hd
displays file contents in hexadecimal format
TLDR
Display file in hex
$ hd [file]
Show first 100 bytes$ hd -n 100 [file]
Skip first 50 bytes$ hd -s 50 [file]
One-byte octal display$ hd -b [file]
Canonical hex+ASCII display$ hd -C [file]
SYNOPSIS
hd [options] [file]
DESCRIPTION
hd displays file contents in hexadecimal format. Invoking hexdump as hd is equivalent to running it with -C, showing offset, hex bytes, and the ASCII representation side by side.The tool is useful for examining binary files, analyzing data formats, and debugging. It formats output in readable columns.
PARAMETERS
FILE
File to display.-n LENGTH
Number of bytes to display.-s OFFSET
Skip offset bytes.-b
One-byte octal display.-C
Canonical hex+ASCII display.-v
Display all data (no suppression).--help
Display help information.
INSTALL
sudo apt install bsdextrautils
CAVEATS
Non-printable bytes are shown as dots in the ASCII column. Large files produce extensive output; pipe through a pager or use -n/-s to limit the range.
HISTORY
hd originated as a BSD convenience alias for hexdump. On current Linux systems it's provided by the util-linux package (which absorbed hexdump from the older bsdmainutils package around 2017), so both hexdump and hd invoke the same binary.