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// arsenal·Forensics & REBeginnerFOSS

strings

GNU binutils tool that prints printable character sequences from a binary.

Forensics & RE

$ strings --help

strings

// what it is

Description

Ancient (1980s) but indispensable. Reads a binary and prints every run of printable ASCII (or UTF-16 with `-el`) of 4+ chars. The first move on any unknown binary.

// use cases

What people use it for

  • Quick triage of unknown binaries
  • CTF rev challenge first-pass

// commands

The commands you'll type

ASCII strings >= 6 chars

$ strings -n 6 ./binary

UTF-16 strings (Windows)

$ strings -el ./malware.exe

// facts

category
Forensics & RE
platforms
LIN · MAC
license
FOSS
difficulty
Beginner

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