NAME
strings – print the strings of printable characters in files
SYNOPSIS
strings [-a | --all] [-e encoding | --encoding=encoding] [-f | --print-file-name] [-h | --help] [-n number | --bytes=number | -number] [-o] [-t radix | --radix=radix] [-v | --version] [file ...]
DESCRIPTION
For each file specified, the strings utility prints contiguous sequences of printable characters that are at least n characters long and are followed by an unprintable character. The default value of n is 4. By default, the strings utility only scans the initialized and loaded sections of ELF objects; for other file types, the entire file is scanned. The strings utility is mainly used for determining the contents of non-text files.
If no file name is specified as an argument, standard input is read.
The following options are available:
- -a | --all
-
For ELF objects, scan the entire file for printable strings.
- -e encoding | --encoding=encoding
-
Select the character encoding to be used while searching for strings. Valid values for argument encoding are:
- s
-
for single 7-bit-byte characters (ASCII, ISO 8859).
- S
-
for single 8-bit-byte characters.
- l
-
for 16-bit little-endian.
- b
-
for 16-bit big-endian.
- L
-
for 32-bit little-endian.
- B
-
for 32-bit big-endian.
The default is to assume that characters are encoded using a single 7-bit byte.
- -f | --print-file-name
-
Print the name of the file before each string.
- -h | --help
-
Print a usage summary and exit.
-
-n number | --bytes=number | -number Print the contiguous character sequence of at least number characters long, instead of the default of 4 characters. Argument number should specify a positive decimal integer.
- -o
-
Equivalent to specifying -t o.
- -t radix | --radix=radix
-
Print the offset from the start of the file before each string using the specified radix. Valid values for argument radix are:
- d
-
for decimal
- o
-
for octal
- x
-
for hexadecimal
- -v | --version
-
Display a version identifier and exit.
EXIT STATUS
The strings utility exits 0 on success, and >0 if an error occurs.
EXAMPLES
To display strings in /bin/ls use:
$ strings /bin/ls
To display strings in all sections of /bin/ln use:
$ strings -a /bin/ln
To display strings in all sections of /bin/cat prefixed with the filename and the offset within the file use:
$ strings -a -f -t x /bin/cat
SEE ALSO
ar(1), nm(1), objdump(1), ranlib, readelf(1), size(1)
HISTORY
The first FreeBSD strings utility appeared in FreeBSD v3. It was later discontinued in FreeBSD v5, when i386-only a.out format was dropped in favor of ELF.
AUTHORS
The strings utility was re-written by S.Sam Arun Raj ⟨[email protected]⟩. This manual page was written by S.Sam Arun Raj ⟨[email protected]⟩.