hexler
| Crates.io | hexler |
| lib.rs | hexler |
| version | 1.0.0 |
| created_at | 2025-10-17 09:30:44.645282+00 |
| updated_at | 2025-10-17 09:30:44.645282+00 |
| description | A colorful hex printer with opinionated defaults |
| homepage | https://github.com/martinus/hexler |
| repository | https://github.com/martinus/hexler |
| max_upload_size | |
| id | 1887428 |
| size | 723,863 |
Martin Leitner-Ankerl (martinus)
documentation
README
hexler
A fast & colorful hex viewer with sensible defaults and terminal-friendly output.
Features
- Terminal-aware: Automatically adjusts to full terminal width
- Colorized output: Easy-to-read syntax highlighting for different byte types
- Pager integration: Uses your system pager by default (like
gitandman) - Enhanced readability: Displays CP437 characters for better visual parsing
- Fast: Can dump about 250 MB/sec colored output to the terminal
Why hexler?
While excellent tools like hexyl and hastyhex exist, hexler focuses on practical everyday use with reasonable defaults. Originally created as a Rust learning project, it's evolved into my go-to hex viewer for its clean output and terminal integration.
Installation
From Source
# Build from source
git clone https://github.com/martinus/hexler.git
cd hexler
make install
The binary will be available at ~/.cargo/bin/hexler.
Usage
# View a file with pager
hexler file.bin
# Output directly to stdout
hexler --stdout file.bin
# Pipe to hexler
cat file.bin | hexler
Performance Benchmark
Output size and runtime when processing a 181 MB executable, tested with hyperfine --warmup 1 --show-output "hexler --stdout filename >/dev/null"
| Runtime (s) | Tool | Comment |
|---|---|---|
| 0.443 | hastyhex |
Doesn't print extended ASCII characters, no pager |
| 0.820 | hexler |
Colors, prints extended characters, shows borders, automatically uses less pager, automatically detects terminal width |
| 2.337 | xxd |
Colors, but no extended charcters, no pager |
| 3.986 | hexyl |
Colors, shows borders, but no pager and no extended characters |
| 4.826 | xd |
Prints extended ASCII characters, only grey, no pager |
| -- | hexxy |
Crashes on random data |
Screenshot Comparison with Similar Tools
All the screenshots were taken in default configuration, when run on the 256.bin file.
hastyhex
Source: https://github.com/skeeto/hastyhex
hexler
Source: https://github.com/martinus/hexler
xxd
Installed with packaging of Fedora Linux.
hexyl
Source: https://github.com/sharkdp/hexyl
xd
Source: https://lib.rs/crates/xd
