2. Basic Concepts

In this section, we will introduce some fundamental techniques commonly used when working with binary file formats. These concepts lay the foundation for understanding more advanced topics covered in the next chapter.

Note

To simplify field definitions in your structs, we can use shortcuts. For instance, instead of manually specifying field types, we can leverage the F function from the caterpillar.shortcuts module to create fields. However, if your don’t want to wrap everything within a Field, you can use the as_field option when packing or unpacking.

>>> from caterpillar.shortcuts import F
>>> field = F(uint8)

or wrap the struct directly

>>> pack(0xFF, uint8, as_field=True)

Basic Concepts

• 2.1. Standard Types
  • 2.1.1. Numeric Types
  • 2.1.2. Enumerations
  • 2.1.3. Arrays / Lists
• 2.2. String Types
  • 2.2.1. Default Strings
  • 2.2.2. CString
  • 2.2.3. Pascal Strings
• 2.3. Byte Sequences
  • 2.3.1. Memory
  • 2.3.2. Bytes
• 2.4. Padding
• 2.5. Context
  • 2.5.1. Runtime Length of Objects
  • 2.5.2. Context Paths
• 2.6. Common Structures
  • 2.6.1. Constants
  • 2.6.2. Compression
  • 2.6.3. Specials