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strings(1)

HP-UX 11i Version 3: February 2007
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NAME

strings — find the printable strings in an object or other binary file

SYNOPSIS

strings [-a] [-t format] [-n number] [file] ...

Obsolescent

strings [-a] [-o] [- number] [file] ...

DESCRIPTION

strings looks for ASCII strings in a file. If no file is specified, standard input is used. A string is any sequence of four or more printing characters ending with a newline or null character.

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

Options

strings recognizes the following options:

-a

By default, strings looks only in the initialized data space of object files (as recognized by their magic numbers). If this flag is used, the entire file is inspected. This flag is always set if standard input is being read or the file is not recognized as an object file. For backward compatibility, - is understood as a synonym for -a.

-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.

-n number

Specify number as the minimum string length, rather than the default 4.

-o

Each string is preceded by its offset in the file (in octal). This option is obsolescent and is equivalent to specifying the -t o option.

-number

Specify number as the minimum string length, rather than the default 4. This option is obsolescent and is equivalent to using the -n number option.

EXTERNAL INFLUENCES

Environment Variables

LC_CTYPE determines the locale for the interpretation of text as single- and/or multi-byte characters.

LC_MESSAGES determines the language in which messages are displayed.

If LC_CTYPE or LC_MESSAGES is not specified in the environment or is set to the empty string, the value of LANG is used as a default for each unspecified or empty variable. If LANG is not specified or is set to the empty string, a default of "C" (see lang(5)) is used instead of LANG.

NLSPATH Determine the location of message catalogues for the processing of LC_MESSAGES.

If any internationalization variable contains an invalid setting, strings behaves as if all internationalization variables are set to "C". See environ(5).

WARNINGS

The algorithm for identifying strings is extremely primitive.

AUTHOR

strings was developed by the University of California, Berkeley.

SEE ALSO

od(1).

STANDARDS CONFORMANCE

strings: XPG4, POSIX.2

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