How to view files in binary from bash?

Question

I would like to view the contents of a file in the current directory, but in binary from the command line. How can I achieve this?

Answer 1

xxd does both binary and hexadecimal.

bin:

xxd -b file 

hex:

xxd file 

Answer 2

hexdump -C yourfile.bin 

unless you want to edit it of course. Most linux distros have hexdump by default (but obviously not all).