1994-05-27 12:33:43 +00:00
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.\" Copyright (c) 1980, 1990, 1993
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.\" The Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved.
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.\"
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.\" Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without
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.\" modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions
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.\" are met:
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.\" 1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright
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.\" notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.
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.\" 2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright
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.\" notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the
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.\" documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution.
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.\" 3. All advertising materials mentioning features or use of this software
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.\" must display the following acknowledgement:
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.\" This product includes software developed by the University of
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.\" California, Berkeley and its contributors.
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.\" 4. Neither the name of the University nor the names of its contributors
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.\" may be used to endorse or promote products derived from this software
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.\" without specific prior written permission.
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.\"
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.\" THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE REGENTS AND CONTRIBUTORS ``AS IS'' AND
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.\" ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE
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.\" IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE
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.\" ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE REGENTS OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE
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.\" FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL
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.\" DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS
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.\" OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION)
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.\" HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT
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.\" LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY
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.\" OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF
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.\" SUCH DAMAGE.
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.\"
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.\" @(#)strings.1 8.1 (Berkeley) 6/6/93
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1999-08-28 01:08:13 +00:00
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.\" $FreeBSD$
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1994-05-27 12:33:43 +00:00
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.\"
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.Dd June 6, 1993
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.Dt STRINGS 1
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2001-07-10 14:16:33 +00:00
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.Os
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1994-05-27 12:33:43 +00:00
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.Sh NAME
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.Nm strings
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.Nd find printable strings in a file
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.Sh SYNOPSIS
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1997-08-11 07:31:28 +00:00
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.Nm
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1994-05-27 12:33:43 +00:00
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.Op Fl afo
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.Op Fl n Ar number
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1997-08-11 07:31:28 +00:00
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.Op Ar
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1994-05-27 12:33:43 +00:00
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.Sh DESCRIPTION
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.Nm Strings
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displays the sequences of printable characters in each of the specified
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files, or in the standard input, by default.
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By default, a sequence must be at least four characters in length
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before being displayed.
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.Pp
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The options are as follows:
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.Bl -tag -width Ds
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.It Fl a
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By default,
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1997-08-11 07:31:28 +00:00
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.Nm
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1994-05-27 12:33:43 +00:00
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only searches the text and data segments of object files.
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The
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.Fl a
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option causes
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1997-08-11 07:31:28 +00:00
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.Nm
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1994-05-27 12:33:43 +00:00
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to search the entire object file.
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.It Fl f
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Each string is preceded by the name of the file
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in which it was found.
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.It Fl n
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Specifies the minimum number of characters in a sequence to be
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.Ar number ,
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instead of four.
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.It Fl o
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Each string is preceded by its decimal offset in the
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file.
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.El
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.Pp
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.Nm Strings
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is useful for identifying random binaries, among other things.
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.Sh SEE ALSO
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.Xr hexdump 1
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.Sh BUGS
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The algorithm for identifying strings is extremely primitive.
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In particular, machine code instructions on certain architectures
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can resemble sequences of ASCII bytes, which
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will fool the algorithm.
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.Sh COMPATIBILITY
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Historic implementations of
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.Nm
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only search the initialized data portion of the object file.
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This was reasonable as strings were normally stored there.
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2001-07-15 08:06:20 +00:00
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Given new compiler technology which installs strings in the
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1994-05-27 12:33:43 +00:00
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text portion of the object file, the default behavior was
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changed.
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.Sh HISTORY
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The
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.Nm
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command appeared in
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.Bx 3.0 .
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