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  bigendian, L = 32-bit littleendian. Useful for finding wide character strings.

       --target=bfdname
           Specify an object code format other than your system's default format.

       -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,  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''.



binutils-2.15.92.0.2                        2008-07-25                                 STRINGS(1)