

@menu
* Introduction::	About hexedit, the author, and life in general.
* Getting Started::	Getting hexedit, compiling, running.
* Program Operations::	Program usage and commands.
@end menu




@node Introduction, Getting Started, Top, Top
@chapter Introduction

@menu
* What is Hexedit::           Brief intro to the program.
* Copyright and License::     Terms of copying.
* Author::                    Info about me.
* Feedback and Bugs::         When to contact me.
* Contributions::             Who's helped so far.
@end menu


@node What is Hexedit, Copyright and License, , Introduction
@section What is Hexedit?


@strong{hexedit} is a Curses based Hex editor.
Unlike a text editor, which is used for editing text documents in the desired language,
@strong{hexedit} lets you edit any file as its byte@footnote{I assume a byte is an 8-bit
octet.  If this is not the case, I really recommend NOT using this program.}
for byte representation.  It can even let you view and edit your fixed disks on your Linux
system.  This is not ideal for writing a letter or writing c code, but
there are my times when this is ideal:

@itemize @bullet
@item
Editing binary executables.  
@item
Editing your fixed disks (i.e. /dev/hda)
@item
Checking the output of a Program's binary data file.
@item
Any place you might use od(1) but need more power.  Compare more vs less.
@item 
Any other time you find this useful (tell me).
@end itemize


@node	Copyright and License, Author, What is Hexedit, Introduction
@section Copyright and License
@strong{[N]Curses Hexedit} Copyright @copyright{} 1998,1999 Adam Rogoyski @*
@ @*
This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU
General Public License as publish by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or
(at your option) any later version.@*
@ @*
This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even
the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the GNU General Public
License for more details.@*
@ @*
You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along with this program;  if not,
write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc., 675 Mass Ave, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA


@node	Author, Feedback and Bugs, Copyright and License, Introduction
@section Author
@strong{[N]Curses Hexedit} was written by Adam Rogoyski@footnote{Email me at
apoc@@laker.net}@footnote{There is a picture of me at http://profiles.yahoo.com/rogoyski/}.
At the time of writing (December 1998) I am a Sophomore of Computer Science at the University of
Texas at Austin.  I use Debian GNU/Linux and OpenBSD, I enjoy playing electric guitar, and
I currently reside Pflugerville, Texas USA.  My heroes are Richard
Stallman, Stevie Ray Vaughan, and Lisa Loeb.


@node	Feedback and Bugs, Contributions, Author, Introduction
@section Feedback and Bugs
Astounding as it may be, there quite possibly are bugs in @strong{hexedit}.  You can do your
share to help Free Software@footnote{http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.html} be robust
and secure by telling me about any problems you find.  Patches are even better.  General
feedback is appreciated as well, if only to tell me that @strong{hexedit} saved the day 
again, or that my obscure program wasted half your day when you already knew how to use
emacs (M-x hexl-mode) in the first place.@*
@ @*
 I can be reached at @emph{apoc@@laker.net}


@node	Contributions, , Feedback and Bugs, Introduction
@section Contributions
The following people contributed valuable feedback and information
@itemize @bullet
@item
John Gatewood Ham: Gave some tips for the documentation.
@item
Cort (unknown): Idea for Undo.
@item
Matt Noel: EBCDIC support and spacing.  Countless suggestions and ideas.
@item
Everyone else who mailed me and told me things that broke and gave suggestions.
@end itemize



@node	Getting Started, Program Operations, Introduction, Top
@chapter Getting Started

@menu
* Obtaining Source::		Where to find hexedit.
* Obtaining Binaries::		Where to find binaries.
* Building from Source::	What to do to build hexedit.
* Command Line Invocation::	starting from the shell.
@end menu



@node Obtaining Source, Obtaining Binaries, , Getting Started
@section Obtaining Source
The latest source tar'd and gzip'd can be obtained at@*
@emph{http://ccwf.cc.utexas.edu/~apoc/programs/c/hexedit/}@*
and also from everyone's favorite ftp site@*
@emph{ftp://metalab.unc.edu/pub/Linux/apps/editors/terminal/}@*
If you do not know what tar and gzip are, and are using a DOS derived OS,
@xref{Obtaining Binaries}.


@node Obtaining Binaries, Building from Source, Obtaining Source, Getting Started
@section Obtaining Binaries
Pre-compiled statically linked binaries can be obtained for the following
operating systems: i386 Linux, i386 OpenBSD, and DOS.
The location for these is:@*
@emph{http://ccwf.cc.utexas.edu/~apoc/programs/c/hexedit/}

I've Built and tested hexedit on the following platforms:

@itemize @bullet
@item
Linux 2.0.36 i386    ncurses 4.2 (gcc)

@item 
Linux 2.2.6  i386    ncurses 4.2 (gcc)

@item
OpenBSD 2.4  i386    ncurses     (gcc)

@item
SunOS 5.6    Sparc   curses      (gcc)

@item
AIX 4.3.2    rs6000  curses      (gcc and cc)

@item
AIX 4.3.2    ppc     curses      (gcc and cc)

@item
DOS 6.22     i386    pdcurses    (djgpp gcc)

@item
IRIX 6.3     mips    curses      (gcc)

@item
HP-UX B.10.20        curses      (gcc)

@item
SunOS 5.5.1  sparc   curses      (gcc)

@item
OSF V4.0     alpha   curses      (gcc)
@end itemize


@node Building from Source, Command Line Invocation, Obtaining Binaries, Getting Started
@section Building from Source
Building from source should be very strait forward.  I used the GNU
configure system (autoconf and automake) so, like any GNU compliant program,
the sequence
@example
   ./configure
   make
   make install
@end example
should be all that's needed to install the package.  Additional options may
need to be given to configure, check INSTALL for such options.


@subsection i386 Linux
I extremely recommend you upgrade to ncurses 4.2 for hexedit to work.  It should
work with all versions, but resizing in an xterm seems to work better with the
newest release. The latest ncurses can be obtained at the nearest GNU ftp archive
(or ftp://ftp.gnu.org/pub/gnu/).


@subsection i386 OpenBSD
OpenBSD 2.4 I believe comes with ncurses, and it worked fine at my end.

@subsection rs/6000 AIX 4.3
I belive I've fixed the previous AIX problems I was having.  Let me know if
anything else turns up.


@node Command Line Invocation, , Building from Source, Getting Started
@section Command Line Invocation
Basic program usage is as follows:@*
@example
@strong{hexedit} [@emph{flags}] [@emph{filename}]@*
@end example
Where filename is the file which you wish to edit.  Additionally, starting the program
with no file@*
@example
@strong{hexedit} [@emph{flags}]@*
@end example
will bring up the file selection widget which will allow you to browse
for the file.  The command line arguments which are supported are@*

  -h, --help        Prints help.@*
  -8, --highbit     Allows displaying of high order bit text.@*
  -a, --alltext     Allows displaying of all text (probably bad idea).@*
  -b, --buffer      Buffer the entire file into memory.@*
  -d, --disk        View a fixed disk (Linux only).@*
  -f, --force       Allow editing of disk (Linux only).@*
  -q, --quiet       No Beeping!@*
  -r, --readonly    Prevents modifying the file.@*
  -v, --version     Prints version number.@*
@*

Defaults may be specified in the HEXEDIT environment variable, i.e.@*

   sh: @emph{export HEXEDIT=-8r}@*
  csh: @emph{setenv HEXEDIT=-8r}@*


@node	Program Operations, , Getting Started, Top
@chapter Program Operations


@menu
* Choosing a file::		How to select a file to edit.
* Choosing a fixed disk::	How to select a fixed disk to view/edit.
* Windows::			Descriptions of the various windows.
* Moving About::		How to traverse the file.
* Editing::			Editing procedures.
* Undo::			Fixing mistakes.
* Searching::			Locating specific strings.
* Quit::			Exiting the editor.
* Save::			Committing changes to disk.
* Save and Quit::		Committing changes with exit.
* Redraw::			Refreshing the screen.
* View as Text::		Take an text snapshot of offset.
* Ascii <=> EBCDIC::		Switch between text representations
* Switch Spacings::		Change the way the bytes are grouped
* Binary Calculator::		Base conversions.
* Help::			Accessing online help.
@end menu



@node Choosing a file, Choosing a fixed disk, , Program Operations
@section Choosing a file
Before editing can begin, you much select a file to edit.  This can be done on the
command line:
@example
   hexedit filename
@end example
Quite possibly, you may not remember the location of the file you wish to edit, or you
may wish to browse over many possible files available to find the file you are looking
for.  Hexedit comes equipped with a full screen file/directory browser which enables you
to specify the file you wish to edit.  Not specifying any file on the command line:
@example
   hexedit
@end example
will bring up the file selection browser. Choosing (pressing enter) a directory will open
that directory for viewing.  Choosing a file will open that file in the editor.



@node Choosing a fixed disk, Windows, Choosing a file, Program Operations
@section Choosing a fixed disk.
Hexedit, when run in Linux, permits access to read and edit fixed disks (i.e. /dev/hda).
Using the @emph{-d} option will allow you to edit a disk.  Currently, the disk can be
only up to 4.2 gigs, but this will probably change in a future release.@*
   By default, editing a disk will put you in read-only mode.  This is for your own
protection.  If you really think you know what you are doing, issue the @emph{-f} flag
and it will force edit mode for the disk and allow you to make changes to your disk.  
Use this with @strong{EXTREME CAUTION!}  If you make a mistake to your boot sector, 
erase a few important inodes, or hit the wrong keystroke, you could be seriously out
of luck.  It is really easy to put your disk in an unusable state.  Also, remember that
the disk could very well be changing as you look at it.  So the next time you view a
chunk, it may be different, or even the chunk you are currently viewing may have changed
on disk since you read it into the editor's buffer.  So be careful if you want to edit
a mounted disk.@*
   To put this in another way, if you don't know exactly why you would want to use 
this option, @emph{Never Use It!}  @strong{IMPORTANT}:  Never use this in conjunction
with the @emph{-b} option to buffer the entire file into memory.  I will leave it to
you to think why this would be bad.  



@node Windows, Moving About, Choosing a fixed disk, Program Operations
@section Windows
The screen is made up of three windows, the @strong{Status} window, the @strong{Main}
window, and the @strong{Help} window.  A typical view would look something like this.
@example
File: data.dat                  ASCII Offset: 0x00004250 / 0x000096BB (%44)
00004200  55 89 E5 53  8b 5D 08 A1   A8 0D 05 08  39 05 AC 0D  U..S.]......9...
00004210  05 08 0F 8C  8C 00 00 00   05 00 04 00  00 A3 A8 0D  ................
00004220  05 08 C1 E0  02 50 A1 B0   0D 05 08 50  E8 4B CB FF  .....P.....P.K..
                              .
                              .
                             etc
                              .
                              .
^G Help   ^C Exit (No Save)   ^T goTo Offset   ^X Exit and Save   ^W Search
@end example

And so on.  

@subsection Status Window
The Status Window is the first line of the screen.  At all times, it conveys the following
information
@itemize @bullet
  @item
         @strong{Filename} which you are working on
  @item
         @strong{Character Set} which you are using, ASCII or EBCDIC
  @item
         @strong{Current Offset} which you are at
  @item
         @strong{Size} of file
  @item
         @strong{Percent}age way through the file
  @item
         @strong{Modified Flag}: A M in the upper right corner signals that the file has been
                                modified since last save, or that the file is read-only
@end itemize

It typically looks like this
@example
File: data.dat       ASCII Offset: 0x00004250 / 0x000096BB (%44)
@end example


@subsection Main Window
The Main Window is the bulk of your view. It is where all viewing and editing of the file
takes place.  All cursor operations and movements take place within this window.
Operations within the Main Window are described in detail in section @ref{Moving About}

The Main Window is broken up vertically into three columns of information.  The
first column from the left is the base offset@footnote{All offsets are in Hexadecimal (base16)} 
which represents the offset of the first byte of that row in the Data column.

The second column is the Data column, where the Hexadecimal representation of
each byte of the file is listed.  Each row consists of 16 bytes, separated into 2
columns of 8 bytes, each separated into columns of 4 bytes.
A typical row looks like: (third column not shown)
@example
00004280   50 E8 A6 CA@ @ FF FF E8 41@ @ @ CA FF FF 68@ @ 90 F5 04 08
@end example

The third column of the main window is the text representation on that row's bytes.
Non printable characters
are represented as a "." dot.

@subsection Help Window
The Help Window is the friendly reminder of basic commands within the editor.  It cannot
be removed.

@subsection Popup Windows
Various commands may bring up a Popup Window.  This is a smaller window centered in the
Main Window.  Various operations, such as Searching, Jumping to another offset, saving, etc.
require their own window, and will "Pop" one up.  @emph{Escape}, @emph{Control-X}, and
@emph{Control-G} can be used to cancel most Popup Windows.


@node Moving About, Editing, Windows, Program Operations
@section Moving About
Moving about the file is done through the full screen terminal interface.  Operations were
meant to be easy to learn and comfortable to use.  

@subsection Hex <=> Text (Tab)
The Main Window is composed of the hex and text representation of the file.  The cursor
may be moved from one to the other by use of @strong{Tab} or @strong{Control-I}@footnote{Control-X signifies holding down the control key and hitting X}.
Being on the Hex representation will be called Hex Mode, with being on the text
representation Text Mode.

@subsection Arrow Keys
The arrow keys are the basic way to move about the file.  In Hex Mode, left and right
shift you four bits in the file.  Going right, you could move to the lower 4 bits of
the current byte (b & 0x0F), or move to the higher 4 bits of the next byte (b & 0xF0).
Left can bring you either to the higher 4 bits of the current byte, or to the lower bits
of the previous byte.  Up and Down  move you 16 bytes (offset +- 0x10) through the
file@footnote{This isn't always true if you are near the end of the file}.

In Text Mode, left and right always move you one byte, with Up and Down moving you
16 bytes.


@subsection Jumping
From your current offset, you can jump to an offset relative to where you are.  With
the cursor in the hex data area, Pressing @emph{+} or @emph{-} will bring up a entry
box in the help window, in which you can type in the amount to jump.  Depending on whether
you did a plus or minus, you will traverse to @strong{current offset} @emph{+|-}
@strong{value}.  After the first jump, you can use the @emph{n} key to continue to
jump by that offset a multitude of times.  

@subsection Misc
The following keys function as you'd expect them to
@itemize @bullet
  @item
         @emph{Page Up} (also @emph{Control-Y}, @emph{Control-B}, @emph{Alt-V}, @emph{u}, @emph{y})
  @item
         @emph{Page Down} (also @emph{Control-F}, @emph{Control-V}, @emph{space}, @emph{v})
  @item
         @emph{Home}
  @item
         @emph{End}
@end itemize

@subsection GoTo Offset
At any time, you may jump to a specific offset of the file with @emph{Control-T} or @emph{t}.
This will bring up a Popup Window which will prompt you to enter
the new file offset.  The new offset may be given in 
decimal@footnote{Decimal numbers are base10, ex: 255},
octal@footnote{Octal numbers are base8, prefixed by a 0, ex: 0377},
or hex@footnote{Hex numbers are base16, prefixed by 0x, ex: 0xFF}.

Note, the default value will be 0,
permitting a fast way to jump to the beginning of the file.


@node Editing, Undo, Moving About, Program Operations
@section Editing
Editing is the primary@footnote{This would make viewing the secondary function, perhaps.}
function of the editor.

@subsection Modifying Bytes

@subsubsection Hex Mode
In this mode, Characters 0-9 and A-F may be used to change the current byte.  All other
characters are ignored.  

@subsubsection Text Mode
In this mode, any printable character may be used to change the current byte.

@subsection Insert
Insert allows you to, in-place, insert a new byte of data into the file, thus increasing
the size of the file by one byte.  The new byte is always equal to zero until you modify
it.  Insert is done through the @emph{Insert} key or @emph{Control-A}.  Insert is only
enabled if you use the @emph{-b} option to buffer the entire file into memory.  This is
not something I will consider changing.  If you want to modify your copy to allow this, 
best of luck to you.  Insert cannot work on disks either.  

To simulate appending a byte to the end of the file, Jump to the end of the file,
and insert a byte.  This will have pushed the last byte over one.  Copy the value of that
byte to the new zeroed byte.  Now zero the last byte.

@subsection Delete
Delete allows you to delete the current byte, shifting the remainder of the file back one,
thus decreasing the size of the file by one byte.  Delete is done through the @emph{Delete}
key or @emph{Control-D}.  Delete will only work if you use the @emph{-b} option to buffer
the entire file into memory.  Same as with Insert, this is not going to change in a future
release.  Usually, you can use dd(1) to get the part of the file/disk you want, insert and
delete on that to your heart's content, and then dd that back to the file/disk.  

If there is only one byte in the file, Delete will zero the byte, but you cannot
reduce the file to zero bytes@footnote{I recommend rm(1) for this}


@node Undo, Searching, Editing, Program Operations
@section Undo
While editing a file, it is quite likely that you may make a mistake@footnote{Or a typo, if you prefer}.
To facilitate this, an extensive Undo command has been implemented on your behalf.
@emph{Control-U} Undoes the previous change to the file.  The editor keeps track
of all modifications, insertions, and deletions.  What this means is that at any time
you can, if you wish, revert the file back to its original state by a series of
undos.

If you do @emph{Control-U} and the last changed byte is currently viewable
in the Main Window, then the cursor will relocate to that byte and revert it to its
previous state.  If the last changed byte is not currently viewable, the currently
viewable area will shift so that the changed byte is viewable.  In other words, you
will be relocated to that part of the file, with the cursor on that byte at that 
offset.  The byte WILL NOT be undone.  Another @emph{Control-U} will now undo the
change@footnote{This is probably worded poorly, but it's easy to see what I mean when
you try it}.


@node Searching, Quit, Undo, Program Operations
@section Searching
Searching allows you to quickly@footnote{The fast Boyer-Moore algorithm is used}
locate a specific sequence of characters or bytes in the file.  @emph{Control-W} or @emph{w}
brings up a Popup Window giving you the options of Find Next (@emph{N}),
Search for text string (@emph{A}), and Search for Hex bytes (@emph{H}).

@subsection Search for Text String
This options allows you to search for specific character strings of text.  Spaces
are allowed.

@subsection Search for Hex Bytes
This options allows you to search for a specific string of bytes in the file.  The
Popup Window has an entry box, which accepts a sequence of bytes in Hex (0-9, A-F),
while it shows the text representation of those bytes above.  Non printable
characters are shown as "." dot.

@subsection Find Next
This options allows you to find the next occurrence of the previous search (text or
Hex).  This option is not available until after your first search is completed.

This options is bound to @emph{Control-N} to allow quickly locating the
next match.


@node Quit, Save, Searching, Program Operations
@section Quit
Quiting without prompting to save is done by @emph{Control-C}.  It will bring up
a Popup Window to make sure of your decision to quit the program.


@node Save, Save and Quit, Quit, Program Operations
@section Save
To save the file at any time with the currently made changes is done with
@emph{Control-O}@footnote{On OpenBSD and a few other OS's, This keystroke
does not seem to work.  It has something to do with the terminal using it}.
The file may be saved over the current file@footnote{This isn't always possible.  One place is
in DOS if you try to save over the executable currently being run}, or you may save the file as
a new or different file.  In the event of an error or inability to save, you will be given
the standard@footnote{perror (filename)} error message in the Popup Window.


@node Save and Quit, Redraw, Save, Program Operations
@section Save and Quit
To exit the program, saving the file as you go, use @emph{Control-X}.  If the file has not
been modified since the last save, the program will exit without saving.  If the file has 
been modified, you will be prompted for the filename to save to, which may be different
than the current filename.  In the event of an error or inability to save, you will be given
the standard error message in the Popup Window, and the program will resume operations without
terminating.


@node Redraw, View as Text, Save and Quit, Program Operations
@section Redraw
In the event that the terminal becomes unreadable, or for any other reason, the screen may
be redrawn with @emph{Control-L}.  This will only erase and redraw the screen.  If the
terminal needs to be reset@footnote{By '/bin/echo "\033c"' perhaps}, the terminal will
still need to be reset.


@node View as Text, Ascii <=> EBCDIC, Redraw, Program Operations
@section View as Text
If at any time, you would like to see what the current file looks like as an text dump, 
@emph{Control-E} will let you.  Note: This feature was intended for files which are
mostly made up of text.  I implemented this by traveling back to the previous new line
so that the text would be aligned how it would be in a text editor.  Because of this, in
a file without any new lines for a long time, you may not be able to view certain parts
of the file in this mode.  I do not see this as a problem, and I can recommend some really
nice text editors for you if you disagree.  Just don't use this function@footnote{Don't use this function.  Never use it.  I don't.}.

This feature was meant to just show you a snapshot of the current section as text.
That's all it does, that's all it will do.


@node Ascii <=> EBCDIC, Switch Spacings, View as Text, Program Operations
@section Ascii <=> EBCDIC
Some old IBM mainframes use EBCDIC instead of the ASCII character set.  To switch between
which way the text is represented, @emph{Control-R} will switch it.  If you don't know
what this is, you probably should not use it.  


@node Switch Spacings, Binary Calculator, Ascii <=> EBCDIC, Program Operations
@section Switch Spacings
Some people like having spaces between each byte, and between each 8 bytes:
@example
04 30 40 23  23 43 23 54   23 48 83 29  23 12 00 45
@end example
Some people like having the bytes grouped into four byte words:
@example
04304023 23432354 23488329 23120045
@end example
To select which way you'd like to view the file as, use @emph{Control-P} to 
switch the spacings around to the way you like it.

@node Binary Calculator, Help, Switch Spacings, Program Operations
@section Binary Calculator
A binary calculator is included which will let you convert between 
base2, base8, base10, and base16 easily.  This
can be brought up with @emph{Control-+}.  Currently, this doesn't
have all the features I'd like to spend the time to put into it, but
it still is quite useful.

Currently, all numbers in the calculator are represented in
the machines default signed Integer size, a size which will be displayed
in the status window.  This means that most likely setting the highest
bit will lead to a negative number.  If I get time, unsigned ints as well
as indefinite precision, and arithmetic functions will be added.


@node Help, , Binary Calculator, Program Operations
@section Help
At any time, @emph{Control-G} may be used to get a list of commands for the editor.  The
Help Window will also list some commonly used commands.



@contents


@bye
