opening files

jone kim · 06-25-2010, 01:40 PM

How to open a binary files like /usr/bin/$->xwd.?

How to open files at /dev/ which are yellow colored, like ram0,port?

pixellany · 06-25-2010, 01:55 PM

You can open ANY file with something like hexdump. You can also access them with dd.

Files in /dev are not really meant to be opened directly. (These are simply device nodes---i.e. your connection to a device. Remember that--in Unix, Linux, etc. "everything is a file") Regardless, the color-coding is irrelevant--that is simply a function of how your terminal is set up.

jone kim · 06-26-2010, 02:18 PM

Can you say how to access those files via dd command. And how to set up terminal for opening such files?

pixellany · 06-26-2010, 02:27 PM

You don't have to set up the terminal...

For hexdump, just enter "hexdump filename"

For dd, you have it write to the screen--or to another file. If you use dd to read a binary file, you would have to pass it thru something like hexdump before sending it to the screen.

Look up the man pages on hexdump and dd for all of the options