strings-finds any printable strings in an object or binary file

strings ”finds any printable strings in an object or binary file

 strings [ a ] [ o ] [ number ] [ filename... ] 

The strings command looks for ASCII strings in a binary file. A string is any sequence of four or more printing characters ending with a newline or a null character. strings is useful for identifying random object files and many other things.

Example A.53.

 strings /bin/nawk  head -2 

EXPLANATION

Prints any ASCII text in the first two lines of the binary executable /bin/nawk.