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  fol-
       lowed  by  an  unprintable character.  By default, it only
       prints the strings from the initialized  and  loaded  sec-
       tions 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 format.

       -v
       --version
           Print the program version number on the standard  out-
           put 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 Free Software Foundation, Inc.

       Permission  is  granted  to copy, distribute and/or modify
       this document under the terms of the GNU  Free  Documenta-
       tion  License,  Version 1.1 or any later version published
       by the Free Software Foundation; with  no  Invariant  Sec-
       tions,  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-2.14.91            2004-04-09                 STRINGS(1)
