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@(#)strings.1 6.6 (Berkeley) 04/04/90

C strings - find the printable strings in a file strings [ -ao ] [ -n number ] [ file ... ] String displays the sequences of printable characters in each of the specified files, or in the standard input, by default. By default, a sequence must be at least four characters in length before being displayed.

The options are as follows:

-a By default, strings only searches the initialized data space of object files. The -a option causes strings to search the entire object file.

-n Specifies the minimum number of characters in a sequence to be number , instead of four.

-o The -o option causes each string to be preceded by its decimal offset in the file.

Strings is useful for identifying random binaries, among other things.

hexdump(1) The algorithm for identifying strings is extremely primitive.