1STRINGS(1)                   GNU Development Tools                  STRINGS(1)
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3
4

NAME

6       strings - print the strings of printable characters in files.
7

SYNOPSIS

9       strings [-afovV] [-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               [-T bfdname] [--target=bfdname]
15               [--help] [--version] file...
16

DESCRIPTION

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
25       strings is mainly useful for determining the contents of non-text
26       files.
27

OPTIONS

29       -a
30       --all
31       -   Do not scan only the initialized and loaded sections of object
32           files; scan the whole files.
33
34       -f
35       --print-file-name
36           Print the name of the file before each string.
37
38       --help
39           Print a summary of the program usage on the standard output and
40           exit.
41
42       -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
48       -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
52       -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
58       -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
64           bigendian, L = 32-bit littleendian.  Useful for finding wide
65           character strings. (l and b apply to, for example, Unicode
66           UTF-16/UCS-2 encodings).
67
68       -T bfdname
69       --target=bfdname
70           Specify an object code format other than your system's default
71           format.
72
73       -v
74       -V
75       --version
76           Print the program version number on the standard output and exit.
77
78       @file
79           Read command-line options from file.  The options read are inserted
80           in place of the original @file option.  If file does not exist, or
81           cannot be read, then the option will be treated literally, and not
82           removed.
83
84           Options in file are separated by whitespace.  A whitespace
85           character may be included in an option by surrounding the entire
86           option in either single or double quotes.  Any character (including
87           a backslash) may be included by prefixing the character to be
88           included with a backslash.  The file may itself contain additional
89           @file options; any such options will be processed recursively.
90

SEE ALSO

92       ar(1), nm(1), objdump(1), ranlib(1), readelf(1) and the Info entries
93       for binutils.
94
96       Copyright (c) 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999,
97       2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010 Free
98       Software Foundation, Inc.
99
100       Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document
101       under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.3 or
102       any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no
103       Invariant Sections, with no Front-Cover Texts, and with no Back-Cover
104       Texts.  A copy of the license is included in the section entitled "GNU
105       Free Documentation License".
106
107
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109binutils-2.20.51.0.7              2011-05-02                        STRINGS(1)
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