strings(1)strings(1)NAMEstrings - find the printable strings in an object or other binary file
SYNOPSIS
format] number] [file] ...
Obsolescent
number] [file] ...
DESCRIPTION
looks for ASCII strings in a file. If no file is specified, standard
input is used. A string is any sequence of four or more printing char‐
acters ending with a newline or null character.
is useful for identifying random object files and many other things.
Options
recognizes the following options:
By default, strings looks only in the initialized data space
of object files (as recognized by their magic
numbers). If this flag is used, the entire file
is inspected. This flag is always set if stan‐
dard input is being read or the file is not rec‐
ognized as an object file. For backward compati‐
bility, is understood as a synonym for
Write each string preceded by its byte offset from the start of
the file.
The format is dependent on the single character
used as the format option-argument:
d The offset is written in decimal.
o The offset is written in octal.
x The offset is written in hexadecimal.
Specify number as the minimum string length, rather than
the default 4.
Each string is preceded by its offset in the file (in octal).
This option is obsolescent and is equivalent to
specifying the option.
Specify number as the minimum string length, rather than
the default 4. This option is obsolescent and is
equivalent to using the number option.
EXTERNAL INFLUENCES
Environment Variables
determines the locale for the interpretation of text as single- and/or
multi-byte characters.
determines the language in which messages are displayed.
If or is not specified in the environment or is set to the empty
string, the value of is used as a default for each unspecified or empty
variable. If is not specified or is set to the empty string, a default
of "C" (see lang(5)) is used instead of
Determine the location of message catalogues for the processing of
If any internationalization variable contains an invalid setting,
behaves as if all internationalization variables are set to "C". See
environ(5).
WARNINGS
The algorithm for identifying strings is extremely primitive.
AUTHOR
was developed by the University of California, Berkeley.
SEE ALSOod(1).
STANDARDS CONFORMANCEstrings(1)