NAME

strings − find the printable strings in an object, or other binary, file

SYNOPSIS

strings [ − ] [ −o ] [ −number ] file ... 

DESCRIPTION

strings looks for ascii strings in a binary file.  A string is any sequence of 4 or more printing characters ending with a newline or a null.  Unless the − flag is given, strings only looks in the initialized data space of object files.  If the −o flag is given, then each string is preceded by its offset in the file (in octal).  If the −number flag is given then number is used as the minimum string length rather than 4. 

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

SEE ALSO

od(1)

BUGS

The algorithm for identifying strings is extremely primitive. 

September 02, 1992