is there a tool that can extract all strings from any type of file?

Question

i'm looking for an alternative to wyd 0.2 that can extract strings from any type of file it comes across.

thanks =)

Answer 1

strings

/*padding because i need 15 chars*/

edit There is a program called strings in every *nix out there, since the late '80s, which does just that. You can log in to any *nix out there, and type man strings to get more info. Or you could type strings -h showing something along the lines of

Usage: strings [option(s)] [file(s)]
Display printable strings in [file(s)] (stdin by default)
The options are:
-a - --all                Scan the entire file, not just the data section
-f --print-file-name      Print the name of the file before each string
-n --bytes=[number]       Locate & print any NUL-terminated sequence of at
-<number>                 least [number] characters (default 4).
-t --radix={o,d,x}        Print the location of the string in base 8, 10 or 16
-o                        An alias for --radix=o
-T --target=<BFDNAME>     Specify the binary file format
-e --encoding={s,S,b,l,B,L} Select character size and endianness:
                        s = 7-bit, S = 8-bit, {b,l} = 16-bit, {B,L} = 32-bit
@<file>                   Read options from <file>
-h --help                 Display this information
-v --version              Print the program's version number

which are then options you can pass to strings, to alter it's behavior.