strings(1) General Commands Manual strings(1)
NAME
strings - 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
characters 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 standard input is being read or the file is
not recognized as an object file. For backward compatibility, 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 ALSO
od(1).
STANDARDS CONFORMANCE
strings(1)
