strings flags & options

Basic usage

Print all printable strings (4+ characters by default) from a file.

strings /usr/bin/ls

Set the minimum string length.

strings -n 8 binary_file

strings -n 2 data.bin

Print the offset of each string. d = decimal, o = octal, x = hex.

strings -t x firmware.bin

strings -t d binary_file

Scan the entire file, not just loadable sections.

strings -a core_dump

Set the character encoding. s = 7-bit, S = 8-bit, l = 16-bit little-endian, b = 16-bit big-endian.

strings -e l program.exe

Combine with grep to find specific strings in binaries.

strings firmware.bin | grep -i "password"

strings app.exe | grep "http"

strings binary | grep -oE 'https?://[^ ]+'