binutils: strings

1 
1 7 strings
1 *********
1 
1      strings [-afovV] [-MIN-LEN]
1              [-n MIN-LEN] [--bytes=MIN-LEN]
1              [-t RADIX] [--radix=RADIX]
1              [-e ENCODING] [--encoding=ENCODING]
1              [-U METHOD] [--unicode=METHOD]
1              [-] [--all] [--print-file-name]
1              [-T BFDNAME] [--target=BFDNAME]
1              [-w] [--include-all-whitespace]
1              [-s] [--output-separatorSEP_STRING]
1              [--help] [--version] FILE...
1 
1    For each FILE given, GNU 'strings' prints the printable character
1 sequences that are at least 4 characters long (or the number given with
1 the options below) and are followed by an unprintable character.
1 
1    Depending upon how the strings program was configured it will default
1 to either displaying all the printable sequences that it can find in
1 each file, or only those sequences that are in loadable, initialized
1 data sections.  If the file type in unrecognizable, or if strings is
1 reading from stdin then it will always display all of the printable
1 sequences that it can find.
1 
1    For backwards compatibility any file that occurs after a command line
1 option of just '-' will also be scanned in full, regardless of the
1 presence of any '-d' option.
1 
1    'strings' is mainly useful for determining the contents of non-text
1 files.
1 
1 '-a'
1 '--all'
1 '-'
1      Scan the whole file, regardless of what sections it contains or
1      whether those sections are loaded or initialized.  Normally this is
1      the default behaviour, but strings can be configured so that the
1      '-d' is the default instead.
1 
1      The '-' option is position dependent and forces strings to perform
1      full scans of any file that is mentioned after the '-' on the
1      command line, even if the '-d' option has been specified.
1 
1 '-d'
1 '--data'
1      Only print strings from initialized, loaded data sections in the
1      file.  This may reduce the amount of garbage in the output, but it
1      also exposes the strings program to any security flaws that may be
1      present in the BFD library used to scan and load sections.  Strings
1      can be configured so that this option is the default behaviour.  In
1      such cases the '-a' option can be used to avoid using the BFD
1      library and instead just print all of the strings found in the
1      file.
1 
1 '-f'
1 '--print-file-name'
1      Print the name of the file before each string.
1 
1 '--help'
1      Print a summary of the program usage on the standard output and
1      exit.
1 
1 '-MIN-LEN'
1 '-n MIN-LEN'
1 '--bytes=MIN-LEN'
1      Print sequences of characters that are at least MIN-LEN characters
1      long, instead of the default 4.
1 
1 '-o'
1      Like '-t o'.  Some other versions of 'strings' have '-o' act like
1      '-t d' instead.  Since we can not be compatible with both ways, we
1      simply chose one.
1 
1 '-t RADIX'
1 '--radix=RADIX'
1      Print the offset within the file before each string.  The single
1      character argument specifies the radix of the offset--'o' for
1      octal, 'x' for hexadecimal, or 'd' for decimal.
1 
1 '-e ENCODING'
1 '--encoding=ENCODING'
1      Select the character encoding of the strings that are to be found.
1      Possible values for ENCODING are: 's' = single-7-bit-byte
1      characters (ASCII, ISO 8859, etc., default), 'S' =
1      single-8-bit-byte characters, 'b' = 16-bit bigendian, 'l' = 16-bit
1      littleendian, 'B' = 32-bit bigendian, 'L' = 32-bit littleendian.
1      Useful for finding wide character strings.  ('l' and 'b' apply to,
1      for example, Unicode UTF-16/UCS-2 encodings).
1 
1 '-U [D|I|L|E|X|H]'
1 '--unicode=[DEFAULT|INVALID|LOCALE|ESCAPE|HEX|HIGHLIGHT]'
1      Controls the display of UTF-8 encoded mulibyte characters in
1      strings.  The default ('--unicode=default') is to give them no
1      special treatment, and instead rely upon the setting of the
1      '--encoding' option.  The other values for this option
1      automatically enable '--encoding=S'.
1 
1      The '--unicode=invalid' option treats them as non-graphic
1      characters and hence not part of a valid string.  All the remaining
1      options treat them as valid string characters.
1 
1      The '--unicode=locale' option displays them in the current locale,
1      which may or may not support UTF-8 encoding.  The '--unicode=hex'
1      option displays them as hex byte sequences enclosed between <>
1      characters.  The '--unicode=escape' option displays them as escape
1      sequences (\UXXXX) and the '--unicode=highlight' option displays
1      them as escape sequences highlighted in red (if supported by the
1      output device).  The colouring is intended to draw attention to the
1      presence of unicode sequences where they might not be expected.
1 
1 '-T BFDNAME'
1 '--target=BFDNAME'
1      Specify an object code format other than your system's default
1      format.  ⇒Target Selection, for more information.
1 
1 '-v'
1 '-V'
1 '--version'
1      Print the program version number on the standard output and exit.
1 
1 '-w'
1 '--include-all-whitespace'
1      By default tab and space characters are included in the strings
1      that are displayed, but other whitespace characters, such a
1      newlines and carriage returns, are not.  The '-w' option changes
1      this so that all whitespace characters are considered to be part of
1      a string.
1 
1 '-s'
1 '--output-separator'
1      By default, output strings are delimited by a new-line.  This
1      option allows you to supply any string to be used as the output
1      record separator.  Useful with -include-all-whitespace where
1      strings may contain new-lines internally.
1