A simple hexdump module for Python

README.md

Simple Hexdump

A simple hexdump module for Python.

Installation

The preferred installation method is:

pip install simple-hexdump

But you can also simply copy-paste the hexdump class.

Usage

# Python 2
data = "".join([chr(x) for x in range(256)])
# Python 3
data = bytes(range(256))

from hexdump import hexdump
print(hexdump(data))

00000000  00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07  08 09 0a 0b 0c 0d 0e 0f  |................|
00000010  10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17  18 19 1a 1b 1c 1d 1e 1f  |................|
00000020  20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27  28 29 2a 2b 2c 2d 2e 2f  | !"#$%&'()*+,-./|
00000030  30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37  38 39 3a 3b 3c 3d 3e 3f  |0123456789:;<=>?|
00000040  40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47  48 49 4a 4b 4c 4d 4e 4f  |@ABCDEFGHIJKLMNO|
00000050  50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57  58 59 5a 5b 5c 5d 5e 5f  |PQRSTUVWXYZ[\]^_|
00000060  60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67  68 69 6a 6b 6c 6d 6e 6f  |`abcdefghijklmno|
00000070  70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77  78 79 7a 7b 7c 7d 7e 7f  |pqrstuvwxyz{|}~.|
00000080  80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87  88 89 8a 8b 8c 8d 8e 8f  |................|
00000090  90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97  98 99 9a 9b 9c 9d 9e 9f  |................|
000000a0  a0 a1 a2 a3 a4 a5 a6 a7  a8 a9 aa ab ac ad ae af  |................|
000000b0  b0 b1 b2 b3 b4 b5 b6 b7  b8 b9 ba bb bc bd be bf  |................|
000000c0  c0 c1 c2 c3 c4 c5 c6 c7  c8 c9 ca cb cc cd ce cf  |................|
000000d0  d0 d1 d2 d3 d4 d5 d6 d7  d8 d9 da db dc dd de df  |................|
000000e0  e0 e1 e2 e3 e4 e5 e6 e7  e8 e9 ea eb ec ed ee ef  |................|
000000f0  f0 f1 f2 f3 f4 f5 f6 f7  f8 f9 fa fb fc fd fe ff  |................|
00000100

Examples

hexdump() accepts str for Python 2, and bytes / bytearray for Python 3.

# Python 2
data = "hello world"
print(hexdump(data))

00000000  68 65 6c 6c 6f 20 77 6f  72 6c 64                 |hello world     |
0000000b

# Python 3
data = b"hello world"
print(hexdump(data))

00000000  68 65 6c 6c 6f 20 77 6f  72 6c 64                 |hello world     |
0000000b

# Python 3
data = bytearray(16)
print(hexdump(data))

00000000  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  |................|
00000010

Other types like array.array need to be converted beforehand.

import array
data = array.array("I", range(8))

# Python 2
print(hexdump(data.tostring()))
# Python 3
print(hexdump(data.tobytes()))

00000000  00 00 00 00 01 00 00 00  02 00 00 00 03 00 00 00  |................|
00000010  04 00 00 00 05 00 00 00  06 00 00 00 07 00 00 00  |................|
00000020

Calling str() or repr() will return a str with new lines included.

# Python 3
import sys
data = b"Hello world"
print(hexdump(data), file=sys.stderr)

00000000  48 65 6c 6c 6f 20 77 6f  72 6c 64                 |Hello world     |
0000000b

If the lines need to be printed separately, hexdump() can also be iterated.

# Python 3
import logging
logging.basicConfig(level=logging.DEBUG)
for line in hexdump(data):
    logging.debug(line)

DEBUG:root:00000000  48 65 6c 6c 6f 20 77 6f  72 6c 64                 |Hello world     |
DEBUG:root:0000000b

Repeating lines are replaced by a single asterisk to shorten the output.

# Python 3
data = b"".join([bytes([x] * 0x1000) for x in range(8)])
hexdump(data)

00000000  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  |................|
*
00001000  01 01 01 01 01 01 01 01  01 01 01 01 01 01 01 01  |................|
*
00002000  02 02 02 02 02 02 02 02  02 02 02 02 02 02 02 02  |................|
*
00003000  03 03 03 03 03 03 03 03  03 03 03 03 03 03 03 03  |................|
*
00004000  04 04 04 04 04 04 04 04  04 04 04 04 04 04 04 04  |................|
*
00005000  05 05 05 05 05 05 05 05  05 05 05 05 05 05 05 05  |................|
*
00006000  06 06 06 06 06 06 06 06  06 06 06 06 06 06 06 06  |................|
*
00007000  07 07 07 07 07 07 07 07  07 07 07 07 07 07 07 07  |................|
*
00008000

Finally, if data comes from a memory dump, you can specify the start address.

# Python 3
data = bytes(range(256))
hexdump(data, 0xdeadb000)

deadb000  00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07  08 09 0a 0b 0c 0d 0e 0f  |................|
deadb010  10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17  18 19 1a 1b 1c 1d 1e 1f  |................|
deadb020  20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27  28 29 2a 2b 2c 2d 2e 2f  | !"#$%&'()*+,-./|
deadb030  30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37  38 39 3a 3b 3c 3d 3e 3f  |0123456789:;<=>?|
deadb040  40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47  48 49 4a 4b 4c 4d 4e 4f  |@ABCDEFGHIJKLMNO|
deadb050  50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57  58 59 5a 5b 5c 5d 5e 5f  |PQRSTUVWXYZ[\]^_|
deadb060  60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67  68 69 6a 6b 6c 6d 6e 6f  |`abcdefghijklmno|
deadb070  70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77  78 79 7a 7b 7c 7d 7e 7f  |pqrstuvwxyz{|}~.|
deadb080  80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87  88 89 8a 8b 8c 8d 8e 8f  |................|
deadb090  90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97  98 99 9a 9b 9c 9d 9e 9f  |................|
deadb0a0  a0 a1 a2 a3 a4 a5 a6 a7  a8 a9 aa ab ac ad ae af  |................|
deadb0b0  b0 b1 b2 b3 b4 b5 b6 b7  b8 b9 ba bb bc bd be bf  |................|
deadb0c0  c0 c1 c2 c3 c4 c5 c6 c7  c8 c9 ca cb cc cd ce cf  |................|
deadb0d0  d0 d1 d2 d3 d4 d5 d6 d7  d8 d9 da db dc dd de df  |................|
deadb0e0  e0 e1 e2 e3 e4 e5 e6 e7  e8 e9 ea eb ec ed ee ef  |................|
deadb0f0  f0 f1 f2 f3 f4 f5 f6 f7  f8 f9 fa fb fc fd fe ff  |................|
deadb100

hexdump.py

class hexdump:
    def __init__(self, buf, off=0):
        self.buf = buf
        self.off = off

    def __iter__(self):
        last_bs, last_line = None, None
        for i in range(0, len(self.buf), 16):
            bs = bytearray(self.buf[i : i + 16])
            line = "{:08x}  {:23}  {:23}  |{:16}|".format(
                self.off + i,
                " ".join(("{:02x}".format(x) for x in bs[:8])),
                " ".join(("{:02x}".format(x) for x in bs[8:])),
                "".join((chr(x) if 32 <= x < 127 else "." for x in bs)),
            )
            if bs == last_bs:
                line = "*"
            if bs != last_bs or line != last_line:
                yield line
            last_bs, last_line = bs, line
        yield "{:08x}".format(self.off + len(self.buf))

    def __str__(self):
        return "\n".join(self)

    def __repr__(self):
        return "\n".join(self)

pyproject.toml

[build-system]
requires = ["setuptools>=42", "wheel"]
build-backend = "setuptools.build_meta"

setup.cfg

[metadata]
name = simple-hexdump
version = 0.0.1
author = NeatMonster
author_email = neat@neat.sh
description = A simple hexdump module for Python
long_description = file: README.md
long_description_content_type = text/markdown
url = https://gist.github.com/NeatMonster/c06c61ba4114a2b31418a364341c26c0
classifiers =
    Programming Language :: Python :: 2
    Programming Language :: Python :: 3
    License :: OSI Approved :: MIT License
    Operating System :: OS Independent

[options]
py_modules = hexdump
python_requires = >= 2.6

[bdist_wheel]
universal=1

You are a life saver. I struggled with hexlify representation of my sshsig implementation for an hour. Your hexdump allowed to see an error in encoding in seconds.

What's the best approach to find the HexDump of a file and know the magic bytes, match with the list and find the file type. This needs to find hexdump of a file.