'\"macro stdmacro
.if n .pH g1.strings @(#)strings	40.6 of 10/10/89
.\" Copyright 1989 AT&T
.\" Copyright (c) 1988 Sun Microsystems, Inc. - All Rights Reserved.
.\"
.nr X
.if \nX=0 .ds x} strings 1 "Directory and File Management Utilities" "\&"
.if \nX=1 .ds x} strings 1 "Directory and File Management Utilities"
.if \nX=2 .ds x} strings 1 "" "\&"
.if \nX=3 .ds x} strings "" "" "\&"
.TH \*(x}
.SH NAME
\f4strings\f1 \- find printable strings in an object file or binary
.SH SYNOPSIS
\f4strings\f1
[
\f4\-a\f1
] [
\f4\-o\f1
] [
\f4\-n \f2number\f1
\&|
\f4\-\f2number\f1
]
.IR filename .\|.\|.
.SH DESCRIPTION
The
\f4strings\f1
command looks for
.SM ASCII
strings in a binary file.
A string is any sequence of 4 or more
printing characters ending with a
newline
or a
null
character.
.P
\f4strings\f1
is useful for identifying random object files and many other things.
.P
The following options are available:
.TP 12
\f4\-a\f1
Look everywhere in the file for strings. 
If this flag is omitted,
\f4strings\f1
only looks in the initialized data space of object files.
.TP
\f4\-o\f1
Precede each string by its
offset in the file.
.TP
\f4\-n \f2number\f1
Use
.I number
as the minimum string length rather than 4.
.SH "SEE ALSO"
\f4od\fP(1)
.SH NOTES
The algorithm for identifying strings is extremely primitive.
.P
For backwards compatibility, \f4\-\f2number\f1 
can be used in place of \f4\-n \f2number\f1.
Similarly, the \f4\-a\f1 and a \f4\-\f1 option are interchangeable.
The \f4\-\f1 and the \f4\-\f2number\f1 variations
are obsolescent.
