Convert a File to a C Data Structure

Yesterday's post about embedding a file in an executable has gotten a couple of replies about programs that will convert the file to a C data structure. This is certainly an option, here's a script that does that without the need to go searching for programs, it uses standard Linux tools:

#!/bin/bash

if [[ $# -ne 1 ]]; then
    echo "Usage: $0 FILENAME"
    exit 1
fi
file=$1

if [[ ! -f "$file" ]]; then
    echo "File not found: $file"
    exit 1
fi

cname=$file
cname=${cname//-/_}
cname=${cname//./_}

echo "static unsigned char $cname[] = {"
hexdump -v -e '" " 16/1 "  0x%02x, " "\n"' $file | \
   sed -e '$s/0x  ,//g'
echo "};"

PS This script also appears in a reply to the original post.

Mitch Frazier is an embedded systems programmer at Emerson Electric Co. Mitch has been a contributor to and a friend of Linux Journal since the early 2000s.

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