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)
