How do you convert a HEX file to ASCII

Hello Brody,

Thank you for your interest in the Keil tools.

Do you know what microcontroller this hex file was meant to run on? Was it for an Arm device, an 8051?

What you have is the actual raw machine code (zeros and ones) that would get executed on the device. You can read more about the Intel Hex file format here.

You can use tools to covert the Hex file into easier-to-parse formats, but nothing easily human readable.

When a linker runs, it typically makes a machine readable file like .hex or .axf, but it also makes a Linker Listing map file. (aka an image map) that summarizes what the linker did.  This file type usually has a *.map file extension.

What type of analysis are you needing to do?

(It looks like ACL and Monarch are good for pulling and comparing data from different databases or spreadsheets.)

• Are you trying to compare the source code revisions?
• Analyze the output if this code runs?
• Look up memory usage?
• Check for 3rd party IP in the code?

If we know the device, and what data you need, we may be able to suggest a better analysis tool, or existing features within the Keil tools.

We are always interested in new ways our customers want to analyze the projects, so please let us know!

Hello Brody,

Thank you for your interest in the Keil tools.

Do you know what microcontroller this hex file was meant to run on? Was it for an Arm device, an 8051?

What you have is the actual raw machine code (zeros and ones) that would get executed on the device. You can read more about the Intel Hex file format here.

You can use tools to covert the Hex file into easier-to-parse formats, but nothing easily human readable.

When a linker runs, it typically makes a machine readable file like .hex or .axf, but it also makes a Linker Listing map file. (aka an image map) that summarizes what the linker did.  This file type usually has a *.map file extension.

What type of analysis are you needing to do?

(It looks like ACL and Monarch are good for pulling and comparing data from different databases or spreadsheets.)

• Are you trying to compare the source code revisions?
• Analyze the output if this code runs?
• Look up memory usage?
• Check for 3rd party IP in the code?

If we know the device, and what data you need, we may be able to suggest a better analysis tool, or existing features within the Keil tools.

We are always interested in new ways our customers want to analyze the projects, so please let us know!

I very much hope that brody miles is not still stuck on this after over 12 years ... !!