p2hex(1)p2hex(1)NAMEp2hex - convert code files into hex files
SYNTAXp2hex [ option(s) ] <name(s)> [ further options/names ]
DESCRIPTION
P2HEX is a tool to convert the contents of one or several code files
generated by AS into HEX files. A HEX file is a common method of rep‐
resenting binary data in a way that is human-readable and transferrable
over non-transparent data lines. Generally spoken, each byte of code
or data is represented by two characters that show the byte in its
hexadecimal notation. A HEX file also contains additional information
like addresses and checksums that ease processing of the data. Unfor‐
tunately, there is no generally accepted standard format for HEX files.
Instead, every processor manufacturer developed his own format and some
of them have become "industry standards". P2HEX supports all formats
that seem to have gained acceptance, with some variations that are com‐
monplace.
Arguments to P2HEX may be either command line parameters or file name
specifications. Any argument that starts with the charactes +, - or /
is regarded as a comand line parameter (which may take an additional
command line argument); any other argument is regarded as a file name.
Generally, P2HEX needs at least two file names: An input code file and
the name of the HEX output file. If multiple file names are given,
P2HEX will always take the last name as the output file's name. If an
input file name does not have an extension, the extension '.p' is added
automatically. Similarly, the extension '.hex' is added automatically
to the target file's name. A special case occurs when only one file
name is given: P2HEX will then take its name as the source (possibly
extended with '.p'), and the same name as target (with '.hex' as addi‐
tional or replaced extension).
By default, P2HEX will choose a HEX format that is the most common for
the processor family a source file contains code for; this however
means that if the source file(s)contain(s) code for different proces‐
sor families, the HEX file might become an undesirable mixture of for‐
mats; use the -F command-line parameter to force a certain format then.
COMMAND-LINE PARAMETERS
If a command-line parameter starts with a slash(/) or minus sign(-), it
turns an option on; if a command-line parameter starts with a plus
sign(+), it turns a specific option off. Numeric arguments to parame‐
ters can be either written in decimal or hexadecimal notation. For
hexadecimal notation, prefix the number with a dollar($) sign. In the
following list, all options will be shown in the form that is needed to
change the default behaviour, which might be a plus or minus sign,
depening on wether the option is on or off by default.
p2hex accepts the following command-line parameters:
-a
Tell P2HEX to use relative addressing in the output HEX file.
By default, addresses the HEX file will be exactly the same
absolute addresses as they were in the code file. This may cre‐
ate problems with some EPROM-burners if your code does not start
at address 0. In relative mode, the address filter's start
address (see the -r command line switch) is subtracted from all
addresses specifications in the HEX file (with the exception of
the entry address). Therefore, addresses in the HEX file again
start at 0.
-d < <start address>-<stop address> >
Tell P2HEX that items in the address range given by the argument
should be regarded as data rather than code. This option only
has a meaning for the TI-DSK format that can differenciate
between code and data. It will probably disappear on the day
when P2HEX can process all address spaces, making a manual dis‐
tinction unnecessary.
-e <address>
Set an entry address or modify an existing one. Some HEX file
formats can carry a special record for an entry address that
tells a program loader where to jump after a program has been
loaded. Normally, this address is generated by AS if the pro‐
gram's END statement has a label as argument, but this options
allows to change the entry point or add one if it was forgotten
in the program itself.
-F <Default|Moto|Intel|Intel16|Intel32|MOS|Tek|DSK>
Force a certain format for the output HEX file. By default,
P2HEX will choose one depending on the target processor. Using
Default as argument will also set this behaviour, which might be
useful to revert to P2HEX's default behaviour if the default has
been changed (see the discussion of the P2HEXCMD variable below
for presetting parameters).
Moto stands for the Motorola S-Record format, which allows
addresses from 16 to 32 bits in length and entry addresses. It
bears its name due to the fact that every record starts with the
letter S.
Intel is the "standard" Intellec-MCS8-Format for a variety of
Intel 8-Bit-CPUs that almost became a standard, but was origi‐
nally limited to 16-bit addresses. In later editions, the
addressing capability was extended to 20 ( Intel16 ) and 32 bits
( Intel32 ).
MOS is a simple format introduced by the manufacturer MOS for
their line of 65xx CPUs. It is limited to 16-bit addresses,
just like the Tek format that was defined by Tektronix.
DSK is the format Texas Instruments uses for their line of
16-bit fixed-point signal processors. In contrast to all other
formats, it is word-oriented and can distinguish between data
and code segments.
-f <number>[,<further numbers>]
Add <number> to the list of record header IDs that allow a
record from a source file to be written to the target file. A
certain header ID marks code for a certain target processor fam‐
ily; thus, this filter allows to distill code for a certain pro‐
cessor out of a source file that contains code for different
processor families. Negation of this parameter removes certain
header IDs from P2HEX's list. See the user manual of AS for a
list of all possible header ID values. If P2HEX's list of
header IDs is empty, no filtering will take place, i.e. all
records from a source file will make it into the target file.
-i <0|1|2>
Change the terminating line for an Intel-HEX file. Normally, an
Intel-HEX file is terminated with the line :00000001FF , but
there are sources that also mention :00000001 or :0000000000 as
the last line. The numeric argument of this parameter selects
one of these opportunities, with the first one being the
default. This parameter only has an effect if the target file's
format is one of the Intel-HEX variants.
-l <length>
Set the maximum number of bytes per record, and therefore the
maximum length of a line in the target file. Possible values
are between 2 and 254 bytes, with 16 being the default.
-m <0..3>
Set one of the four Intel-Hex variants defined by Microchip for
the PIC family of microcontrollers. The Default is the INHX8(0)
format, which contains all words in a Lobyte-Hibyte-ordering.
INHX16M(1) does just the opposite, whereas INHX8L(2) and
INHX8H(3) only store the lower resp. higher bytes of each word.
This parameter only has an effect if the target file's format is
one of the Intel-HEX variants.
-r < <start>-<stop> >
Set a certain address range to be filtered out of the input
file(s). Code that lies outside this range does not appear in
the output file. The default for the address filter is the
0-$7fff, which might create confusion in some cases. As a spe‐
cial option, <start> and <stop> may consist of just a single
dollar sign (escape this in UNIX shells!) to signify the lowest
resp. highest address that occurs in the input file(s). Using
this option will implicitly enable a second pass over all input
files to find the minimum and maximum values before conversion
starts, reducing the speed of P2HEX slightly.
-s
In Motorola S-Record format, force P2HEX to write a termination
record after each group of data records, which may be necessary
in some cases (but creates problems most of the time...)
+5
Disable output of Motorola S5-records, which contain the number
of data records that were sent and therefore allow an additional
level of checking. However, they are not understood by all pro‐
grams and therefore might be a source of trouble.
-M <1|2|3>
Force P2HEX to use a minimum length for the address fields of
Motorola S-records. For example, a value of 2 will effectively
disable S1 records, and a value of 3 will force usage of S3
records. The default is 1, which enables full automatic setting
of the S record length.
-k
Instruct P2HEX to erase the program source files after conver‐
sion.
PRESETTING PARAMETERS
Parameters need not neccessarily be given in the command line itself.
Before processing of command line parameters starts, P2HEX will look if
the P2HEXCMD environment variable is defined. If it exists, its con‐
tents will be treated as additional command line paramters whose syntax
is absolutely equal to normal command line parameters. As exception is
made if the variable's contents start with a '@' sign; in such a case,
the string after the '@' sign is treated as the name of a file that
contains the options. Such a file (also called a 'key file') has the
advantage that it allows the options to be written in different lines,
and it does not have a size limit. Some operating systems (like MS-
DOS) do have a length limit on command lines and environment variable
contents, so the key file may be your only option if you have a lot of
lengthy parameters for P2HEX.
RETURN CODESp2hex may return with the following codes:
0 no errors.
1 incorrect command line parameters.
2 I/O-error.
3 An input file had an incorrect format.
EXAMPLES
To convert a file file1.p fully into its HEX representation on a Unix
platform, use
p2hex-r \$-\$ file1
If you additionally want to force usage of the Motorola S-Record for‐
mat, use
p2hex-r \$-\$ -F Moto file1
NATIONAL LANGUAGE SUPPORTp2hex supports national languages in the same way as AS. See the man‐
ual page for asl(1) for maore information about this.
TIPS
Calling P2HEX without any arguments will print a short help listing all
command line parameters.
SEE ALSOasl(1), plist(1), pbind(1), p2bin(1)HISTORY
P2HEX originally appeared as an AS tool in 1992, written in Borland-
Pascal, and was ported to C and UNIX in 1996.
BUGS
Command line interpreters of some operating systems reserve some char‐
acters for their own use, so it might be necessary to give command line
parameters with certain tricks (e.g., with the help of escape charac‐
ters).
P2HEX does not have so far an opportunity to filter records by target
segment. Instead, records that contain data for any other segment than
CODE are completely ignored.
AUTHOR(S)
Alfred Arnold (a.arnold@kfa-juelich.de)
p2hex(1)
