STRINGS(1) GNU Development Tools STRINGS(1)NAMEstrings - print the strings of printable characters in files.
SYNOPSISstrings [-afov] [-min-len]
[-n min-len] [--bytes=min-len]
[-t radix] [--radix=radix]
[-e encoding] [--encoding=encoding]
[-] [--all] [--print-file-name]
[-T bfdname] [--target=bfdname]
[--help] [--version] file...
DESCRIPTION
For each file given, GNU strings prints the printable character
sequences that are at least 4 characters long (or the number given with
the options below) and are followed by an unprintable character. By
default, it only prints the strings from the initialized and loaded
sections of object files; for other types of files, it prints the
strings from the whole file.
strings is mainly useful for determining the contents of non-text
files.
OPTIONS-a
--all
- Do not scan only the initialized and loaded sections of object
files; scan the whole files.
-f
--print-file-name
Print the name of the file before each string.
--help
Print a summary of the program usage on the standard output and
exit.
-min-len
-n min-len
--bytes=min-len
Print sequences of characters that are at least min-len characters
long, instead of the default 4.
-o Like -t o. Some other versions of strings have -o act like -t d
instead. Since we can not be compatible with both ways, we simply
chose one.
-t radix
--radix=radix
Print the offset within the file before each string. The single
character argument specifies the radix of the offset---o for octal,
x for hexadecimal, or d for decimal.
-e encoding
--encoding=encoding
Select the character encoding of the strings that are to be found.
Possible values for encoding are: s = single-7-bit-byte characters
(ASCII, ISO 8859, etc., default), S = single-8-bit-byte characters,
b = 16-bit bigendian, l = 16-bit littleendian, B = 32-bit bigen‐
dian, L = 32-bit littleendian. Useful for finding wide character
strings.
-T bfdname
--target=bfdname
Specify an object code format other than your system's default for‐
mat.
-v
--version
Print the program version number on the standard output and exit.
@file
Read command-line options from file. The options read are inserted
in place of the original @file option. If file does not exist, or
cannot be read, then the option will be treated literally, and not
removed.
Options in file are separated by whitespace. A whitespace charac‐
ter may be included in an option by surrounding the entire option
in either single or double quotes. Any character (including a
backslash) may be included by prefixing the character to be
included with a backslash. The file may itself contain additional
@file options; any such options will be processed recursively.
SEE ALSOar(1), nm(1), objdump(1), ranlib(1), readelf(1) and the Info entries
for binutils.
COPYRIGHT
Copyright (c) 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999,
2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007 Free Software Founda‐
tion, Inc.
Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document
under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.1 or
any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no
Invariant Sections, with no Front-Cover Texts, and with no Back-Cover
Texts. A copy of the license is included in the section entitled "GNU
Free Documentation License".
binutils-2.17.90 2007-08-06 STRINGS(1)
