STRIP(1) GNU Development Tools STRIP(1)
NAME
strip - discard symbols and other data 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]
[--strip-dwo]
[-K symbolname|--keep-symbol=symbolname]
[-M|--merge-notes][--no-merge-notes]
[-N symbolname |--strip-symbol=symbolname]
[-w|--wildcard]
[-x|--discard-all] [-X |--discard-locals]
[-R sectionname |--remove-section=sectionname]
[--keep-section=sectionpattern]
[--remove-relocations=sectionpattern]
[--strip-section-headers]
[-o file] [-p|--preserve-dates]
[-D|--enable-deterministic-archives]
[-U|--disable-deterministic-archives]
[--keep-section-symbols]
[--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
-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, in
addition to whatever sections would otherwise be removed. This
option may be given more than once. Note that using this option
inappropriately may make the output file unusable. The wildcard
character * may be given at the end of sectionname. If so, then any
section starting with sectionname will be removed.
If the first character of sectionpattern is the exclamation point
(!) then matching sections will not be removed even if an earlier
use of --remove-section on the same command line would otherwise
remove it. For example:
--remove-section=.text.* --remove-section=!.text.foo
will remove all sections matching the pattern '.text.*', but will
not remove the section '.text.foo'.
--keep-section=sectionpattern
When removing sections from the output file, keep sections that
match sectionpattern.
--remove-relocations=sectionpattern
Remove relocations from the output file for any section matching
sectionpattern. This option may be given more than once. Note that
using this option inappropriately may make the output file unusable.
Wildcard characters are accepted in sectionpattern. For example:
--remove-relocations=.text.*
will remove the relocations for all sections matching the patter
'.text.*'.
If the first character of sectionpattern is the exclamation point
(!) then matching sections will not have their relocation removed
even if an earlier use of --remove-relocations on the same command
line would otherwise cause the relocations to be removed. For
example:
--remove-relocations=.text.* --remove-relocations=!.text.foo
will remove all relocations for sections matching the pattern
'.text.*', but will not remove relocations for the section
'.text.foo'.
--strip-section-headers
Strip section headers. This option is specific to ELF files.
Implies --strip-all and --merge-notes.
-s
--strip-all
Remove all symbols.
-g
-S
-d
--strip-debug
Remove debugging symbols only.
--strip-dwo
Remove the contents of all DWARF .dwo sections, leaving the
remaining debugging sections and all symbols intact. See the
description of this option in the objcopy section for more
information.
--strip-unneeded
Remove all symbols that are not needed for relocation processing in
addition to debugging symbols and sections stripped by
--strip-debug.
-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.
-M
--merge-notes
--no-merge-notes
For ELF files, attempt (or do not attempt) to reduce the size of any
SHT_NOTE type sections by removing duplicate notes. The default is
to attempt this reduction unless stripping debug or DWO information.
-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.
-D
--enable-deterministic-archives
Operate in deterministic mode. When copying archive members and
writing the archive index, use zero for UIDs, GIDs, timestamps, and
use consistent file modes for all files.
If binutils was configured with --enable-deterministic-archives,
then this mode is on by default. It can be disabled with the -U
option, below.
-U
--disable-deterministic-archives
Do not operate in deterministic mode. This is the inverse of the -D
option, above: when copying archive members and writing the archive
index, use their actual UID, GID, timestamp, and file mode values.
This is the default unless binutils was configured with
--enable-deterministic-archives.
-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-section-symbols
When stripping a file, perhaps with --strip-debug or
--strip-unneeded, retain any symbols specifying section names, which
would otherwise get stripped.
--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, emptying the contents of any sections that would not
be stripped by --strip-debug and leaving the debugging sections
intact. In ELF files, this preserves all the note sections in the
output as well.
Note - the section headers of the stripped sections are preserved,
including their sizes, but the contents of the section are
discarded. The section headers are preserved so that other tools
can match up the debuginfo file with the real executable, even if
that executable has been relocated to a different address space.
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:
1.<Link the executable as normal. Assuming that it 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:
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">
i.e., 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) 1991-2025 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 1.3 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".
binutils-2.44 2025-03-03 STRIP(1)
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