Binary editor like vI - bi

bi is a binary editor with a user interface similar to vi. It started when I posted it on ASCII-net for MS-DOS in December 1991. 33 years have passed since then. Another binary editor with a user interface similar to vi was released for Linux in 1996 by Gerhard Buergmann, called bvi, but I was the first. The first version of bi was written, but the current release version is written in python and C. C version is newly remaked for modern version that is different from originl old version.

It uses ANSI terminal escape sequences, so it is for ANSI terminals. It should work on ANSI terminals on Linux, Unix, FreeBSD, and POSIX-compliant OSes.

Development environment and operation verification was done on ArchLinux and FreeBSD.

Try the option -t color for multi color terminal.

The bi is designed to be with high functionality, flexible, lightweight, simple, compact, user-friendly and smoothly responsive. bi can handle original script.

The development environment and operation verification are done on ArchLinux and FreeBSD.

This software disributed with MIT license.

git clone http://github.com/fygar256/bi
cd bi
chmod +x bi.py
sudo cp bi.py /usr/local/bin/bi

sudo cp bi.1.gz /usr/share/man/man1/
sudo mandb

This is a version of 'bi', the Binary editor like vi, written in C. It doen't support Python calls such as eval() and exec(), but it runs much faster than Python version, making it ideal for working with large files.

Originally, bi was written in C in 1991, therefore I recreated bi recently in C with modern functionality.

cc bi.c -o bi
sudo cp bi /usr/local/bin

bi file

man bi

vi like binary editor 'bi'

Designed and Programmed by Taisuke Maekawa (fygar256)

BI is a binary editor designed to mimic the interface of the

UNIX editor 'vi'. The name (BI) is an abbreviation for Binary editor

like vI. For the vi and binary enthusists.

Pacific Software Development

screen shot from original bi in 1991 on PC-9801 emulator xnp2.