STRINGS 1 2005-04-20 binutils-2.15.97 GNU Development Tools

NAME

strings - print the strings of printable characters in files.

SYNOPSIS

strings [--aaffoovv] [--_m_i_n_-_l_e_n] [--nn _m_i_n_-_l_e_n] [----bbyytteess==_m_i_n_-_l_e_n] [--tt _r_a_d_i_x] [----rraaddiixx==_r_a_d_i_x] [--ee _e_n_c_o_d_i_n_g] [----eennccooddiinngg==_e_n_c_o_d_i_n_g] [--] [----aallll] [----pprriinntt--ffiillee--nnaammee] [----ttaarrggeett==_b_f_d_n_a_m_e] [----hheellpp] [----vveerrssiioonn] _f_i_l_e...

DESCRIPTION

For each _f_i_l_e given, GNU ssttrriinnggss 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.

ssttrriinnggss is mainly useful for determining the contents of non-text files.

OPTIONS

--aa
----aallll
-- Do not scan only the initialized and loaded sections of object files;
scan the whole files.
--ff
----pprriinntt--ffiillee--nnaammee Print the name of the file before each string.
----hheellpp Print a summary of the program usage on the standard output and exit.
--_m_i_n_-_l_e_n
--nn _m_i_n_-_l_e_n
----bbyytteess==_m_i_n_-_l_e_n Print sequences of characters that are at least _m_i_n_-_l_e_n characters
long, instead of the default 4.
--oo Like --tt oo. Some other versions of ssttrriinnggss have --oo
act like --tt dd instead. Since we can not be compatible with both ways, we simply chose one.
--tt _r_a_d_i_x
----rraaddiixx==_r_a_d_i_x Print the offset within the file before each string. The single
character argument specifies the radix of the offset---oo for octal, xx for hexadecimal, or dd for decimal.
--ee _e_n_c_o_d_i_n_g
----eennccooddiinngg==_e_n_c_o_d_i_n_g Select the character encoding of the strings that are to be found.
Possible values for _e_n_c_o_d_i_n_g are: ss = single-7-bit-byte characters (ASCII, ISO 8859, etc., default), SS = single-8-bit-byte characters, bb = 16-bit bigendian, ll = 16-bit littleendian, BB = 32-bit bigendian, LL = 32-bit littleendian. Useful for finding wide character strings.
----ttaarrggeett==_b_f_d_n_a_m_e Specify an object code format other than your system's default format.
--vv
----vveerrssiioonn Print the program version number on the standard output and exit.

SEE ALSO

_a_r(1), _n_m(1), _o_b_j_d_u_m_p(1), _r_a_n_l_i_b(1), _r_e_a_d_e_l_f(1) and the Info entries for _b_i_n_u_t_i_l_s. Copyright (c) 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004 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''.