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HEXEDIT DOS File Editor Version 2.0 Copyright 1991,1992 by Larry Michaels Table of Contents INTRODUCTION...................................1 SHAREWARE NOTICE...............................1 REGISTRATION FORM..............................2 NOTES ON USING HEXEDIT.........................3 FILES........................................3 CHANGING FILE READ/WRITE MODE................3 CHANGING FILE HIDDEN ATTRIBUTE...............4 EDITING ANOTHER FILE.........................4 IMPORTING FILES..............................4 DISPLAYING THE DIRECTORY.....................4 CONFIGURATION FILE...........................4 SCREEN LAYOUT................................5 EDITING......................................5 CURSOR MOVEMENT..............................5 SEARCH AND REPLACE...........................6 BLOCK OPERATIONS.............................6 PRINTING.....................................6 FILE TRUNCATION..............................7 REPEAT CHANGE................................7 UNDO.........................................7 SCREEN ATTRIBUTES............................7 HELP.........................................7 DOS SHELL....................................7 LIST OF HEXEDIT COMMANDS........................8 1 INTRODUCTION HEXEDIT is a simple, easy to use editor with which you can create, view, and edit DOS files in both hex and ASCII formats. I wrote HEXEDIT to fill a need which I often have to be able to create and edit binary files such as the input and output files for other applications which I am developing. After looking through both the commercial and shareware markets, and asking other software developers, I came to the conclusion that there was no product available for editing binary files as easily as text files. I added a few special features such as the ability to set read/write and hidden attributes, jump to any file offset, search for/replace strings in both hex and ASCII formats, insert the contents of another file into the file being edited, and truncate the file after the cursor to facilitate specific tasks which frequently need to be done. I hope that you will try out HEXEDIT, and find it usefull. I am anxious to receive comments and suggestions from users. Version 2.0 includes a few new features not in version 1, as well as a few bug fixes. This document describes HEXEDIT's features. While running HEXEDIT, help can be obtained by pressing F1. SHAREWARE NOTICE HEXEDIT is SHAREWARE software. This means that you are free to try it out for 30 days to decide whether or not you wish to use it. If you decide to use it, you are urged to please send a very modest $16 US registration fee, along with any comments or suggestions you may have. Your registration will inform me that you are using my software, and help pay my rent. Software development is my only source of income, so your cooperation in registering will be greatly appreciated. A registration form is included in this document, and can also be printed out by pressing 'P' from the startup screen. You are free (and encouraged) to distribute HEXEDIT to friends, co-workers, neighbors, etc. with the following conditions: - This file (HEXEDIT.DOC) is included, and the files are left as they are without any modifications, - If any fee is charged, it should be minimal, - The recipients know, or are informed about, the shareware concept. I have made a sincere effort to remove all bugs from this software. If any bugs are found however, I apologize and request that they be brought to my attention. No warranty, either explicit or implied is (or can be) made on this software. I assume no financial responsibilty for any loss of data, time, profits, or other damages resulting from the use (or misuse) of HEXEDIT. Thank you for trying HEXEDIT; I hope that you will find it useful. Larry Michaels P.O. Box 59379 Chicago, IL 60659 U.S.A. A registration form can be printed by pressing 'P' from the startup screen. A copy of the form is also included on the following page. INVOICE FOR HEXEDIT VER 2.0 Remit to: From: Larry Michaels _______________________________ P.O. Box 59379 Chicago, IL 60659 _______________________________ _______________________________ _______________________________ _______________________________ _______________________________ Phone:_________________________ Where did you get your copy of HEXEDIT? ________________________ Registration $16US per user Quantity:____ x $16 = ___________ IL residents add 7% sales tax: ___________ Total: ___________ Comments: 3 NOTES ON USING HEXEDIT FILES HEXEDIT will accept any file which can be opened and read by DOS. The file name may be supplied on the command line. If no file name or an invalid file name is specified, the file "NONAME.###" will be created (or opened, if it already exists). If a non-existent file is specified, a new file will be created. For files which do not have write permission, HEXEDIT will display the file, but will not accept any commands to alter it. On the top line, the words "READ ONLY" will appear. The read/write mode of the file can be changed to allow editing using the Change File Mode command described later. For files which are not read-only, HEXEDIT automatically creates a backup file upon startup. All changes are made to the backup file, and the original file is not altered until the user presses a save key (Alt S or Alt Z). If HEXEDIT detects upon startup that there is not enough disk space to create a backup file, it will open the file in read-only mode. The backup file is given the same name as the original file with the file extension ".BAK". If the original file has the extension ".BAK" the backup file is given the extension ".BAC". During an edit session, HEXEDIT may create a temporary storage file with the same name as the original file and the extension ".$@!". This file is automatically deleted upon exit. If HEXEDIT runs out of disk space during a disk write, the user will be informed, and the results may be unpredictable. The user should make sure that there is at least enough free disk space to accommodate a backup file of the same size as the original plus a temporary file of about 120 Kbytes. Large block operations will require more disk sapce. To save the file (ie. update the original file) without leaving HEXEDIT, Alt S is used. Alt Z will save the file and exit. Alt A will save the file under a new name provided by the user. HEXEDIT may be exited without affecting the original file (providing that Alt S has not been pressed already) by pressing Alt X. If any changes have been made during the editing session (or since the last save), the user will be prompted whether or not those changes should be abandoned. Pressing "Y", will cause HEXEDIT to close without saving, while "N" will cause the file to be updated. ESCAPE will cancel the request. CHANGING FILE READ/WRITE MODE As mentioned, HEXEDIT will open both files with read-write and read-only permission. The user may change the read/write permission mode of the file by pressing Alt M and selecting the desired file mode. A read-only file which is changed to read-write will be changed immediately to read-write, a backup file will be created, and modifications will then be allowed. A file with read-write permission which is changed to read-only will not actually be changed until one of the save commands are issued by the user. Therefore, changes to the file will still be allowed until the file is saved. 4 CHANGING FILE HIDDEN ATTRIBUTE HEXEDIT provides the facility to set the hidden attribute bit of the file being edited. Files with their hidden attribute bit set will not be listed by the DOS DIR command nor by many other applications. The user may set this attribute by pressing Alt H. When the file's hidden attribute is changed, HEXEDIT will indicate the change on the top line by placing parentheses around the file name (for hidden files), or by removing the parentheses. EDITING ANOTHER FILE At any time, the user can switch to a different file for editing by pressing Alt E. If changes have been made to the current file since the last save, the user will be prompted as to whether or not the changes should be abandoned. The user will then be prompted to enter a file name. If a valid file name is entered, the current file will be closed, the specified new file will be opened (or created), and editing will proceed with the new file. IMPORTING FILES HEXEDIT can insert the contents of any file into the file currently being edited. When Alt I is pressed, the user will be prompted for the name of the file to import. The contents of that file will be inserted in the current file, starting at the current offset. DISPLAYING THE DIRECTORY Whenever the user is in a file name prompt field (import file, save as, edit another file), the contents of the directory can be displayed by either pressing F7, or by entering a path name on the prompt line and pressing ENTER. Disk drive specifiers can be included in the path. Up to about 4500 files per directory can be displayed. The names of hidden files and directories (ie. those which have their hidden attribute bit set) are displayed enclosed in parentheses. The upper left corner of the directory screen shows the current drive and directory. While viewing the directory, the arrow keys, PgUp, PgDn, Ctrl PgUp, and Ctrl PgDn are be used to move around the directory. The TAB key is used to toggle between the directory display and the prompt line. By entering a different path on the prompt line, a different directory can be displayed. The currently selected file can be deleted by pressing DELETE. CONFIGURATION FILE HEXEDIT reads and writes a startup file named HEXEDIT.CFG. This file specifies the screen attributes and the printer setup parameters. Upon startup, HEXEDIT looks in the current directory for this file and if it is not found there, it searches the DOS path for it. If the file is not found, default values are used. Upon exit, HEXEDIT updates this file if any configuration changes have been made, or creates a new file if none already exists. 5 SCREEN LAYOUT The HEXEDIT screen is broken into three main sections. The top line displays the name of the file being edited on the left side, and the Insert/Overtype mode on the right. If the file's hidden attribute bit is set, the file name will appear enclosed in parentheses. The bottom line normally displays the file offset of the byte at which the cursor is positioned. This line is also used to prompt the user for information and to display messages. The main part of the screen is broken into three columns. On the left of each row is displayed the file offset of the first byte on that line. In the middle are the hex representations of up to 16 bytes, while on the right, the ASCII character repesentations of the same bytes are displayed. The cursor may be positioned on any byte in either the hex of ASCII fields. The cursor can be toggled between fields by pressing ALT T. EDITING The actions taken upon a keystroke depend on the current location of the cursor and the Insert/Overtype mode. When the Insert mode is set and the cursor is in the hex portion of the screen, only they keys 0-9, a-f (besides control keys) are accepted. If the cursor is on the upper nibble of a byte, a new byte will be inserted with the lower nibble the same as the original byte and the upper nibble depending on the key pressed. The cursor will then be positioned at the lower nibble of the new byte. The next keystroke will set the lower nibble of that byte. If the cursor is on the lower nibble of a byte when a key is pressed, a new byte will be inserted with the upper nibble the same as the original byte, and the lower nibble depending on the key pressed. In Overtype mode, the nibble at which the cursor is positioned will be overwritten. If the cursor is in the ASCII field when a key is pressed, a new byte will be inserted at the current position. Any byte value (0-255) will be accepted in this field. In Overtype mode, the current nibble or byte will be overwritten with the new one. The Insert/Overtype mode can be toggled by pressing the INSERT key, and is displayed on the top line of the screen. In Insert mode, pressing the DELETE key will cause the current byte to be deleted. In the hex field, BACKSPACE will cause the previous byte to be deleted. In the ASCII field however, since Backspace is a valid ASCII byte, pressing BACKSPACE will cause a backspace byte (08h) to be inserted. To backspace in the ASCII field, Shift BACKSPACE is used. CURSOR MOVEMENT The arrow keys move the cursor one byte, nibble, or line at a time. Page Up and Page Down will position the cursor one page up or down. Ctrl Pg Up moves to the beginning of the file and Ctrl Pg Dn moves to the end of the file. The Home key causes the cursor to be positioned on the first byte on the current line, while the End key positions the cursor at the last byte on the line. Alt T toggles the cursor between the hex and ASCII fields. 6 SEARCH AND REPLACE HEXEDIT allows the user to jump to any given file offset or search for a string of bytes. Strings may also be replaced one at a time or globally. To go to a particular byte offset, Alt G is used. The user will be prompted for an offset value which must be given in hex. Preceeding zeroes need not be entered. Pressing ESCAPE while in the will prompt field will cancel the operation while ENTER will execute the operation. Strings for search and replace may be specified in either hex or ASCII. To specify a search string in hex, the F2 key is used, while Alt F2 is used for ASCII. The keys F3 (hex) and Alt F3 (ASCII) request search and replace. When entering a string in ASCII format, to escape, backspace, or execute, Shift ESCAPE, Shift BACKSPACE, and Shift ENTER resectively must be used since the ESCAPE, BACKSPACE, and ENTER keys produce valid bytes which will be included in the strings. After a match of the search string has been found, the next or previous matches may be found by pressing F4 or Ctrl F4 respectively. HEXEDIT will also search the file to count the number of occurrences of a string. The keys F9 (hex) and Alt F9 (ASCII) are used. This function works much the same way as a global string replace, except that occurrences of the string are counted, but not replaced. For all string search and replace functions, searching begins at the current offset and proceeds in the forward direction. To search the file before the current offset Ctrl F4 (find previous) is used. Whenever the current offset lies within a selected block when a search is initiated, the user will be prompted whether the entire file should be searched, or only the block. If the user selects the block only option, further F4 (find next) commands will only cause the blocked part of the file to be searched. BLOCK OPERATIONS Any section of the file may be blocked. Blocks may be created and resized using Alt B, or by using the cursor control keys while holding the Shift key. To copy a block into the block buffer Alt C is used. Shift DELETE will cause the block to be deleted and copied into the block buffer. To remove the block highlight (unblock), Alt R is used. Once a block has been copied or deleted, Shift INSERT will cause the block to be inserted at the current offset. PRINTING HEXEDIT can print all or part of the file being edited. Alt P causes the entire file be printed, while ALT L prints only the blocked bytes. The file is printed in the same format as is displayed on the screen with the exception that bytes with values below 20h and above 7fh are replaced with space characters in the ASCII field to avoid confusing the printer. The printer port, lines per page, and end of page character can be set by pressing ALT O. These values are stored in the startup file HEXEDIT.CFG, and read upon startup. 7 FILE TRUNCATION HEXEDIT provides a fast and simple way of truncating a file. By pressing F10, the file will be truncated following the cursor (ie. the current byte will become the last byte of the file). REPEAT CHANGE Single-byte changes can be repeated an indefinite number of times by pressing F8. In Insert mode, the last byte inserted or changed (ie. the new value) will be inserted at the current cursor position. In Overtype mode, the current byte will be changed to the value of the last changed or inserted byte. This feature is useful for entering multiple instances of special bytes which can not otherwise be produced with a single keystroke, such as those entered using the numeric keypad with Alt. UNDO Pressing Alt U will cause the last change to be undone. This works for single byte changes as well as replaces and block insertions and deletions. SCREEN ATTRIBUTES The screen attributes may be changed by pressing F5 (foreground) and F6 (background). The foreground and background attributes of the top and bottom lines (and help screens) are changed with Alt F5 and Alt F6. HELP Help screens can be displayed by pressing F1. DOS SHELL A DOS shell may be opened by pressing Alt D. Typing "ESCAPE" at the DOS prompt while in the shell will return control to HEXEDIT. Be careful not to alter the file being edited, the backup file, or the temporary file ("xxx.$@!") while in the DOS shell as the results will be unpredictable. 8 The following is a list of HEXEDIT commands: Change Scrn FG color F5 Changes the foreground color of the screen. Change Scrn BG color F6 Changes the background color of the screen. Change Scrn FG color Alt F5 Changes the foreground color of lines 1&25. Change Scrn BG color Alt F6 Changes the background color of lines 1&25. Configure Printer Alt O Allows printer parameters to be set. Copy Block Alt C Copies the selected block to the block buffer. Count Occurrs (ASCII) Alt F9 Counts the # of occurrences of an ASCII str. Count Occurrs (hex) F9 Counts the # of occurrences of a hex string. Delete Block Shift DEL Moves the selected block to the block buffer. DOS Shell Alt D Goes to DOS. Edit Another File Alt E Opens a different file for editing. Find Next F4 Finds next occurrence of search string. Find Previous Shift F4 Finds previous occurrence of search string. Goto File Offset Alt G Jumps to to given file offset Help F1 Displays help screens. Import File Alt I Inserts the contents of the specified file. Insert Block Shift INS Inserts the contents of the block buffer. Print All Alt P Prints entire file. Print Block Alt L Prints selected block. Quit Alt X Quits without saving. Remove Block Markers Alt R Unselects block. Repeat Last Byte F8 Repeats last byte insert/change Replace ASCII String Alt F3 Searches for and replaces an ASCII string. Replace Hex String F3 Searches for and replaces a hex string. Save and Quit Alt Z Saves file and quits. Save As Alt A Saves file under specified name. Save File Alt S Saves file and continues. Search for ASCII Str Alt F2 Searches for a string entered in ASCII format. Search for Hex Str F2 Searches for a string entered in hex format. Set Block Marker Alt B Sets and moves block start and end. Set File Mode Alt M Sets the current file's read/write mode. Set File Hidden Attr Alt H Sets the current file's hidden attribute. Show Directory F7 When in file name fields displays directory. Toggle Field Alt T Toggles between hex and ASCII fields Togl Ins/Ovrtype mode INSERT Toggles between Insert and Overtype modes. Truncate File F10 Truncates the file after the current offset. Undo Alt U Undoes last change/insert/delete.