1BVI(1) User Commands BVI(1)
2
6 bvi, bview - visual editor for binary files
7
9 bvi-1.4.1
10
12 bbvvii [--RR] [--cc cmd] [--ff script] [--ss skip] [--ee end] [--nn length] file...
13 bbvviieeww [--RR] [--cc cmd] [--ff script] [--ss skip] [--ee end] [--nn length] file...
14
16 file...
17 A list of filenames. The first one will be the current file and
18 will be read into the buffer. The cursor will be positioned
19 on the first line of the buffer. You can get to the other files
20 with the ":next" command.
21 --RR "Readonly": The readonly flag is set for all the files, preventing
23 accidental overwriting with a write command.
24 --ss skip
27 causes bvi to load a file not from the start but from offset skip.
28 Skip offset bytes from the beginning of the input. By default,
29 offset is interpreted as a decimal number. With a leading 0x or
30 0X, offset is interpreted as a hexadecimal number, otherwise, with
31 a leading 0, offset is interpreted as an octal number. Appending
32 the character b, k, or m to offset causes it to be interpreted as a
33 multiple of 512, 1024, or 1048576, respectively.
34 --ee end
37 causes bvi to load a file not till end but till address end.
38 --nn length
41 causes bvi not to load the complete file but only length bytes.
42 --cc cmd
45 cmd will be executed after the first file has been read. If
46 the cmd contains spaces it must be enclosed in double quotes
47 (this depends on the shell that is used).
48 --ff script
50 This command provides a means for collecting a series of "ex"
51 (colon) commands into a script file, then using this file to edit
52 other files. Since there is no binary stream editor "bsed", you can
53 use this option to make several global changes in a binary file.
54
56 Bvi stands for "Binary VIsual editor". Bvi is a screen oriented editor
57 for binary files; its command set is based on that of the vi(1) text
58 editor. As bvi is a binary editor, it does not have the concept of
59 "lines". All end-of-lines (EOLs) are simply bytes. Therefore bvi's
60 commands are different from vi's commands for all line-oriented
61 commands (see below).
62
64 The main differences between Vi and Bvi are:
65 The screen is divided in three sections or panes: The byte offset
67 (extreme left), the hex pane (middle), and an ascii pane (right) which
68 shows as printable characters those bytes in the hex pane. On an 80
69 column terminal there will be sixteen hex values and their ASCII values
70 on each screen line. Note that (as one would expect) the first byte
71 has the offset '0' (zero).
72 You can toggle between the hex and ascii windows with the tab key
74 (TAB). Toggling between these two windows does not change the current
75 position (offset) within the file.
76 No "lines" concept: Files are treated as one long stream of bytes. The
78 characters "newline" and "carriage return" are not special, id est they
79 never mark the end of lines. Therefore the lines on the screen do not
80 represent lines in the usual way. Data is broken across screen lines
81 arbitarily. As a consequence there are no commands in bvi from ex or
82 vi that are based on line numbers, eg "dd", "yy", 'C', 'S', 'o', 'O'.
83 This also changes the meaning of "range" before the ":write" command to
84 a byte offset, ie the command ":100,200w foo" writes all *bytes* (not
85 lines) from offset 100 to offset 200 to the file "foo".
86 No "text objects": There are also no text-specific arrangements like
88 words, paragraphs, sentences, sections and so on.
89 Extended "ruler": The bottom line of the screen shows the current
91 address (byte offset) and the current character in these notations:
92 octal, hexadecimal, decimal and ascii.
94 Search patterns: All search commands understand these special
96 characters:
97 . any character
99 [] set of characters
100 * zero or more occurrences of previous char or set
101 But as there is no concept of lines you cannot use the standard symbols
103 ("anchors") for "begin-of-line" ('^') and "end-of-line" ('$').
104 Searching for the start/end of lines must be done explicitly by adding
105 these special characters to your search pattern using these meta
106 sequences:
107 \n newline
109 \r return
110 \t tab
111 \0 binary zero
112 Additional search commands: Similar to the text search commands there
114 are additional hex-search functions '\' and '#' which allow to search
115 for any byte value. Example: "\62 76 69" will search for the string
116 "bvi". Spaces between hex value are optional, so searching for
117 "6775636B6573" will find "guckes".
118 Changing the length of data (insertion, deletion) moves the data to
120 other addresses; this is bad for many cases (eg. databases, program
121 files) and is thus disabled by default. You can enable this commands by
122 typing
123 :set memmove
125 BBVVII MMooddeess::
127 Command Mode (Normal Mode):
129 Input is treated as command. Note that command mode is the default
131 mode after startup and after escaping from input mode. Use ESC
132 (escape) to cancel a partial (uncompleted) command.
133 Input Mode:
135 Input is treated as replacement of current characters or (after the end
137 of the file) is appended to the current file. This mode is entered
138 from command mode by typing one of 'i', 'I', 'A', 'r', or 'R'. You can
139 enter the characters from the keyboard (in the ASCII window) or
140 hexadecimal values (in the HEX window). Type TAB to switch between
141 these two windows. Type ESC to finish the current input and return to
142 command mode. Type CTRL-C to cancel current command abnormally.
143 Command line mode (Last Line Mode or : mode):
145 Similar to vi, this mode is entered by typing one of the characters : /
147 ? \ # ! The command is terminated and executed by typing a carriage
148 return; to cancel a partially typed command, type ESC to cancel the
149 current command and return to command mode.
150
152 The editor recognizes the environment variable BVIINIT as a command
153 (or list of commands) to run when it starts up. If this variable is
154 undefined, the editor checks for startup commands in the file
155 ~/.bvirc file, which you must own. However, if there is a .bvirc
156 owned by you in the current directory, the editor takes its
157 startup commands from this file - overriding both the file in your home
158 directory and the environment variable.
159
161 Characters names are abbreviated as follows:
162 Abbr. ASCII name aka
163 CR 010 carriage return
164 ^A 001 control-a
165 ^H 008 control-h
166 ^I 009 control-i aka TAB
167 ^U 021 control-u
168 ^Z 026 control-z
169 ESC 027 escape aka ESC
170 DEL 127 delete
171 LEFT --- left arrow
172 RIGHT --- right arrow
173 DOWN --- down arrow
174 UP --- up arrow
175
177 See the TERMINOLOGY for a summary on key name abbreviations used within
178 the following description of commands.
179 AAbbssttrraacctt::
181 Arrow keys move the cursor on the screen within the current window.
182 SSaammppllee ccoommmmaannddss::
184 :version show version info
185 <- v ^ -> arrow keys move the cursor
186 h j k l same as arrow keys
187 u undo previous change
188 ZZ exit bvi, saving changes
189 :q! quit, discarding changes
190 /text search for text
191 ^U ^D scroll up or down
192 CCoouunnttss bbeeffoorree bbvvii ccoommmmaannddss::
194 Numbers may be typed as a prefix to some commands.
195 They are interpreted in one of these ways.
196 screen column ⎪
198 byte of file G
199 scroll amount ^D ^U
200 repeat effect most of the rest
201 IInntteerrrruuppttiinngg,, ccaanncceelliinngg
203 ESC end insert or incomplete command
204 DEL (delete or rubout) interrupts
205 FFiillee mmaanniippuullaattiioonn::
207 ZZ if file modified, write and exit;
208 otherwise, exit
209 :w write changed buffer to file
210 :w! write changed buffer to file, overriding
211 read-only ("forced" write)
212 :q quit when no changes have been made
213 :q! quit and discard all changes
214 :e file edit file
215 :e! re-read current file, discard all changes
216 :e # edit the alternate file
217 :e! # edit the alternate file, discard changes
218 :w file write current buffer to file
219 :w! file write current buffer to file overriding
220 read-only (this "overwrites" the file)
221 :sh run the command as set with option "shell",
222 then return
223 :!cmd run the command cmd from "shell", then
224 return
225 :n edit next file in the argument list
226 :f show current filename, modified flag,
227 current byte offset, and percentage of
228 current position within buffer
229 ^G same as :f
230 AAddddiittiioonnaall eeddiitt ccoommmmaannddss
232 You can insert/append/change bytes in ASCII/binary/decimal/
233 hexadecimal or octal representation. You can enter several (screen)
234 lines of input. A line with only a period (.) in it will terminate the
235 command. You must not type in values greater than a byte value. This
236 causes an abandonment of the command. Pressing the CR key does not
237 insert a newline - character into the file. If you use ASCII mode you
238 can use the special characters \n, \r, \t and \0.
239 :i aCR insert bytes (ASCII) at cursor position
241 :a bCR append bytes (Binary) at end of file
242 :c hCR change bytes (hexadecimal) at cursor position
243 BBiitt--lleevveell ooppeerraattiioonnss
245 :and n bitwise 'and' operation with value n
246 :or n bitwise 'or' operation with value n
247 :xor n bitwise 'xor' operation with value n
248 :neg two's complement
249 :not logical negation
250 :sl i shift each byte i bits to the left
251 :sr i shift each byte i bits to the right
252 :rl i rotate each byte i bits to the left
253 :rr i rotate each byte i bits to the right
254 CCoommmmaanndd mmooddee aaddddrreesssseess
256 :w foo write current buffer to a file
257 named "foo"
258 :5,10w foo copy byte 5 through 100 into as
259 file named foo
260 :.,.+20w foo copy the current byte and the next
261 20 bytes to foo
262 :^,'aw foo write all bytes from the beginning
263 through marker 'a'
264 :/pat/,$ foo search pattern pat and and copy
265 through end of file
266 PPoossiittiioonniinngg wwiitthhiinn ffiillee::
268 ^B backward screen
269 ^F forward screen
270 ^D scroll down half screen
271 ^U scroll up half screen
272 nG go to the specified character
273 (end default), where n is a decimal address
274 /pat next line matching pat
275 ?pat previous line matching pat
276 \hex jump to next occurrence of hex string hex
277 #hex jump to previous occurrence of hex string hex
278 n repeat last search command
279 N repeat last search command, but in opposite
280 direction
281 AAddjjuussttiinngg tthhee ssccrreeeenn::
283 ^L clear and redraw screen
284 zCR redraw screen with current line at top of screen
285 z- redraw screen with current line at bottom of
286 screen
287 z. redraw screen with current line at center of
288 screen
289 /pat/z- search for pattern pat and then move currents
290 line to bottom
291 ^E scroll screen down 1 line
292 ^Y scroll screen up 1 line
293 MMaarrkkiinngg aanndd rreettuurrnniinngg::
295 mx mark current position with lower-case letter x
296 Note: this command works for all lower-case letters
297 'x move cursor to mark x in ASCII section
298 `x move cursor to mark x in HEX section
299 '' move cursor to previous context in ASCII section
300 `` move cursor to previous context in HEX section
301 LLiinnee ppoossiittiioonniinngg::
303 H jump to first line on screen ("top")
304 L jump to last line on screen ("low")
305 M jump to middle line on screen ("middle")
306 - jump onto previous line on screen
307 + jump onto next line on screen
308 CR same as +
309 DOWN or j next line, same column
310 UP or k previous line, same column
311 CChhaarraacctteerr ppoossiittiioonniinngg::
313 ^ first byte in HEX window
314 $ end of screen line
315 l or RIGHT jump onto next byte (within current
316 screen line)
317 h or LEFT jump onto previous byte (within current
318 screen line)
319 ^H same as LEFT
320 space same as RIGHT
321 fx find next occurrence of character x
322 Fx find previous occurrence of character x
323 n⎪ jump onto nth byte/character within current
324 line
325 SSttrriinnggss::
327 (works similar to the strings(1) command)
328 Note: "Words" are defined as strings of "nonprinting
329 characters".
330 e jump to next end of word
331 w jump to next begin of word
332 b jump to previous begin of word
333 W forward to next string delimited with a
334 \0 or \n
335 B back to previous string delimited with a
336 nonprinting char
337 CCoorrrreeccttiioonnss dduurriinngg iinnsseerrtt::
339 ^H erase last character (backspace)
340 erase your erase character, same as ^H (backspace)
341 ESC ends insertion, back to command mode
342 AAppppeenndd aanndd rreeppllaaccee::
344 A append at end of file
345 rx replace current bte with char 'x'
346 R enter replace mode; for all subsequent input,
347 the current byte is overwritten with the next
348 input character; leave replace mode with ESC.
349 MMiisscceellllaanneeoouuss OOppeerraattiioonnss::
351 TAB toggle between ASCII and HEX section
352 YYaannkk aanndd PPuutt::
354 3ySPACE yank 3 characters
355 p insert contents of yank buffer
356 o replace text with content of yank buffer
357 P put back at end of file
358 UUnnddoo,, RReeddoo::
360 u undo last change
361 Note: Only the last change can be undone.
362 Therefore this commands toggles between the
363 last and second-t-last state of the buffer.
364 SSeettttiinngg OOppttiioonnss::
366 With the :set command you can set options in bvi
367 Option Default Description
369 autowrite noaw Save current file, if modified, if you
371 give a :n, :r or ! command
372 columns cm=16 on an 80 character wide terminal
373 ignorecase noic Ignores letter case in searching
374 magic nomagic Makes . [ * special in patterns
375 memmove nomm enables insert and delete commands
376 offset of=0 adds an offset to the diplayed addresses
377 readonly noro If set, write fails unless you use ! after command
378 reverse nore display otherwise-printable characters with their
379 high bit set as reverse video
380 scroll sc=1/2 window
381 Number of lines scrolled by ^U and ^D
382 showmode mo Displays statusline on bottom of the screen
383 terse noterse Let you obtain shorter error messages
384 window window=screensize
385 Lines in window, can be reduced at slow terminals
386 wordlength wl=4 Length of an ASCII-string found by w, W, b or B
387 wrapscan ws Searches wrap around past the end of the file
388 unixstyle nous The representation of ascii characters below
389 32 is displayed in the statusline as shown
390 in ascii(7) if unset rather in DOS-style (^A)
391
394 bvi was developed by Gerhard Buergmann, Vienna, Austria gerhard@puon.at
395
397 Bvi Homepage: http://bvi.sourceforge.net/
398 Vi Pages: http://www.guckes.net/vi/clones.php3
399 (all about Vi and its clones)
400
402 $HOME/.bvirc editor startup file
403 ./.bvirc editor startup file
404
406 Bvi does not update the screen when the terminal changes its size.
407
409 bmore(1), vi(1), strings(1), ascii(5)
4103rd Berkeley Distribution BVI Version 1.4.1 BVI(1)