Display file in binary format

Question

I'd like to view executable file in Vim.

I used :set binary and thought that I will see only ones and zeros, but nothing changed.

How can I achieve to see only ones and zeros?

Solution 1

Instead of ones and zeros, you can get an hexadecimal representation with:

:setlocal display=uhex

Also, you can get an hexadecimal dump of a buffer with:

:%!xxd

Source

Solution 2

This did the trick for me:

:%!xxd -b

Comments

[xralf]

This is useful but it won't display raw file (ones and zeros) as is stored on the harddrive. It's reformated with vim.

[xralf]

But they write it's not possible in vim. Maybe hex is more convenient for real work but it's strange that vim can't display raw file.

[darjab]

@xralf - The thing is, 1's and 0's "format" is not that really useful at all ... so there's not that much demand for it.

[Eugenio F. Martinez Pacheco]

Hexadecimal and Binary conversion is straighforward. Hex mode is just that, hex digits. Studying binary data or raw data is a very specific matter, just for hacking, auditing, photography, cibersecurity... few tools can do that...

[Iulian Onofrei]

Instead of your answer, you could have given one for ones and zeros, because that's what had been asked for.

[m4110c]

This is not an answer for the question

[Mustapha-Belkacim]

The first command didn't work for me, but the second one did.