NAME
vbindiff - hexadecimal file display and comparison
SYNOPSIS
vbindiff file1 [ file2 ]
DESCRIPTION
Visual Binary Diff (VBinDiff) displays files in hexadecimal and ASCII (or EBCDIC). It can also display two files at once, and highlight the differences between them. Unlike diff, it works well with large files (up to 4 GB).
Viewing files
Movement Keys-------------Up Move one line (16 bytes) towards the beginning of the fileDown Move one line (16 bytes) towards the end of the fileLeft Move one byte towards the beginning of the fileRight Move one byte towards the end of the filePageUp Move one page towards the beginning of the filePageDn Move one page towards the end of the fileHome Move to the beginning of the fileEnd Move to the end of the (shorter) fileF Search for a string or byte sequenceG Move to a specified file position
When displaying two files, both files move together. If bytes have been added or removed in one of the files, you can adjust the comparison by moving just one of the files. To move only the top file, press "T". To move only the bottom file, press "B". To return to moving both files, press the same key again. (The window at the bottom of the screen will indicate when you are moving only one file.)
Other Keys----------Enter Move to the next difference between the filesSpace (same as Enter)C Toggle between ASCII and EBCDIC displayE Edit currently displayed section of fileEsc Exit VBinDiffQ Exit VBinDiff
The "Enter" key will advance to the next difference between the files (after those already displayed on the screen). If there are no more differences, it moves to the end.
Line editor
The line editor is used to enter search strings and file positions. It uses the basic Emacs-style editing keys.
Keys-----------------Ctrl-B, Left Move the cursor one character leftCtrl-F, Right Move the cursor one character rightCtrl-A, Home Move to the beginning of the lineCtrl-E, End Move to the end of the lineCtrl-P, Up Move up in input historyCtrl-N, Down Move down in input historyCtrl-H, Backspace Delete the character to the leftCtrl-D, Delete Delete the character under the cursorCtrl-K Delete from cursor to end of lineInsert Toggle between insert & overstrike modeEnter Finished entering textEsc Abort the operation
Editing files
You can press "E" to edit the current file. When displaying two files, this edits the one in the top window, unless you are in "move bottom" mode.
When editing, you can move the cursor around with the arrow keys. Use TAB to switch between entering hexadecimal or ASCII (or EBCDIC) characters. Press the Esc key when you are done. You will be given the choice to save or discard your changes then.
If you are displaying two files, you can use the Enter key to copy a byte from the other file into the one you are editing.
You cannot scroll through the file while editing, although you can save your changes and then move to a different part of the file. Also, you cannot insert or delete bytes, only change them.
OPTIONS
-L, --license Display license information for vbindiff-V, --version Display the version number--help Display help information
BUGS
Does not work properly with files over 4 gigabytes. It should be able to view the first 4 gigabytes ok, but the display only has room for 8 hex digits of file position, and the Goto box is also limited to 8 digits.
LICENSE
VBinDiff is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.
VBinDiff is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more details.
You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along with VBinDiff (see the file COPYING); if not, see <https://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
AUTHOR
Christopher J. Madsen <vbindiff .at. cjmweb.net> <https://www.cjmweb.net/vbindiff/> <https://github.com/madsen/vbindiff>