53 lines
2 KiB
HTML
53 lines
2 KiB
HTML
|
---
|
||
|
|
layout: page
|
||
|
|
category_title: Intermediate commands
|
||
|
|
category-page: intermediate
|
||
|
|
tags: strings read binaries file
|
||
|
|
author: Marco Farace
|
||
|
|
title: Strings
|
||
|
|
---
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
<h2>Use: The strings command returns each string of printable characters (ASCII)
|
||
|
|
in files. Its main uses are to determine the contents of and to extract text
|
||
|
|
from binary files (i.e., non-text files). </h2>
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
<p>From the Shell manual: "find the printable strings in a object, or other binary,
|
||
|
|
file".<br>
|
||
|
|
Strings can be used to extract character information and string of a given lenght
|
||
|
|
from text file(s). When used without any options, strings displays all strings
|
||
|
|
that are at least four characters in length in the files whose names are
|
||
|
|
supplied as arguments (i.e., input data). Strings that are on separate lines
|
||
|
|
in the input files are shown on separate lines on the screen, and an attempt
|
||
|
|
is made to display all strings found on a single line in a file on a single
|
||
|
|
line on the screen (although there may be a carryover to subsequent lines in
|
||
|
|
the event that numerous strings are found on a single line). strings looks in
|
||
|
|
all sections of the object files except the (__TEXT,__text) section.</p>
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
<p>Basic syntax for this command is as follows:</p>
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
<pre>strings [options] file_name(s)</pre>
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
<pre>strings -n 2 file1 file2</pre>
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
<p>For example, the code above would display all strings in the files named
|
||
|
|
file1 and file2 that consist of at least two characters.</p>
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
<h3> Flags <h3>
|
||
|
|
<ul>
|
||
|
|
<li><b>-n</b><br><br>
|
||
|
|
Specify the minimum string length, where the number argument is
|
||
|
|
a positive decimal integer. The default shall be 4.</li>
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
<li><b>-</b><br><br>
|
||
|
|
This option causes strings to look for strings in all bytes of
|
||
|
|
the files (the default for non-object files).</li>
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
<li><b>--</b><br><br>
|
||
|
|
This option causes strings to treat all the following arguments
|
||
|
|
as files.</li>
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
<li><b>-a</b><br><br>
|
||
|
|
This option causes strings to look for strings in all sections
|
||
|
|
of the object file (including the (__TEXT,__text) section.</li>
|
||
|
|
</ul>
|