Hex Dump

2024-11-09 python hexdump icecream binary data

At work we have a project doing a network communication with target machine, sending messages of pre-defined protocol. For quick analysis of received data I was looking for quick method of data visualization.

First I tried icecream mentioned before.

from icecream import ic
data = bytes(range(256))
ic(data)

The result is not terrible, but quite difficult to interpret individual bytes. It looks like this:

ic| data: (b'\x00\x01\x02\x03\x04\x05\x06\x07\x08\t
          \x0b\x0c\r\x0e\x0f\x10\x11\x12\x13'
           b'\x14\x15\x16\x17\x18\x19\x1a\x1b\x1c\x1d\x1e\x1f !"#$%&\'()*+,-./01234567'
           b'89:;<=>?@ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ[\\]^_`abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz{|}~\x7f'
           b'\x80\x81\x82\x83\x84\x85\x86\x87\x88\x89\x8a\x8b\x8c\x8d\x8e\x8f'
           b'\x90\x91\x92\x93\x94\x95\x96\x97\x98\x99\x9a\x9b\x9c\x9d\x9e\x9f'
           b'\xa0\xa1\xa2\xa3\xa4\xa5\xa6\xa7\xa8\xa9\xaa\xab\xac\xad\xae\xaf'
           b'\xb0\xb1\xb2\xb3\xb4\xb5\xb6\xb7\xb8\xb9\xba\xbb\xbc\xbd\xbe\xbf'
           b'\xc0\xc1\xc2\xc3\xc4\xc5\xc6\xc7\xc8\xc9\xca\xcb\xcc\xcd\xce\xcf'
           b'\xd0\xd1\xd2\xd3\xd4\xd5\xd6\xd7\xd8\xd9\xda\xdb\xdc\xdd\xde\xdf'
           b'\xe0\xe1\xe2\xe3\xe4\xe5\xe6\xe7\xe8\xe9\xea\xeb\xec\xed\xee\xef'
           b'\xf0\xf1\xf2\xf3\xf4\xf5\xf6\xf7\xf8\xf9\xfa\xfb\xfc\xfd\xfe\xff')

Then, searching over the internet, I found hexdump module. The usage is like this:

from hexdump import hexdump
data = bytes(range(256))
hexdump(data)

The output is quite nice, formatted 16 bytes on each line, with hexadecimal address and printed ASCII:

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  ................

It allows for good analysis of received data and forms good basis for decoding.