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STRINGS(P)		   POSIX Programmer's Manual		    STRINGS(P)

PROLOG
       This  manual  page is part of the POSIX Programmer's Manual.  The Linux
       implementation of this interface may differ (consult the	 corresponding
       Linux  manual page for details of Linux behavior), or the interface may
       not be implemented on Linux.

NAME
       strings - find printable strings in files

SYNOPSIS
       strings [-a][-t format][-n number][file...]

DESCRIPTION
       The strings utility shall look for printable strings in	regular	 files
       and shall write those strings to standard output. A printable string is
       any sequence of four (by default) or more printable  characters	termi‐
       nated  by  a  <newline>	or  NUL	 character. Additional implementation-
       defined strings may be written; see localedef.

OPTIONS
       The strings utility shall conform to the	 Base  Definitions  volume  of
       IEEE Std 1003.1-2001, Section 12.2, Utility Syntax Guidelines.

       The following options shall be supported:

       -a     Scan  files  in  their  entirety.	 If -a is not specified, it is
	      implementation-defined what portion of each file is scanned  for
	      strings.

       -n  number
	      Specify  the minimum string length, where the number argument is
	      a positive decimal integer. The default shall be 4.

       -t  format
	      Write each string preceded by its byte offset from the start  of
	      the  file. The format shall be dependent on the single character
	      used as the format option-argument:

       d
	      The offset shall be written in decimal.

       o
	      The offset shall be written in octal.

       x
	      The offset shall be written in hexadecimal.

OPERANDS
       The following operand shall be supported:

       file   A pathname of a regular file to be used as input. If no file op‐
	      erand  is	 specified,  the  strings  utility shall read from the
	      standard input.

STDIN
       See the INPUT FILES section.

INPUT FILES
       The input files named by the utility arguments or  the  standard	 input
       shall be regular files of any format.

ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES
       The  following  environment  variables  shall  affect  the execution of
       strings:

       LANG   Provide a default value for the  internationalization  variables
	      that  are	 unset	or  null.  (See the Base Definitions volume of
	      IEEE Std 1003.1-2001, Section  8.2,  Internationalization	 Vari‐
	      ables  for the precedence of internationalization variables used
	      to determine the values of locale categories.)

       LC_ALL If set to a non-empty string value, override the values  of  all
	      the other internationalization variables.

       LC_CTYPE
	      Determine	 the  locale  for  the	interpretation of sequences of
	      bytes of text data as characters (for  example,  single-byte  as
	      opposed  to  multi-byte characters in arguments and input files)
	      and to identify printable strings.

       LC_MESSAGES
	      Determine the locale that should be used to  affect  the	format
	      and contents of diagnostic messages written to standard error.

       NLSPATH
	      Determine the location of message catalogs for the processing of
	      LC_MESSAGES .

ASYNCHRONOUS EVENTS
       Default.

STDOUT
       Strings found shall be written to the standard output, one per line.

       When the -t option is not specified, the format of the output shall be:

	      "%s", <string>

       With the -t o option, the format of the output shall be:

	      "%o %s", <byte offset>, <string>

       With the -t x option, the format of the output shall be:

	      "%x %s", <byte offset>, <string>

       With the -t d option, the format of the output shall be:

	      "%d %s", <byte offset>, <string>

STDERR
       The standard error shall be used only for diagnostic messages.

OUTPUT FILES
       None.

EXTENDED DESCRIPTION
       None.

EXIT STATUS
       The following exit values shall be returned:

	0     Successful completion.

       >0     An error occurred.

CONSEQUENCES OF ERRORS
       Default.

       The following sections are informative.

APPLICATION USAGE
       By default the data area (as opposed to	the  text,  "bss",  or	header
       areas)  of  a binary executable file is scanned.	 Implementations docu‐
       ment which areas are scanned.

       Some historical implementations do not require NUL or <newline>	termi‐
       nators  for  strings to permit those languages that do not use NUL as a
       string terminator to have their strings written.

EXAMPLES
       None.

RATIONALE
       Apart from rationalizing the option syntax and slight difficulties with
       object  and executable binary files, strings is specified to match his‐
       torical practice closely. The -a and  -n	 options  were	introduced  to
       replace the non-conforming - and - number options.

       The  -o	option historically means different things on different imple‐
       mentations. Some use it to mean " offset in decimal", while others  use
       it  as  " offset in octal". Instead of trying to decide which way would
       be least objectionable, the -t option  was  added.  It  was  originally
       named  -O to mean "offset", but was changed to -t to be consistent with
       od.

       The ISO C standard function isprint() is	 restricted  to	 a  domain  of
       unsigned char. This volume of IEEE Std 1003.1-2001 requires implementa‐
       tions to write strings as defined by the current locale.

FUTURE DIRECTIONS
       None.

SEE ALSO
       localedef , nm

COPYRIGHT
       Portions of this text are reprinted and reproduced in  electronic  form
       from IEEE Std 1003.1, 2003 Edition, Standard for Information Technology
       -- Portable Operating System Interface (POSIX),	The  Open  Group  Base
       Specifications  Issue  6,  Copyright  (C) 2001-2003 by the Institute of
       Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc and The Open  Group.  In  the
       event of any discrepancy between this version and the original IEEE and
       The Open Group Standard, the original IEEE and The Open Group  Standard
       is  the	referee document. The original Standard can be obtained online
       at http://www.opengroup.org/unix/online.html .

IEEE/The Open Group		     2003			    STRINGS(P)
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