Hexadecimal decoding (hex decoder)

To convert a hexadecimal string into its binary form, each hex character is first translated to its corresponding binary representation. Hexadecimal (or "hex") is a base-16 numbering system, meaning it uses 16 symbols: 0-9 for values zero through nine, and A-F (or a-f in lowercase) for values ten through fifteen. Since each hex digit represents exactly four binary bits, this conversion is straightforward.

This approach is particularly useful for developers and digital forensics experts who need to examine or manipulate data at a low level, as it allows them to interpret binary and hex data interchangeably.

Notes:

• decoder will ignore any spaces , colons :, escape sequences \x
• 0x at the start of the string will be removed
• one 0 will be added to the start of the string when string is not of even length

Sample:

77:65:62:61:63:75:73
----- = -----
webacus

In mathematics and computer science, hexadecimal (also base 16, or hex) is a positional numeral system with a radix, or base, of 16. It uses sixteen distinct symbols, most often the symbols 0–9 to represent values zero to nine, and A, B, C, D, E, F (or alternatively a–f) to represent values ten to fifteen. For example, the hexadecimal number 2AF3 is equal, in decimal, to (2 × 16³) + (10 × 16²) + (15 × 16¹) + (3 × 16⁰) , or 10995. Each hexadecimal digit represents four binary digits (bits) (also called a "nibble"), and the primary use of hexadecimal notation is as a human-friendly representation of binary coded values in computing and digital electronics. For example, byte values can range from 0 to 255 (decimal) but may be more conveniently represented as two hexadecimal digits in the range 00 through FF. Hexadecimal is also commonly used to represent computer memory addresses.^[1]

Sources:
[1] en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hexadecimal