Hexdumped

Hexdumped refers to data that has undergone a hex dump, a textual representation of binary data showing byte values in hexadecimal with an optional ASCII interpretation. This form makes low-level contents visible to humans, facilitating inspection, debugging, and analysis of file formats or network packets.

Hex dumps are generated by a variety of utilities, including hexdump, xxd, od, and hd. A typical dump displays a byte-address or offset, a sequence of hexadecimal byte values, and a right-hand ASCII column showing printable characters. Formats vary by tool, but common conventions group bytes into fixed-width lines (often 16 bytes per line) to aid visual scanning. Non-printable bytes are usually shown as a dot or a placeholder in the ASCII column.

Common uses for data that has been hexdumped include debugging binary file structures, validating data serialization, analysing unknown file formats, and forensic investigations. For developers, hex dumps help verify endianness, alignment, and padding. For security professionals, they support examination of payloads and encrypted or compressed content. Tools often offer options to tailor the output, such as canonical hex+ASCII views, raw hex strings, or reversed representations, enabling both quick checks and detailed scrutiny.

Limitations include the loss of higher-level structure and semantics; a hex dump does not convey file type without external context. Interpreting a dump requires knowledge of the data format, encoding, and the surrounding system. Large dumps can be difficult to interpret directly, so selective or structured viewing is frequently preferred.