Session and utilities

The od command

Dumps a file in octal (or other formats) showing its bytes, useful to inspect raw data.

Syntax

od [-c] [archivo]

Most useful options

-cShows the characters instead of octal
-xShows in hexadecimal

Copy-ready examples

$ echo hola | od -cSee bytes and characters

You can try them in the browser terminal: it does not touch your computer.

Typical mistakes

  • The default output is octal, unusual today: use -c or -x to read it better.

Related commands

xxdfilebase64

FAQ

od or xxd?

od is the Unix classic; xxd is handier to see hex and text at once.

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