STRINGS(1)                                            GNU Development Tools                                           STRINGS(1)



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

SYNOPSIS
       strings [-afovV] [-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 bigendian, L = 32-bit littleendian.  Useful for finding wide character
           strings. (l and b apply to, for example, Unicode UTF-16/UCS-2 encodings).

       -T bfdname
       --target=bfdname
           Specify an object code format other than your system's default format.

       -v
       -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 character 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 ALSO
       ar(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, 2008,
       2009, 2010 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 1.3 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-2.20.51.0.7                                       2011-05-02                                                 STRINGS(1)