View Hex Mode

Menu: View > Hex Mode

Default Shortcut Key: Shift+Alt+X

Macro function: ViewHexMode()

Use the View Hex Mode command to switch from normal text mode into a read-only hex mode display:

The hex mode display uses a special format which has three sections.  At the left, the byte offset into the file is shown in hexadecimal format.  In the center, sixteen bytes are displayed as two-byte hexadecimal values.  At the far right the same sixteen bytes are displayed as characters, except in cases where the character cannot be so represented.

The hex mode display can be exited by issuing this command again, or by pressing Escape.

When switching between normal editing mode and hex mode display, the relative location of the text cursor is maintained.  This makes the View Hex Mode command useful for studying the hex values characters at or near the text cursor.

The representation of the sixteen characters at the right depends upon whether an ANSI or OEM screen font is in use.  The screen font can be changed with the Screen Font command.

Ordinary text files can be opened for editing and then toggled between normal and hex mode display using this command.  To open a file for hex mode viewing directly--as is required for the display of binary files--use the Open Hex Mode command instead.