shed(1)

shed(1) 💖 the hex editor that ate and left no crumbs

okay bestie, sit down, hydrate, and let me tell you about shed — it's a simple hex editor with a pico-style interface, and it's genuinely iconic. this is from the General Commands Manual section, so you know it's official. ✨

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NAME 🎀

shed — simple hex editor with a pico-style interface

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SYNOPSIS 🦋

shed [OPTIONS] [FILE]

that's it. that's the whole vibe check. 💅

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DESCRIPTION 🌸

A simple hex editor with a pico-style interface. lowkey the whole personality.

Each line of the shed display represents one byte of the file. and each one of those lines is giving a whole little ensemble cast, consisting of:

• the offset of that byte from the start of the file,
• the ascii value of the byte,
• and then the byte's value in various bases.

All values are unsigned. no negatives allowed, we don't do that here. 🙅‍♀️

When a command asks you for input, entering a zero-length string or pressing ^C will cancel the command. and when you're searching, entering a zero-length string will use the previous search word, if one exists. (so if you're feeling lazy, she remembers. queen behavior honestly. 👑)

⚠️ note the thing: there is no save key. not a typo, not a bug, not me forgetting to mention it. this is because the file is not loaded into memory, so when you edit it the change is made directly to disk. so like… be normal about it. there is no undo, there is no "oops". it's giving permanent marker. 🖊️💀

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OPTIONS ✨

• -r / --readonly — open FILE read only. we're just looking, respectfully. 🙈
• -s / --start=OFFSET — position cursor to OFFSET. drop her right where you want her.
• -H / --hex — start in hex mode (hex offsets etc.). hex girlies rise. 🔥
• -L / --length=LENGTH — set length of file to LENGTH. Useful for special files where shed cannot obtain the length with stat. (yes, she tried. she asked stat. stat said no. so now you tell her. 🫶)
• -h / --help — show help and exit.
• -v / --version — show version and exit.

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KEYS 🧚

this is the whole keyboard lore, don't skip it, iykyk:

• arrow keys — move cursor around. the classic. the blueprint. ⭐
• pgup / ^Y — cursor up 16
• pgdown / ^V — cursor down 16
• home / ^A — start of line (ascii column)
• end / ^E — end of line (binary column)
• space / e — edit value at cursor. You are asked to enter the new value in the format of the current column the cursor is in — eg. if you are in the hex column, it will ask for the new value in hex. it's matching your energy. 🎀
• 1 / 2 / 4 — set size of cursor in bytes, in the hex/dec/oct columns (and binary if in traditional mode).
• ` (backtick) — toggle the endianness of multi-byte values (when cursor size is 2 or 4). flip it, flip it. 🔄
• s / w / ^w / f / F3 — search. Search string is asked for in the format of the current cursor column. In ascii, just enter the string in ascii. In the others, enter the values separated by spaces. eg to search for ABC from the decimal column you would enter "65 66 67" (without the quotes). no cap, that's the whole trick. 🔍
• ^f / ^b — search shortcut for forwards/backwards respectivly.
• r / n / F3 — repeat previous search. she said it once and she'll say it again. 💅
• t — toggle whether offset numbers and cursor position etc are in dec or hex.
• b — toggle binary mode column behaviour (bit edit mode vs traditional).
• d — dump to file.
• j — jump to byte. enter a byte number, or 'top' or 'end'. Can be suffixed with K, M or G. teleportation but make it nerdy. 🌈
• a — change the mode of the ascii column (printable only/c-style extended chars/'man ascii' descriptions).
• p — toggle 'preview' mode.
• x / ^x — exit. say bye bestie, you've done enough. 🫶

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AUTHOR 💜

Alex Sisson (alexsisson@gmail.com)

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HOMEPAGE 🌐

Check for updates at https://shed.sourceforge.net

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and that's the whole page, no notes. this was shed-1.16, dated 06-DEC-2023, straight out of the General Commands Manual, and honestly? she's a baddie. go hex something. 🎀✨💖