You are right. I wonder why KEIL generates such HEX files.

The Keil OHx51 Object-HEX Converter reads an absolute OMF51 object module and creates an Intel HEX file.

The data records in the absolute obj file are listed in the same order as the OBJ files are linked. So, for example, if you link MAIN.OBJ, the linker outputs the MAIN.OBJ data records FIRST followed by data records from the LIBRARY (including the startup code).

So, when OHx51 runs, it simply outputs the data for MAIN.OBJ and then from the library.

As for the order of the HEX records, there is nothing in the Intel specification that states that the records must be in order.

The old Intel L51 linker and OHS51 output Intel HEX records in the same order as the absolute object module and so we did this the same way. If the Intel tools generated HEX files with unordered records, It's probably OK for other companies to do this as well.

If you need to see a binary image of the HEX file, there are numerous utilities that convert HEX files to BIN files.

Jon