A hex editor (or binary file editor or byte editor) is a type of computer program that allows a user to manipulate the fundamental binary (0/1, zero/one) data that makes up computer files. The name 'hex' comes from the fact that hexadecimal is the standard numerical format for digital data on a screen when editing at this level. Note that computer files can be very small (just a name, with no content) to very large (content spanning multiple hard disks). A typical computer file occupies multiple areas on the platter(s) of a disk drive, whose contents are put together to form the file. Hex editors that were designed to read ("parse") and edit sector data from the physical segments of floppy or hard disks were sometimes called sector editors or disk editors.
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“An editor is someone who separates the wheat from the chaff and then prints the chaff.”
—Adlai Stevenson (19001965)