NAME

       strings - print the sequences 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]
               [-w] [--include-all-whitespace]
               [-s] [--output-separatorsep_string]
               [--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.

       Depending upon how the strings program was configured it will default to either displaying all the
       printable sequences that it can find in each file, or only those sequences that are in loadable,
       initialized data sections.  If the file type is unrecognizable, or if strings is reading from stdin then
       it will always display all of the printable sequences that it can find.

       For backwards compatibility any file that occurs after a command-line option of just - will also be
       scanned in full, regardless of the presence of any -d option.

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

OPTIONS

       -a
       --all
       -   Scan  the whole file, regardless of what sections it contains or whether those sections are loaded or
           initialized.  Normally this is the default behaviour, but strings can be configured so that the -d is
           the default instead.

           The - option is position dependent and forces strings to perform full  scans  of  any  file  that  is
           mentioned after the - on the command line, even if the -d option has been specified.

       -d
       --data
           Only print strings from initialized, loaded data sections in the file.  This may reduce the amount of
           garbage  in  the  output,  but  it also exposes the strings program to any security flaws that may be
           present in the BFD library used to scan and load sections.  Strings can be configured  so  that  this
           option  is  the  default  behaviour.   In such cases the -a option can be used to avoid using the BFD
           library and instead just print all of the strings found in the file.

       -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.

       -w
       --include-all-whitespace
           By  default  tab  and  space  characters  are  included  in the strings that are displayed, but other
           whitespace characters, such a newlines and carriage returns, are not.  The -w option changes this  so
           that all whitespace characters are considered to be part of a string.

       -s
       --output-separator
           By  default,  output strings are delimited by a new-line. This option allows you to supply any string
           to be used as the output record separator.  Useful with --include-all-whitespace  where  strings  may
           contain new-lines internally.

       @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) 1991-2020 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-2.35.1                                    2021-01-21                                         STRINGS(1)