NAME

strings — find printable strings

SYNOPSIS

DESCRIPTION

strings reads each file in sequence and writes printable strings longer than 4 or number. If no file is given or file is ‘-’, strings reads from the standard input.

OPTIONS

-a

Ignored, present for POSIX compatibility. Files are always scanned in their entirety and it is considered a flaw to do otherwise.

-n number

Change the minimum string length (default: 4).

-t format

Write the byte offset of each string found, the format is dependent on the format argument:

d

Decimal

o

Octal

x

Hexadecimal

-z

Separate each string with NULL instead of newline.

EXIT STATUS

The strings utility exits 0 on success, and >0 if an error occurs.

SEE ALSO

nm(1), isprint(3)

STANDARDS

strings should be compliant with the IEEE Std 1003.1-2024 (“POSIX.1”) specification. The -z option is an extension.

AUTHORS

Haelwenn (lanodan) Monnier <contact+utils@hacktivis.me>