Binary Analysis

Tools for exploring and reverse engineering binary files, firmware, and unknown data.

When to Use

Scenario	Use this skill	Alternative
Identify unknown file types	binary-analysis (`file`, `xxd`)	Read tool (text files only)
Extract text from compiled binaries	binary-analysis (`strings`)	Grep (source code only)
Analyze firmware images	binary-analysis (`binwalk`)	Manual extraction
Find embedded files in binaries	binary-analysis (`binwalk -e`)	Manual offset calculation
Inspect raw hex data	binary-analysis (`xxd`, `hexdump`)	Read tool (not for binary)
Search source code for patterns	rg-code-search	binary-analysis (for compiled code)
Read structured data files (JSON, YAML)	jq / nushell	binary-analysis (unstructured binary)