___           ___           ___           ___           ___           ___     
     /\  \         /\__\         /\  \         /\__\         /\  \         /\  \    
    /::\  \       /:/  /        /::\  \       /:/  /        /::\  \       /::\  \   
   /:/\:\  \     /:/  /        /:/\:\  \     /:/__/        /:/\:\  \     /:/\:\  \  
  /::\~\:\  \   /:/  /  ___   /:/  \:\  \   /::\__\____   /::\~\:\  \   /::\~\:\  \ 
 /:/\:\ \:\__\ /:/__/  /\__\ /:/__/ \:\__\ /:/\:::::\__\ /:/\:\ \:\__\ /:/\:\ \:\__\
 \/_|::\/:/  / \:\  \ /:/  / \:\  \  \/__/ \/_|:|~~|~    \:\~\:\ \/__/ \/_|::\/:/  /
    |:|::/  /   \:\  /:/  /   \:\  \          |:|  |      \:\ \:\__\      |:|::/  / 
    |:|\/__/     \:\/:/  /     \:\  \         |:|  |       \:\ \/__/      |:|\/__/  
    |:|  |        \::/  /       \:\__\        |:|  |        \:\__\        |:|  |    
     \|__|         \/__/         \/__/         \|__|         \/__/         \|__|

Summary

Switch to a quick Hex mode (Linux)

Editing a binary file ends up looking something like this in Vim :

^B-^@^@^E^X^@^@�^@^M^@^[[38;5;4m^@^@^C^\^?^U^D��^@^Q^S^Z^Y^R^O^W^V^@^@^@^@0^@l^A^@^@^@^@^B-^@^@^E

^@^@^@�^@^M^@^[~J^@^@^C^\^?^U^D��^@^Q^S^Z^Y^R^O^W^V^@^@^@^@^B-^@^@^E^X^@^@�^@^M^@^[~J\^?^U^D��^@



Type the following to run the buffer through the xxd hex dump command on Linux:

:%!xxd

The buffer will change to the following:

0000000: 022d 0000 0518 0000 bd00 0d00 1bca 0000 .-..............
0000010: 031c 7f15 04ff ff00 1113 1a19 120f 1716 ................
0000020: 0000 0000 3000 6c01 0000 0000 022d 0000 ....0.l......-..
0000030: 0500 0000 bd00 0d00 1b8a 0000 031c 7f15 ................

This is not a true hex editor! Only changes in the hex columns will carry through a restore!

Restore the original with the following:

:%!xxd -r


Add to your Vim configuration:

" :w!! 
" write the file when you accidentally opened it without the right (root) privileges
cmap w!! w !sudo tee % > /dev/null

Vi/Vim graphical cheat sheet

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