Hex Edit command (Edit menu)

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The Hex Edit command selects the editing mode for the active window. The mode is toggled between Hexadecimal (HEX) and ASCII. The ASCII mode of editing is typically used for any ASCII (text) based files. In the ASCII mode UltraEdit allows normal operation of all functions and allows any characters to be typed.

The Hex mode of editing is typically used for non-ASCII files, or binary files. These files typically contain non-printable characters and are not text files.

The following restrictions apply when HEX mode is selected:

Insert mode (rather than overstrike mode) is not supported.

When the HEX mode of editing is selected for a given window, UltraEdit splits the screen area into three areas as shown:

The number of HEX characters shown in a line may be specified under the Hex Edit Display topic under the Editor Display branch of Configuration in the Advanced menu.

The file offset area shows the current byte offset of the character at the beginning of the line to form the beginning of the file.

The hexadecimal representation shows the hexadecimal value of each file byte as a two character field separated from the next byte by a space (' ').

The ASCII representation provides the view of printable characters. Non-printable characters are shown with a period character ('.').

If Character Properties is selected from the Search menu, a dialog will be displayed showing the decimal value and hexadecimal value of the active byte as well as how this will be displayed (this may vary based on font and script). Along with this the offset of the active byte is displayed in both decimal and hexadecimal formats.

Editing in either the ASCII are or the HEX area automatically updates the other area after each valid character is typed.

All modifications are performed in OVERSTRIKE mode. To insert or delete characters in Hex mode use the Hex Insert/Delete command from the Edit menu.

Cut, copy and paste are supported in Hex mode.

Shortcut: CTRL+H