Command for converting between ASCII text files and binary files

1.

While wanting to convert binary files(especially for an embedded system image file) into ASCII text files,  linux command "od" could be used.

such as the usage,

                   [shawn]$ od -A n -t x4 -w4 -v    456.bin > 123.txt

In the command above,

               -A n :  DO NOT print file offsets

               -t x4:  output format - 4 bytes per integer

               -w4 : output 4 bytes per output line

               -v :  do not use * to mark line suppression

part of the result text file after converting is as below,

 000005d8
 3c1d9e80     <--- one MIPS instruction

2.

When wanna convert text files(mainly for the text file from binary image file) into binary files,  linux command "xxd" can be used.

such as,

                          [shawn]$ xxd -r -p 123.txt > 456.bin

In the command above,

-r | -revert
              reverse operation: convert (or patch) hexdump into binary.  If  not
              writing to stdout, xxd writes into its output file without truncat-
              ing it. Use the combination -r -p to read plain  hexadecimal  dumps
              without  line  number  information  and without a particular column
              layout. Additional Whitespace and line-breaks are allowed anywhere.

The commands mentioned above are used in our embedded project, please feel free to use them to reach your goal.