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# strip - Unix, Linux Command

# NAME

strip - Discard symbols from object files.

# SYNOPSIS

strip [-F bfdname |--target=bfdname]
[-I bfdname |--input-target=bfdname]
[-O bfdname |--output-target=bfdname]
[-s|--strip-all]
[-S|-g|-d|--strip-debug]
[-K symbolname |--keep-symbol=symbolname]
[-N symbolname |--strip-symbol=symbolname]
[-w|--wildcard]
[-x|--discard-all] [-X |--discard-locals]
[-R sectionname |--remove-section=sectionname]
[-o file] [-p|--preserve-dates]
[--keep-file-symbols]
[--only-keep-debug]
[-v |--verbose] [-V|--version]
[--help] [--info]
objfile...

# DESCRIPTION

GNU strip discards all symbols from object files objfile. The list of object files may include archives. At least one object file must be given.

strip modifies the files named in its argument, rather than writing modified copies under different names.

# OPTIONS

Tag | Description
--- | ---
-F bfdname |
--target=bfdname | Treat the original objfile as a file with the object code format bfdname, and rewrite it in the same format.
--help | Show a summary of the options to strip and exit.
--info | Display a list showing all architectures and object formats available.
-I bfdname |
--input-target=bfdname | Treat the original objfile as a file with the object code format bfdname.
-O bfdname |
--output-target=bfdname | Replace objfile with a file in the output format bfdname.
-R sectionname |
--remove-section=sectionname | Remove any section named sectionname from the output file. This option may be given more than once. Note that using this option inappropriately may make the output file unusable.
-s |
--strip-all | Remove all symbols.
-g |
-S |
-d |
--strip-debug | Remove debugging symbols only.
--strip-unneeded | Remove all symbols that are not needed for relocation processing.
-K symbolname |
--keep-symbol=symbolname | When stripping symbols, keep symbol symbolname even if it would normally be stripped. This option may be given more than once.
-N symbolname |
--strip-symbol=symbolname | Remove symbol symbolname from the source file. This option may be given more than once, and may be combined with strip options other than -K.
-o file | Put the stripped output in file, rather than replacing the existing file. When this argument is used, only one objfile argument may be specified.
-p |
--preserve-dates | Preserve the access and modification dates of the file.
-w |
--wildcard | Permit regular expressions in symbolnames used in other command line options. The question mark (?), asterisk (*), backslash (\) and square brackets ([]) operators can be used anywhere in the symbol name. If the first character of the symbol name is the exclamation point (!) then the sense of the switch is reversed for that symbol. For example:

``

              -w -K !foo -K fo*

would cause strip to only keep symbols that start with the letters fo, but to discard the symbol foo.

-x |
--discard-all | Remove non-global symbols.
-X |
--discard-locals | Remove compiler-generated local symbols. (These usually start with L or ..)
--keep-file-symbols | When stripping a file, perhaps with --strip-debug or --strip-unneeded, retain any symbols specifying source file names, which would otherwise get stripped.
--only-keep-debug | Strip a file, removing any sections that would be stripped by --strip-debug and leaving the debugging sections. The intention is that this option will be used in conjunction with --add-gnu-debuglink to create a two part executable. One a stripped binary which will occupy less space in RAM and in a distribution and the second a debugging information file which is only needed if debugging abilities are required. The suggested procedure to create these files is as follows:

Tag | Description
--- | ---
1.<Link the executable as normal. Assuming that is is called> | `foo` then...
1.<Run `objcopy --only-keep-debug foo foo.dbg` to> | create a file containing the debugging info.
1.<Run `objcopy --strip-debug foo` to create a> | stripped executable.
1.<Run `objcopy --add-gnu-debuglink=foo.dbg foo`> | to add a link to the debugging info into the stripped executable.

Note - the choice of `.dbg` as an extension for the debug info file is arbitrary. Also the `--only-keep-debug` step is optional. You could instead do this:

Tag | Description
--- | ---
1.<Link the executable as normal.> |
1.<Copy `foo` to `foo.full`> |
1.<Run `strip --strip-debug foo`> |
1.<Run `objcopy --add-gnu-debuglink=foo.full foo`> |

ie the file pointed to by the --add-gnu-debuglink can be the full executable. It does not have to be a file created by the --only-keep-debug switch.

Note - this switch is only intended for use on fully linked files. It does not make sense to use it on object files where the debugging information may be incomplete. Besides the gnu_debuglink feature currently only supports the presence of one filename containing debugging information, not multiple filenames on a one-per-object-file basis.

-V |
--version | Show the version number for strip.
-v |
--verbose | Verbose output: list all object files modified. In the case of archives, strip -v lists all members of the archive.
@file | Read command-line options from file. The options read are inserted in place of the original @file option. If file does not exist, or cannot be read, then the option will be treated literally, and not removed. Options in file are separated by whitespace. A whitespace character may be included in an option by surrounding the entire option in either single or double quotes. Any character (including a backslash) may be included by prefixing the character to be included with a backslash. The file may itself contain additional @file options; any such options will be processed recursively.

# SEE ALSO

the Info entries for binutils.

# COPYRIGHT

Copyright (c) 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006 Free Software Foundation, Inc.

Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.1 or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no Invariant Sections, with no Front-Cover Texts, and with no Back-Cover Texts. A copy of the license is included in the section entitled GNU Free Documentation License.

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