1STRINGS(1) GNU Development Tools STRINGS(1)
2
6 strings - print the strings of printable characters in files.
7
9 strings [-afov] [-min-len]
10 [-n min-len] [--bytes=min-len]
11 [-t radix] [--radix=radix]
12 [-e encoding] [--encoding=encoding]
13 [-] [--all] [--print-file-name]
14 [--target=bfdname]
15 [--help] [--version] file...
16
18 For each file given, GNU strings prints the printable character
19 sequences that are at least 4 characters long (or the number given with
20 the options below) and are followed by an unprintable character. By
21 default, it only prints the strings from the initialized and loaded
22 sections of object files; for other types of files, it prints the
23 strings from the whole file.
24 strings is mainly useful for determining the contents of non-text
26 files.
27
29 -a
30 --all
31 - Do not scan only the initialized and loaded sections of object
32 files; scan the whole files.
33 -f
35 --print-file-name
36 Print the name of the file before each string.
37 --help
39 Print a summary of the program usage on the standard output and
40 exit.
41 -min-len
43 -n min-len
44 --bytes=min-len
45 Print sequences of characters that are at least min-len characters
46 long, instead of the default 4.
47 -o Like -t o. Some other versions of strings have -o act like -t d
49 instead. Since we can not be compatible with both ways, we simply
50 chose one.
51 -t radix
53 --radix=radix
54 Print the offset within the file before each string. The single
55 character argument specifies the radix of the offset---o for octal,
56 x for hexadecimal, or d for decimal.
57 -e encoding
59 --encoding=encoding
60 Select the character encoding of the strings that are to be found.
61 Possible values for encoding are: s = single-7-bit-byte characters
62 (ASCII, ISO 8859, etc., default), S = single-8-bit-byte characters,
63 b = 16-bit bigendian, l = 16-bit littleendian, B = 32-bit bigen‐
64 dian, L = 32-bit littleendian. Useful for finding wide character
65 strings.
66 --target=bfdname
68 Specify an object code format other than your system's default for‐
69 mat.
70 -v
72 --version
73 Print the program version number on the standard output and exit.
74 @file
76 Read command-line options from file. The options read are inserted
77 in place of the original @file option. If file does not exist, or
78 cannot be read, then the option will be treated literally, and not
79 removed.
80 Options in file are separated by whitespace. A whitespace charac‐
82 ter may be included in an option by surrounding the entire option
83 in either single or double quotes. Any character (including a
84 backslash) may be included by prefixing the character to be
85 included with a backslash. The file may itself contain additional
86 @file options; any such options will be processed recursively.
87
89 ar(1), nm(1), objdump(1), ranlib(1), readelf(1) and the Info entries
90 for binutils.
91
93 Copyright (c) 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999,
94 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
95 Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document
97 under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.1 or
98 any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no
99 Invariant Sections, with no Front-Cover Texts, and with no Back-Cover
100 Texts. A copy of the license is included in the section entitled "GNU
101 Free Documentation License".
102binutils-2.17 2006-06-23 STRINGS(1)