<s>
A	O
hex	B-Application
editor	I-Application
(	O
or	O
binary	B-Application
file	I-Application
editor	I-Application
or	O
byte	B-Application
editor	I-Application
)	O
is	O
a	O
computer	B-Application
program	I-Application
that	O
allows	O
for	O
manipulation	O
of	O
the	O
fundamental	O
binary	O
data	O
that	O
constitutes	O
a	O
computer	B-Operating_System
file	I-Operating_System
.	O
</s>
<s>
A	O
typical	O
computer	B-Operating_System
file	I-Operating_System
occupies	O
multiple	O
areas	O
on	O
the	O
storage	O
medium	O
,	O
whose	O
contents	O
are	O
combined	O
to	O
form	O
the	O
file	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Hex	B-Application
editors	I-Application
that	O
are	O
designed	O
to	O
parse	B-Language
and	O
edit	O
sector	B-Application
data	O
from	O
the	O
physical	O
segments	O
of	O
floppy	B-Device
or	O
hard	B-Device
disks	I-Device
are	O
sometimes	O
called	O
sector	B-Application
editors	I-Application
or	O
disk	B-Application
editors	I-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
With	O
a	O
hex	B-Application
editor	I-Application
,	O
a	O
user	O
can	O
see	O
or	O
edit	O
the	O
raw	O
and	O
exact	O
contents	O
of	O
a	O
file	O
,	O
as	O
opposed	O
to	O
the	O
interpretation	O
of	O
the	O
same	O
content	O
that	O
other	O
,	O
higher	O
level	O
application	B-Application
software	I-Application
may	O
associate	O
with	O
the	O
file	O
format	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Hex	B-Application
editors	I-Application
may	O
be	O
used	O
to	O
correct	O
data	O
corrupted	O
by	O
system	O
or	O
application	B-Application
program	I-Application
problems	O
where	O
it	O
may	O
not	O
be	O
worthwhile	O
to	O
write	O
a	O
special	O
program	O
to	O
make	O
the	O
corrections	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Program	O
fixes	O
for	O
IBM	B-Device
mainframe	I-Device
systems	O
are	O
sometimes	O
distributed	O
as	O
patches	O
rather	O
than	O
distributing	O
a	O
complete	O
copy	O
of	O
the	O
affected	O
program	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
most	O
hex	B-Application
editor	I-Application
applications	O
,	O
the	O
data	O
of	O
the	O
computer	B-Operating_System
file	I-Operating_System
is	O
represented	O
as	O
hexadecimal	O
values	O
grouped	O
in	O
4	O
groups	O
of	O
4	O
bytes	B-Application
(	O
or	O
two	O
groups	O
of	O
8	O
bytes	B-Application
)	O
,	O
followed	O
by	O
one	O
group	O
of	O
16	O
printable	O
ASCII	B-Protocol
characters	I-Protocol
which	O
correspond	O
to	O
each	O
pair	O
of	O
hex	O
values	O
(	O
each	O
byte	B-Application
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
in	O
the	O
following	O
ASCII	B-Protocol
field	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Unlike	O
conventional	O
text	O
editors	O
,	O
Hex	B-Application
editors	I-Application
are	O
able	O
to	O
efficiently	O
handle	O
files	O
with	O
indefinite	O
sizes	O
,	O
as	O
only	O
a	O
portion	O
of	O
the	O
file	O
is	O
loaded	O
while	O
browsing	O
it	O
and	O
modified	O
when	O
saving	O
it	O
,	O
rather	O
than	O
the	O
entire	O
file	O
at	O
once	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
A	O
program	O
called	O
SUPERZAP	O
(	O
AMASPZAP	O
)	O
was	O
available	O
for	O
IBM	O
OS/360	B-Application
systems	O
which	O
could	O
edit	O
raw	O
disk	O
records	O
and	O
also	O
understood	O
the	O
format	O
of	O
executable	O
files	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Pairs	O
of	O
hexadecimal	O
digits	O
(	O
each	O
pair	O
can	O
represent	O
a	O
byte	B-Application
)	O
are	O
the	O
current	O
standard	O
,	O
because	O
the	O
vast	O
majority	O
of	O
machines	O
and	O
file	O
formats	O
in	O
use	O
today	O
handle	O
data	O
in	O
units	O
or	O
groups	O
of	O
8-bit	O
bytes	B-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
Hexadecimal	O
and	O
also	O
octal	O
are	O
common	O
because	O
these	O
digits	O
allow	O
one	O
to	O
see	O
which	O
bits	O
in	O
a	O
byte	B-Application
are	O
set	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Some	O
hex	B-Application
editors	I-Application
offer	O
a	O
template	O
system	O
that	O
can	O
present	O
the	O
sequence	O
of	O
bytes	B-Application
of	O
a	O
binary	O
file	O
in	O
a	O
structured	O
way	O
,	O
covering	O
part	O
or	O
all	O
of	O
the	O
desired	O
file	O
format	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Usually	O
the	O
GUI	B-Application
for	O
a	O
template	O
is	O
a	O
separate	O
tool	O
window	O
next	O
to	O
the	O
main	O
hex	B-Application
editor	I-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
Some	O
cheat	B-Language
engine	I-Language
systems	O
consist	O
only	O
of	O
such	O
a	O
template	O
GUI	B-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
Also	O
,	O
raw	O
hex	B-Application
editing	I-Application
may	O
require	O
conversion	O
from	O
hexadecimal	O
to	O
decimal	O
,	O
catering	O
for	O
byte	B-Application
order	O
,	O
or	O
other	O
data	O
type	O
conversion	O
peculiarities	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Most	O
if	O
not	O
all	O
hex	B-Application
editors	I-Application
define	O
their	O
own	O
template	O
file	O
format	O
;	O
there	O
is	O
no	O
trend	O
to	O
support	O
a	O
standard	O
or	O
even	O
compatibility	O
between	O
the	O
various	O
formats	O
out	O
in	O
the	O
wild	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Advanced	O
hex	B-Application
editors	I-Application
have	O
scripting	O
systems	O
that	O
let	O
the	O
user	O
create	O
macro	O
like	O
functionality	O
as	O
a	O
sequence	O
of	O
user	O
interface	O
commands	O
for	O
automating	O
common	O
tasks	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Scripting	O
languages	O
vary	O
widely	O
,	O
often	O
being	O
product	O
specific	O
languages	O
resembling	O
MS-DOS	O
batch	O
files	O
,	O
to	O
systems	O
that	O
support	O
fully-fledged	O
scripting	O
languages	O
such	O
as	O
Lua	B-Language
or	O
Python	B-Language
.	O
</s>
<s>
A	O
few	O
select	O
editors	O
have	O
a	O
plugin	B-Application
system	O
that	O
allows	O
to	O
extend	O
the	O
GUI	B-Application
and	O
add	O
new	O
functionality	O
,	O
usually	O
loading	O
dynamic	O
link	O
libraries	O
written	O
in	O
a	O
C-compatible	O
language	O
.	O
</s>
