nvim-elf-file

---

A simple plugin to browse .elf and bin file contents in the style of pi_zip.

---

Features

• Disassemble functions
• Dump section / object contents

• Show address cursor hover
• Jump to address
• Search hex/text
• Browse strings
• Fit/refresh contents to window width

Tip

Use ? in an elf/bin file to see the key bindings.

---

Installation

Requires:

• neovim 0.11.0+
• plenary.nvim

lazy.nvim:

{
  "jontheburger/nvim-elf-file",
  dependencies = { "nvim-lua/plenary.nvim" },
  ---@type nvim-elf-file.UserOptions
  opts = {},
  keys = {
    { "<leader>x", "<Plug>(nvim-elf-file-toggle-bin)", desc = "Toggle Bin View" },
  },
  cmd = { "ElfFile" },
}

packer:

{
  "jontheburger/nvim-elf-file", 
  requires = { "nvim-lua/plenary.nvim" },
  opt = true,
  config = function()
    require("nvim-elf-file").setup({})
    vim.keymap.set("n", "<leader>x", "<Plug>(nvim-elf-file-toggle-bin)", { noremap = true, desc = "Toggle Bin View", })
  end
}

mini.deps:

local add = MiniDeps.add
add({
  source = "jontheburger/nvim-elf-file",
  depends = { "nvim-lua/plenary.nvim" },
  checkout = ""
})

---

Dependencies

This plugin uses some external programs to run properly. Please ensure the following are installed:

• readelf (and any architecture-specific readelf, such as arm-none-eabi-readelf)
• objdump (and any architecture-specific objdump, such as arm-none-eabi-objdump)
• xxd
• strings
• rg (ripgrep)

---

Configuration

The following the default opts:

---@type nvim-elf-file.UserOptions
opts = {
  -- Path to single readelf program name / executable path,
  -- readelf = "/usr/bin/readelf",

  -- Or a function that picks readelf based on machine (see table below)
  -- nil should return a default implementation
  ---@param machine? string
  readelf = function(machine)
    if machine == "ARM" then
      return "arm-none-eabi-readelf"
    end
    return "readelf"
  end,

  -- Same thing as readelf, but for objdump
  ---@param machine? string
  objdump = function(machine)
    if machine == "ARM" then
      return "arm-none-eabi-objdump"
    end
    return "objdump"
  end,

  -- Name of strings command
  strings = "strings",

  -- Name of ripgrep command
  rg = "rg",

  -- Name of binary dumping program (not machine-dependent)
  xxd = {
    -- Name of or path to xxd executable
    executable = "xxd",
    -- Number of bytes to group in a column (2 nibbles per-byte)
    bytes_per_column = 2,
    -- Number of bytes to group in a line ("auto" to fill the line)
    bytes_per_line = "auto",
    -- How to display the address ("hexadecimal" or "decimal")
    address_format = "hexadecimal",
    -- Replace consecutive lines of all '0' with a '*'
    skip_zeros = false,
    -- Use uppercase letters for hexadecimal
    uppercase = false,
  },

  -- nvim-elf-file buffer-specific keymaps.
  -- Each entry is a <Plug>(nvim-elf-file-<command>)
  -- See list of commands in "Usage" below
  keymaps = {
    ["?"] = "help",
    ["<CR>"] = "dump",
    ["<S-K>"] = "hover",
    ["sj"] = "jump",
    ["sb"] = "search-bin",
    ["st"] = "search-text",
    ["ss"] = "search-strings",
    ["<F1>"] = "hover",
    ["<F4>"] = "jump",
    ["<F5>"] = "refresh",
    ["<F12>"] = "dump",
  },

  -- Set to false to disable automatic conversion of the filetype's buffer
  automatic = {
    elf = true,
    bin = true,
    -- Automatically refresh the render when window size changes
    refresh = false,
  },

  -- List of registers to yank strings to
  yank_registers = { "0", "'", '"' },

  -- What to do when a e.g. disassembled function buffer goes out of view.
  -- By default, it is wiped out.
  bufhidden = "wipe",

  -- Verbosity of `vim.fn.stdpath("data") .. "/nvim-elf-file.log"`
  log_level = "info",
}

Some common machines include:

Machine (from readelf)	Architecture
Advanced Micro Devices X86-64	64-bit x86 (x86_64)
Intel 80386	32-bit x86
ARM	32-bit ARM
AArch64	64-bit ARM
MIPS R3000	MIPS
RISC-V	RISC-V
PowerPC	PowerPC
SPARC	SPARC

Tip

You can set vim.g.loaded_nvim_elf_file = true to turn off the plugin entirely.

---

Usage

This plugin provides the ElfFile EX Command with sub-commands:

Command	Description
ElfFile help	Show keybinds
ElfFile toggle	Toggle display based on filetype
ElfFile toggle elf	Toggle readelf display
ElfFile toggle bin	Toggle xxd binary display
ElfFile dump	Dump section/symbol/file under cursor
ElfFile jump	Jump toan address in a binary file
ElfFile hover	Show a hover with additional info
ElfFile search bin	Search for raw bytes in a binary file
ElfFile search text	Search for textin a binary file
ElfFile search strings	Yank from the strings present in a binary file
ElfFile refresh	Reload toggle

This plugin also provides <Plug>(nvim-elf-file-<command>) mappings:

Mapping	Command
<Plug>(nvim-elf-file-help)	ElfFile help
<Plug>(nvim-elf-file-toggle)	ElfFile toggle
<Plug>(nvim-elf-file-toggle-elf)	ElfFile toggle elf
<Plug>(nvim-elf-file-toggle-bin)	ElfFile toggle bin
<Plug>(nvim-elf-file-dump)	ElfFile dump
<Plug>(nvim-elf-file-jump)	ElfFile jump
<Plug>(nvim-elf-file-hover)	ElfFile hover
<Plug>(nvim-elf-file-search-bin)	ElfFile search bin
<Plug>(nvim-elf-file-search-text)	ElfFile search text
<Plug>(nvim-elf-file-search-strings)	ElfFile search strings
<Plug>(nvim-elf-file-refresh)	ElfFile refresh

This plugin also keeps the lua API located in require("nvim-elf-file") stable:

Function	Command
setup(opts)	Set up the plugin with custom settings
is_elf_file(file)	Checks if thebufnr/string path is an ELF file by checking for the magic bytes
help()	Show keybinds
toggle()	Toggle based on file type
toggle_elf()	Uses readelf to dump the elf file contents into a readonly buffer
toggle_bin()	Uses xxd dump the current buffer as hex
dump()	Dumps the section / symbol / function / file under cursor in a new buffer
jump()	Jump to an address in a bin file
hover()	Show additional information about the item under the cursor
search_binary()	Search for raw bytes in a bin file using rg
search_text()	Search for text in a bin file using rg
search_strings()	Select from text in a bin file using strings
refresh()	Redo toggle

---

Cookbook

snacks.bigfile

Snacks bigfile works by changing the filetype to bigfile. To override the bigfile decision, add an ftplugin/bigfile.lua to your neovim config to automatically toggle_elf when an ELF file is detected. This is a quick check, as we only read the first 4 bytes of the file for "\x7fELF".

-- ~/.config/nvim/ftplugin/bigfile.lua
if require("nvim-elf-file").is_elf_file() then
  require("nvim-elf-file").toggle_elf()
end

---