opensolaris man page for strings

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)