strings(1) [opendarwin man page]

STRINGS(1)						      General Commands Manual							STRINGS(1)

NAME

       strings - find the printable strings in a object, or other binary, file

SYNOPSIS

       strings [ - ] [ -a ] [ -o ] [ -number ] [file ...]

DESCRIPTION

       Strings	looks  for ASCII strings in a binary file or standard input.  Strings is useful for identifying random object files and many other
       things.	A string is any sequence of 4 (the default) or more printing characters ending with a newline or a null.  Unless  the  -  flag	is
       given,  strings	looks in all sections of the object files except the (__TEXT,__text) section.  If no files are specified standard input is
       read.

       The options to strings(1) are:

       -a     This option causes strings to look for strings in all sections of the object file (including the (__TEXT,__text) section.

       -      This option causes strings to look for strings in all bytes of the files (the default for non-object files).

       -o     Preceded each string by its offset in the file (in decimal).

       -number
	      The decimal number is used as the minimum string length rather than the default of 4.

SEE ALSO

       od(1)

BUGS

       The algorithm for identifying strings is extremely primitive.

Apple Computer, Inc.						 October 23, 1997							STRINGS(1)

strings(1)							   User Commands							strings(1)

NAME

       strings - find printable strings in an object or binary file

SYNOPSIS

       strings [-a | -]
	    [-t format | -o] [-n number | -number]  [-N name]  [file]...

DESCRIPTION

       The  strings utility looks for ASCII strings in a binary file. A string is any sequence of 4 or more printing characters ending with a NEW-
       LINE or a NULL character.

       strings is useful for identifying random object files and many other things.

       By default, strings looks at program sections that are loaded in memory. Program sections are identified by the section type  SHT_PROGBITS.
       Sections  that  are  loaded in memory are identified by the section flag SHF_ALLOC. Use elfdump(1)  to display complete section information
       for a file.

       All sections can be inspected with the -a option. Individual sections can be inspected with the -N option.

OPTIONS

       The following options are supported:

       -a | -		      Look everywhere in the file for strings.

       -n number | -number    Use a number as the minimum string length rather than the default, which is 4.

       -N name		      Look only in ELF section name. See elfdump(1). Multiple -N options can be specified to inspect multiple sections.

			      If the -a or -option is specified, all -N options are ignored .

       -o		      Equivalent to -t d option.

       -t format	      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.

OPERANDS

       The following operand is supported:

       file    A  path	name  of  a regular file to be used as input. If no file operand is specified, the strings utility reads from the standard
	       input.

ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES

       See environ(5) for descriptions of the following environment variables that affect  the	execution  of  strings:  LANG,	LC_ALL,  LC_CTYPE,
       LC_MESSAGES, and NLSPATH.

EXIT STATUS

       The following exit values are returned:

       0     Successful completion.

       >0    An error occurred.

ATTRIBUTES

       See attributes(5) for descriptions of the following attributes:

       +-----------------------------+-----------------------------+
       |      ATTRIBUTE TYPE	     |	    ATTRIBUTE VALUE	   |
       +-----------------------------+-----------------------------+
       |Availability		     |SUNWtoo			   |
       +-----------------------------+-----------------------------+
       |CSI			     |Enabled			   |
       +-----------------------------+-----------------------------+
       |Interface Stability	     |See below.		   |
       +-----------------------------+-----------------------------+

       The  strings  utility, including all options except -N, are specified by standards. See standards(5). The -N option is not currently speci-
       fied by any standard.

SEE ALSO

       elfdump(1), od(1), attributes(5), environ(5), standards(5)

NOTES

       The algorithm for identifying strings is extremely primitive.

       For backwards compatibility, the options -a and - are interchangeable.

SunOS 5.11							    13 Apr 2007 							strings(1)