This is a Windows command line tool (32 and 64 bit versions provided) to
generate a byte pattern to stdout. It is a rewrite, in Microsoft C,
of an ancient mid 80's DOS ".com" program written in 16-bit Microsoft
assembly. Its command line syntax is weird (carried over from the
original) so be careful.
Mostly what I use this for is to write huge test files with known patterns.
An example of that would be:
Subsequent arguments generate data bytes that are repeated to create the
requested size of output. These values are interpreted as hex.
Also quoted strings can be used, or @file to read a file in binary.
The stdout.txt file distributed with the package:
Generate byte pattern to stdout
[page last modified 2022-04-21]
C>stdout 100g ff 00 >100gig.bin
The first argument is the size of the output, but only if the first
argument starts with a 0-9. The size is parsed as a decimal number.
For latest version go to paulhoule.com/stdout
stdout.exe is a command line program to generate a pattern of data bytes
to the standard output device -- it can create large files very quickly.
Usage: stdout {-opts} {file-size{#}{*}} hex{L#}|{L}"string"|@{file} ...
-opts: -h (for debug) -- writes output bytes as ascii hex.
{file-size{#}{*}}: Present only if first argument starts with 0..9.
This is a decimal number setting the output size in bytes. Optional
# may be k,m,g,t,p,e (k=1000, m=1000**2, g=1000**3, etc), or ki,mi,etc
for ki=1024, mi=1024**2,etc. If "*" is appended, the output is
file-size times the size of the data that follows.
hex|{L}"string"|@{file}:
If hex, must be a hex number (eg. 8f) up to 64-bits. The hex value is
stored low->high order, with high order zeros omitted (so 88 will store
1 byte). To control the byte(s) output, "L#" may be appended, where #
is a value from 0 to 8.
"string" is an ascii string, L"string" is a UTF-16 string.
All C escape sequences are recognized (eg \r,\n,\0,\a,\0xff, etc.).
@{file}:
Specified file (name may be in double quotes) becomes part of the data.
File is read in binary mode. If @ alone, standard input is read.
File name may be Unicode.
Notes:
(1) file-size or hex may be preceded by a base override: 0y= binary,
0t= octal, 0n= decimal, 0x= hex (Microsoft assembler standard).
(2) If no data value(s) supplied (just file-size), zeroes are output.
Examples:
stdout 1t >test.bin Write a terabyte of 0's to test.bin
stdout "abc\n" 6a Output abc and newline and 0x6a
stdout 100* "abc" Output 100 copies of "abc" (300 bytes)
stdout "" 0y1010 0x123 Output hex bytes a,23,1
stdout 3* @test.bin Output 3 copies of file test.bin
stdout -h "" 23 "a" 45 Output the string "23 61 45"
stdout 1ki 123L3 Output 1024 bytes of repeated hex 23,1,0
stdout L"123\U1234" Output wide (UTF-16) string
The following files are included:
stdout.c C source
stdout.exe 32-bit executable
x64\stdout.exe 64-bit executable
stdout.txt This file
The packaged .exe is small; built with a tiny standard C library. That
is optional -- any Microsoft C compiler and standard library will work.
Change Log
----------
Ver 2.3 Various small bug fixes.
9/14/19 Command line fetched as wide char; now @filename can be Unicode.
Implemented \u \U string escape sequences.
Wide strings (UTF-16) can be specified via L"string"
\U >= 0x10000 generates UTF-16 surrogate pairs.
Ver 2.1: Initial release.
9/1/19
Click here to download stdout23.zip
Click here to download stdout21.zip
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