---
name: "hexcompare"
section: "1"
platform: "linux"
package: "hexcompare"
version: "1.0.4-1+b1"
release: "Debian 13 (Trixie)"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/hexcompare"
---

# hexcompare(1)

### NAME

**hexcompare** - compare and identify changes in binary files

### SYNOPSIS

```
 hexcompare file1 file2
```

### DESCRIPTION

**hexcompare is a tool to compare two binary or ASCII files. It shows a** **screen divided into two. Useful to forensics cases, identifying identical** **or similar files.**

### FEATURES

**Once the program has started, you will see that the screen is divided into** **two. In the top portion, you have the "overview". This is a block diagram** **representing the differences between both files at a given offset.**

**A blue block means that the bytes that it represents are the same in both** **files. Red means that they are different. Grey means that neither file has** **any data at an offset.**

**Each block represent a number of bytes. How many bytes are represented** **depends on your terminal window size.**

**The bottom half of the screen contains the raw data at a specified offset.**

### COMMANDS

- •

  **"m" key switches the display between the data displayed in hex and ASCII.**

- •

  **"q" key press to quit the program.**

- •

  **"v" key makes the data view of the lower part of the screen take up the** **whole terminal.**

- •

  **Arrows keys can be used to go from block to block in the overview.**

- •

  **Page Up key can be used to go up lines of hex/ASCII data.**

- •

  **Page Down key can be used to go down lines of hex/ASCII data.**

**Mouse also works. You can use it to navigate the block diagram "overview".**

- •

  **Single-clicking on a block will load in the offset represented by that block,** **and show the data that's found there.**

- •

  **Double-clicking on a block will bring up a more detailed hex view of the** **specified location.**

### AUTHOR

**hexcompare was written by Julien McAride and others.**

**This manual page was written by Raphael Mota Ramos** **\<raphaelmota.ti@gmail.com\> for the Debian project (but may be**  **used by others).**