Linux shell scripting: hex number to binary string

Question

I am looking for some easy way in shell script for converting hex number into sequence of 0 and 1 characters.

Example:

5F -> "01011111"

Is there any command or easy method for accomplish it or should I write some switch for it?

Answer 1

echo "ibase=16; obase=2; 5F" | bc

Answer 2

I used 'bc' command in Linux. (much more complex calculator than converting!)

echo 'ibase=16;obase=2;5f' | bc

ibase parameter is the input base (hexa in this case), and obase the output base (binary).

Hope it helps.

Answer 3

Perl’s printf already knows binary:

$ perl -e 'printf "%08b\n", 0x5D'
01011101

Answer 4

I wrote https://github.com/tehmoon/cryptocli for those kind of jobs.

Here's an example:

echo -n 5f5f5f5f5f | cryptocli dd -decoders hex -encoders binary_string

Yields:

0101111101011111010111110101111101011111

The opposite also works.

NB: It's not perfect and much work needs to be done but it is working.

Answer 5

$ printf '\x5F' | xxd -b | cut -d' ' -f2
01011111

Or

$ dc -e '16i2o5Fp'
1011111

• The i command will pop the top of the stack and use it for the input base.
• Hex digits must be in upper case to avoid collisions with dc commands and are not limited to A-F if the input radix is larger than 16.
• The o command does the same for the output base.
• The p command will print the top of the stack with a newline after it.