I’m trying to convert Hello to 48 65 6c 6c 6f in hexadecimal as

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Editorial Team

Asked: May 23, 20262026-05-23T20:34:27+00:00 2026-05-23T20:34:27+00:00

I’m trying to convert “Hello” to 48 65 6c 6c 6f in hexadecimal as efficiently as possible using the command line.

I’ve tried looking at printf and google, but I can’t get anywhere.

Any help greatly appreciated.

Many thanks in advance,

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Editorial Team · Answer 1 · 2026-05-23T20:34:29+00:00

echo -n "Hello" | od -A n -t x1

Explanation:

The echo program will provide the string to the next command.
The -n flag tells echo to not generate a new line at the end of the "Hello".
The od program is the "octal dump" program. (We will be providing a flag to tell it to dump it in hexadecimal instead of octal.)
The -A n flag is short for --address-radix=n, with n being short for "none". Without this part, the command would output an ugly numerical address prefix on the left side. This is useful for large dumps, but for a short string it is unnecessary.
The -t x1 flag is short for --format=x1, with the x being short for "hexadecimal" and the 1 meaning 1 byte.

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