Extract Strings in Binary File on Linux

When analyzing binary files on a Linux system, you might need to extract human-readable text embedded within them. This can be useful for reverse engineering, debugging, or simply inspecting a file for clues about its contents. This tutorial demonstrates how to extract strings in binary file on Linux.

The strings command, which is part of the Binutils package, scans a binary file and extracts sequences of printable characters. This is useful for identifying embedded messages, filenames, or error messages within an executable.

The following command extracts strings from the /usr/bin/mkdir binary:

strings /usr/bin/mkdir

This will output human-readable text, such as:

failed to set default creation context for %s
cannot change permissions of %s
failed to restore context for %s
A NULL argv[0] was passed through an exec system call.