strings

Find printable strings in files (POSIX)

Syntax:

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

Options:

-a

Scan files in their entirety (default; some implementations do not scan the entire file by default -- this option exists for application portability).

-n number

Search for strings that are number characters or longer. The number argument is a positive decimal integer (default is 4 characters).

-O format

Write each string, prefixed by its offset (in bytes). The format argument controls the number system used to print the offset:

To print in:	Specify:
octal	o
hex	x
decimal	d

The default is octal.

file

The pathname of a file to be used as input. If no files are specified, strings reads from the standard input.

Description:

The strings utility looks for printable strings in regular files and writes those strings to standard output, one per line. A printable string is any sequence of number or more printable characters followed by a newline or NUL character.

Examples:

For the file /.boot, output all printable strings equal to or longer than four characters and prefix each line with the octal offset from the beginning of the file:

    strings /.boot

Output all printable strings equal to or longer than 10 characters and prefix the line with the hex offset from the beginning of the file:

    strings -Ox -n10 /.boot

Exit status:

0

Successful completion.

>0

An error occurred.