Use vim to search by hex code

Question

I need to clean up a file. We have an xml parser that runs on it that is failing due to an escape character (0x1B) in the file. How do I use vim to find where in the file that character is so I can remove it?

Example file:

<?php
echo "Hello, world.\n";                           
?>

After conversion:

0000000: 0a3c 3f70 6870 0a65 6368 6f20 2248 656c  .<?php.echo "Hel
0000010: 6c6f 2c20 776f 726c 642e 5c6e 223b 0a3f  lo, world.\n";.?
0000020: 3e0a  

So I delete a char: (in this example, the 'H')

0000000: 0a3c 3f70 6870 0a65 6368 6f20 22 656c  .<?php.echo "Hel
0000010: 6c6f 2c20 776f 726c 642e 5c6e 223b 0a3f  lo, world.\n";.?
0000020: 3e0a

Notice how the first line isn't wide enough anymore. When I convert it back, I get:

^@<?php
echo "el^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@> 

Answer 1

Transform vim into a hex editor by doing [escape] :%!xxd. Then search for 0x1B (/1B).

Answer 2

Search (e.g. using /) for \%x1b.

You can also type control characters, including escape, into the command line by preceding them with Ctrl-V. So type /, <Ctrl-V>, <Esc>, <Enter>.