Editing Hex dump (section)

{{short description|Hexadecimal view of computer data}}
{{Distinguish|Hex file (disambiguation){{!}}Hex file format}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2020|cs1-dates=y}}
{{Use list-defined references|date=October 2023}}
In [[computing]], a '''hex dump''' is a [[text-based format|textual]] [[hexadecimal]] view (on screen or paper) of computer data, from [[computer memory|memory]] or from a [[computer file]] or [[computer data storage|storage]] device. Use of a hex dump of data is usually done in the context of either [[debugging]], [[reverse engineering]] or [[digital forensics]].<ref name="COMPSCI_2017"/>  Interactive editors that provide a similar view but also manipulating the data in question are called [[hex editor]]s.

In a hex dump, each [[byte]] (8 [[bit]]s) is represented as a two-digit [[hexadecimal]] number. Hex dumps are commonly organized into rows of 8 or 16 bytes, sometimes separated by whitespaces. Some hex dumps have the hexadecimal [[memory address]] at the beginning. On systems where the conventional representation of data is [[octal]], the equivalent is an ''octal dump''. 

Some common names for this program function are <code>hexdump</code>, <code>hd</code>, <code>[[Od (Unix)|od]]</code>, <code>xxd</code> and simply <code>dump</code> or even <code>D</code>.