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.\"

.IX Title "STRINGS 1"

.TH STRINGS 1 "2008-01-09" "binutils-2.18.50" "GNU Development Tools"

.SH "NAME"

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

.SH "SYNOPSIS"

.IX Header "SYNOPSIS"

strings [\fB\-afov\fR] [\fB\-\fR\fImin-len\fR]

        [\fB\-n\fR \fImin-len\fR] [\fB\-\-bytes=\fR\fImin-len\fR]

        [\fB\-t\fR \fIradix\fR] [\fB\-\-radix=\fR\fIradix\fR]

        [\fB\-e\fR \fIencoding\fR] [\fB\-\-encoding=\fR\fIencoding\fR]

        [\fB\-\fR] [\fB\-\-all\fR] [\fB\-\-print\-file\-name\fR]

        [\fB\-T\fR \fIbfdname\fR] [\fB\-\-target=\fR\fIbfdname\fR]

        [\fB\-\-help\fR] [\fB\-\-version\fR] \fIfile\fR...

.SH "DESCRIPTION"

.IX Header "DESCRIPTION"

For each \fIfile\fR given, \s-1GNU\s0 \fBstrings\fR 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.

.PP

\&\fBstrings\fR is mainly useful for determining the contents of non-text

files.

.SH "OPTIONS"

.IX Header "OPTIONS"

.IP "\fB\-a\fR" 4

.IX Item "-a"

.PD 0

.IP "\fB\-\-all\fR" 4

.IX Item "--all"

.IP "\fB\-\fR" 4

.IX Item "-"

.PD

Do not scan only the initialized and loaded sections of object files;

scan the whole files.

.IP "\fB\-f\fR" 4

.IX Item "-f"

.PD 0

.IP "\fB\-\-print\-file\-name\fR" 4

.IX Item "--print-file-name"

.PD

Print the name of the file before each string.

.IP "\fB\-\-help\fR" 4

.IX Item "--help"

Print a summary of the program usage on the standard output and exit.

.IP "\fB\-\fR\fImin-len\fR" 4

.IX Item "-min-len"

.PD 0

.IP "\fB\-n\fR \fImin-len\fR" 4

.IX Item "-n min-len"

.IP "\fB\-\-bytes=\fR\fImin-len\fR" 4

.IX Item "--bytes=min-len"

.PD

Print sequences of characters that are at least \fImin-len\fR characters

long, instead of the default 4.

.IP "\fB\-o\fR" 4

.IX Item "-o"

Like \fB\-t o\fR.  Some other versions of \fBstrings\fR have \fB\-o\fR

act like \fB\-t d\fR instead.  Since we can not be compatible with both

ways, we simply chose one.

.IP "\fB\-t\fR \fIradix\fR" 4

.IX Item "-t radix"

.PD 0

.IP "\fB\-\-radix=\fR\fIradix\fR" 4

.IX Item "--radix=radix"

.PD

Print the offset within the file before each string.  The single

character argument specifies the radix of the offset\-\-\-\fBo\fR for

octal, \fBx\fR for hexadecimal, or \fBd\fR for decimal.

.IP "\fB\-e\fR \fIencoding\fR" 4

.IX Item "-e encoding"

.PD 0

.IP "\fB\-\-encoding=\fR\fIencoding\fR" 4

.IX Item "--encoding=encoding"

.PD

Select the character encoding of the strings that are to be found.

Possible values for \fIencoding\fR are: \fBs\fR = single\-7\-bit\-byte

characters (\s-1ASCII\s0, \s-1ISO\s0 8859, etc., default), \fBS\fR =

single\-8\-bit\-byte characters, \fBb\fR = 16\-bit bigendian, \fBl\fR =

16\-bit littleendian, \fBB\fR = 32\-bit bigendian, \fBL\fR = 32\-bit

littleendian. Useful for finding wide character strings.

.IP "\fB\-T\fR \fIbfdname\fR" 4

.IX Item "-T bfdname"

.PD 0

.IP "\fB\-\-target=\fR\fIbfdname\fR" 4

.IX Item "--target=bfdname"

.PD

Specify an object code format other than your system's default format.

.IP "\fB\-v\fR" 4

.IX Item "-v"

.PD 0

.IP "\fB\-\-version\fR" 4

.IX Item "--version"

.PD

Print the program version number on the standard output and exit.

.IP "\fB@\fR\fIfile\fR" 4

.IX Item "@file"

Read command-line options from \fIfile\fR.  The options read are

inserted in place of the original @\fIfile\fR option.  If \fIfile\fR

does not exist, or cannot be read, then the option will be treated

literally, and not removed.  

.Sp

Options in \fIfile\fR 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 \fIfile\fR may itself contain additional

@\fIfile\fR options; any such options will be processed recursively.

.SH "SEE ALSO"

.IX Header "SEE ALSO"

\&\fIar\fR\|(1), \fInm\fR\|(1), \fIobjdump\fR\|(1), \fIranlib\fR\|(1), \fIreadelf\fR\|(1)

and the Info entries for \fIbinutils\fR.

.SH "COPYRIGHT"

.IX Header "COPYRIGHT"

Copyright (c) 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999,

2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007 Free Software Foundation, Inc.

.PP

Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document

under the terms of the \s-1GNU\s0 Free Documentation License, Version 1.2

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 \*(L"\s-1GNU\s0 Free Documentation License\*(R".