Binary blocks#

Read raw bytes as a hex dump, compress or expand them, pull the readable strings out, and identify a blob from its leading bytes.

Binary blocks work with raw bytes that a flow carries as text. Raw bytes do not survive as plain text. Most of these blocks therefore ask you how the input is encoded, and how you want the result encoded on the way out.

Compress / Decompress, Extract Strings and Detect File Type do their work outside the browser. If that call fails, the block returns a message beginning 'Error:' instead of a result.

Hex Dump#

The Hex Dump block on the canvas.

Turns bytes into a classic hex dump, with an offset at the start of each row and the hex bytes laid out in columns. Offsets are 8 hex digits. The sidebar shows a full stop in place of any byte that falls outside the printable range.

Reverse mode reads a dump back into bytes. It accepts only lines that still carry their offset: prefix, and it ignores anything else without a warning. Paste the dump exactly as the block produced it.

  • Mode - whether to build a dump or read one back. Options: To Hex Dump, From Hex Dump (default To Hex Dump).
  • Bytes Per Row - how many bytes to show on each row. Default 16.
  • Show ASCII sidebar - adds the readable rendering to the right of each row. Default ON.
  • Uppercase hex - prints 0F rather than 0f. Default ON.

Compress / Decompress#

The Compress and Decompress block on the canvas.

Compresses or expands data using one of four common algorithms. Set the input and output encodings together, so the block knows what it is reading and what you want back.

  • Algorithm - the compression algorithm to use. Options: gzip, deflate, zlib, brotli (default gzip).
  • Mode - the direction to run in. Options: Compress, Decompress (default Compress).
  • Input Encoding - how the incoming data is represented. Options: Raw, Base64, Hex (default Raw).
  • Output Encoding - how the result should be represented. Options: Base64, Hex, UTF-8 (default Base64).

Extract Strings#

The Extract Strings block on the canvas.

Pulls readable text out of a binary. It is the quickest way to find file paths, URLs, error messages and other clues inside a sample. Raise the minimum length to cut down on noise.

  • Minimum String Length - the shortest run of readable characters to report. Default 4.
  • String Encoding - the text encoding to look for. Options: ASCII, UTF-16, Both (default ASCII).
  • Sort By - the order of the results. Options: Offset, Length, Alpha (default Offset).
  • Input Encoding - how the incoming data is represented. Options: Base64, Hex, Raw (default Base64).

Detect File Type#

The Detect File Type block on the canvas.

Identifies a file from its leading bytes, so you can tell what a blob actually is without trusting a filename. It emits three labelled lines: File Type, MIME Type and Extension.

  • Input Format - how the incoming data is represented. Options: Base64, Hex (default Base64).