Binary to DATA for BASIC

Objective

Load any file, convert it into 16‑byte hexadecimal blocks, and generate retro BASIC code ready to save as .bas.
The memory load command (POKE) is not included; see below.

No file loaded
Encoding Options

BIN (hex view)
Basic DATA

POKE from DATA: concatenated vs comma‑separated

Expect about 30–35% less source size (may be more) when using concatenated hex strings (16 bytes per line).

Example 1: Concatenated hex blocks

In this version, each DATA line contains a long string of hexadecimal characters representing 16 bytes. The program reads the string, splits it into two-character chunks, converts each chunk into a numeric value, and then POKEs it into memory. The loop continues until the special end marker "ZZ" is reached.


			1000 REM Concatenated hex blocks
			1010 DATA A5A5A5A5A5A5A5A5A5A5A5A5A5A5A5A5
			1020 DATA ZZ
			1030 ADR = &HC000: REM start address in memory
			1040 READ D$
			1050 IF D$="ZZ" THEN 2020
			1060 FOR I=1 TO LEN(D$) STEP 2
			1070   V = VAL("&H"+MID$(D$,I,2))
			1080   POKE ADR, V
			1090   ADR = ADR + 1
			2000 NEXT I
			2010 GOTO 1040
			2020 RETURN

Concatenated

			1000 REM Sub-routine
			1010 ADR = &HC000: REM start address in memory
			1020 READ D$:IF D$="ZZ" THEN 1050
			1030 FOR I=1 TO LEN(D$) STEP 2: V=VAL("&H"+MID$(D$,I,2)):POKE ADR,V:ADR=ADR+1:NEXT
			1040 GOTO 1020
			1050 RETURN

Example 2: Comma-separated hex values

Here, each DATA line lists hexadecimal values separated by commas. The program reads each value directly, converts it into a number, and POKEs it into memory one by one. The process stops when the "ZZ" marker is encountered, signaling the end of the data.


			100 REM Comma-separated hex values
			110 DATA A5,A5,A5,A5,A5,A5,A5,A5,A5,A5,A5,A5,A5,A5,A5,A5
			120 DATA ZZ
			130 ADR = &HC000: REM start address in memory
			140 READ D$
			150 IF D$="ZZ" THEN END: REM or GOTO line
			160 V = VAL("&H"+D$)
			170 POKE ADR, V
			180 ADR = ADR + 1
			190 GOTO 140