strings

STRINGS(1)                   GNU Development Tools                  STRINGS(1)



NAME
       strings - print the strings of printable characters in files.

SYNOPSIS
       strings [-afov] [-min-len]
               [-n min-len] [--bytes=min-len]
               [-t radix] [--radix=radix]
               [-e encoding] [--encoding=encoding]
               [-] [--all] [--print-file-name]
               [--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.

       --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.

SEE ALSO
       ar(1), nm(1), objdump(1), ranlib(1), readelf(1) and  the  Info  entries
       for binutils.

COPYRIGHT
       Copyright  (c)  1991,  92, 93, 94, 95, 96, 97, 98, 99, 2000, 2001, 2002
       Free Software Foundation, 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-2.13.90.0.18             2003-02-24                        STRINGS(1)