[linux] Need a good hex editor for Linux

I need a good HEX editor for Linux, and by good I mean:

  • Fast
  • Search/replace features
  • Can display data not only in hex, but also binary, octal, etc.
  • Can work with huge (> 1 gb) files without becoming slow and unresponsive (this requirement is important)
  • Optionally, has some compare/diff features

What can you suggest?

This question is related to linux hex hex-editors

The answer is


wxHexEditor is the only GUI disk editor for linux. to google "wxhexeditor site:archive.getdeb.net" and download the .deb file to install


Personally, I use Emacs with hexl-mod.

Emacs is able to work with really huge files. You can use search/replace value easily. Finally, you can use 'ediff' to do some diffs.


I am a VIMer. I can do some rare Hex edits with:

  • :%!xxd to switch into hex mode

  • :%!xxd -r to exit from hex mode

But I strongly recommend ht

apt-cache show ht

Package: ht
Version: 2.0.18-1
Installed-Size: 1780
Maintainer: Alexander Reichle-Schmehl <[email protected]>

Homepage: http://hte.sourceforge.net/

Note: The package is called ht, whereas the executable is named hte after the package was installed.

  1. Supported file formats
    • common object file format (COFF/XCOFF32)
    • executable and linkable format (ELF)
    • linear executables (LE)
    • standard DO$ executables (MZ)
    • new executables (NE)
    • portable executables (PE32/PE64)
    • java class files (CLASS)
    • Mach exe/link format (MachO)
    • X-Box executable (XBE)
    • Flat (FLT)
    • PowerPC executable format (PEF)
  2. Code & Data Analyser
    • finds branch sources and destinations recursively
    • finds procedure entries
    • creates labels based on this information
    • creates xref information
    • allows to interactively analyse unexplored code
    • allows to create/rename/delete labels
    • allows to create/edit comments
    • supports x86, ia64, alpha, ppc and java code
  3. Target systems
    • DJGPP
    • GNU/Linux
    • FreeBSD
    • OpenBSD
    • Win32