strings(1)            GNU Development Tools            strings(1)

NAME
       strings  -  print  the  strings of printable characters in
       files

SYNOPSIS
       strings
              [-a|-|--all] [-f|--print-file-name] [-o] [--help]
              [-v|--version] [-n
              min-len|-min-len|--bytes=min-len] [-t
              {o,x,d}[--target=bfdname] |--radix={o,x,d}] file

DESCRIPTION
       For  each  file  given,  GNU  strings prints the printable
       character sequences that are at least  4  characters  long
       (or  the number given with the options below) and are fol-
       lowed by an unprintable character.  By  default,  it  only
       prints  the  strings  from the initialized and loaded sec-
       tions of object files; for other types of files, it prints
       the strings from the whole file.

       strings  is  mainly useful for determining the contents of
       non-text files.

OPTIONS
       The long and short forms of options, shown here as  alter-
       natives, are equivalent.

       -a

       --all

       -      Do  not  scan  only the initialized and loaded sec-
              tions of object files; scan the whole files.

       -f

       --print-file-name
              Print the name of the file before each string.

       --help Print a summary of the options to  strings  on  the
              standard output and exit.

       -v

       --version
              Print the version number of strings on the standard
              output and exit.

       -n min-len

       -min-len

       -bytes=min-len
              Print sequences of characters  that  are  at  least
              min-len  characters long, instead of the default 4.

       -t {o,x,d}

       --radix={o,x,d}
              Print  the  offset  within  the  file  before  each
              string.   The  single  character argument specifies
              the radix of  the  offset--octal,  hexadecimal,  or
              decimal.

       --target=bfdname
              Specify  an object code format other than your sys-
              tem's default format.  See objdump(1), for informa-
              tion on listing available formats.

       -o     Like -t o.

SEE ALSO
       `binutils' entry in info; The GNU Binary Utilities, Roland
       H. Pesch (October 1991); ar(1),  nm(1),  objdump(1),  ran-
       lib(1).

COPYING
       Copyright (c) 1993 Free Software Foundation, Inc.

       Permission  is  granted  to  make  and distribute verbatim
       copies of this manual provided the  copyright  notice  and
       this permission notice are preserved on all copies.

       Permission is granted to copy and distribute modified ver-
       sions of this manual under  the  conditions  for  verbatim
       copying,  provided  that the entire resulting derived work
       is distributed under the  terms  of  a  permission  notice
       identical to this one.

       Permission  is granted to copy and distribute translations
       of this manual into another language, under the above con-
       ditions for modified versions, except that this permission
       notice may be included in  translations  approved  by  the
       Free  Software  Foundation  instead of in the original En-
       glish.

cygnus support             25 June 1993                         1