What is the usage of the “strings” command in Linux?

In Linux, the strings command is used to search for and print printable character sequences in binary files. It is commonly used to search for text strings in executable files or library files, such as variable names, function names, or other readable text information.

The basic syntax of the strings command is as follows:

strings [OPTION]... FILE

Common options include:

1. -n, –bytes=[NUMBER]：specify the minimum string length, default value is 4.
2. -o: display the offset address of each printable character in the file.
3. Specify the format of the output offset address, including octal (o), decimal (d), and hexadecimal (x).
4. Display all strings, including shorter ones.

For example, to view all strings in a binary file, you can use the following command:

strings -a /path/to/file

Please note that the strings command may generate a large amount of output, so it is recommended to redirect the output to a file or use a pipe operator to filter the results.