man > readelf(1)

TLDR: readelf (tldr-pages)

Display information about ELF files.

  • Display all information about the ELF file
    readelf -all {{path/to/binary}}
  • Display all the headers present in the ELF file
    readelf --headers {{path/to/binary}}
  • Display the entries in symbol table section of the ELF file, if it has one
    readelf --symbols {{path/to/binary}}
  • Display ELF header information
    readelf --file-header {{path/to/binary}}
  • Display ELF section header information
    readelf --section-headers {{path/to/binary}}
READELF(1)                              GNU Development Tools                             READELF(1)

NAME
       readelf - display information about ELF files

SYNOPSIS
       readelf [-a|--all]
               [-h|--file-header]
               [-l|--program-headers|--segments]
               [-S|--section-headers|--sections]
               [-g|--section-groups]
               [-t|--section-details]
               [-e|--headers]
               [-s|--syms|--symbols]
               [--dyn-syms|--lto-syms]
               [--sym-base=[0|8|10|16]]
               [--demangle=style|--no-demangle]
               [--quiet]
               [--recurse-limit|--no-recurse-limit]
               [-U method|--unicode=method]
               [-X|--extra-sym-info|--no-extra-sym-info]
               [-n|--notes]
               [-r|--relocs]
               [-u|--unwind]
               [-d|--dynamic]
               [-V|--version-info]
               [-A|--arch-specific]
               [-D|--use-dynamic]
               [-L|--lint|--enable-checks]
               [-x <number or name>|--hex-dump=<number or name>]
               [-p <number or name>|--string-dump=<number or name>]
               [-R <number or name>|--relocated-dump=<number or name>]
               [-z|--decompress]
               [-c|--archive-index]
               [-w[lLiaprmfFsoORtUuTgAck]|
                --debug-dump[=rawline,=decodedline,=info,=abbrev,=pubnames,=aranges,=macro,=frames,=frames-interp,=str,=str-offsets,=loc,=Ranges,=pubtypes,=trace_info,=trace_abbrev,=trace_aranges,=gdb_index,=addr,=cu_index,=links]]
               [-wK|--debug-dump=follow-links]
               [-wN|--debug-dump=no-follow-links]
               [-wD|--debug-dump=use-debuginfod]
               [-wE|--debug-dump=do-not-use-debuginfod]
               [-P|--process-links]
               [--dwarf-depth=n]
               [--dwarf-start=n]
               [--ctf=section]
               [--ctf-parent=section]
               [--ctf-symbols=section]
               [--ctf-strings=section]
               [--sframe=section]
               [-I|--histogram]
               [-v|--version]
               [-W|--wide]
               [-T|--silent-truncation]
               [-H|--help]
               elffile...

DESCRIPTION
       readelf displays information about one or more ELF format object files.  The options control
       what particular information to display.

       elffile... are the object files to be examined.  32-bit and 64-bit ELF files are supported,
       as are archives containing ELF files.

       This program performs a similar function to objdump but it goes into more detail and it
       exists independently of the BFD library, so if there is a bug in BFD then readelf will not be
       affected.

OPTIONS
       The long and short forms of options, shown here as alternatives, are equivalent.  At least
       one option besides -v or -H must be given.

       -a
       --all
           Equivalent   to   specifying  --file-header,  --program-headers,  --sections,  --symbols,
           --relocs, --dynamic, --notes, --version-info, --arch-specific, --unwind, --section-groups
           and --histogram.

           Note - this option does not enable --use-dynamic itself, so if that option is not present
           on the command line then dynamic symbols and dynamic relocs will not be displayed.

       -h
       --file-header
           Displays the information contained in the ELF header at the start of the file.

       -l
       --program-headers
       --segments
           Displays the information contained in the file's segment headers, if it has any.

       --quiet
           Suppress "no symbols" diagnostic.

       -S
       --sections
       --section-headers
           Displays the information contained in the file's section headers, if it has any.

       -g
       --section-groups
           Displays the information contained in the file's section groups, if it has any.

       -t
       --section-details
           Displays the detailed section information. Implies -S.

       -s
       --symbols
       --syms
           Displays the entries in symbol table section of the file, if it has one.  If a symbol has
           version information associated with it then this  is  displayed  as  well.   The  version
           string  is  displayed  as  a  suffix to the symbol name, preceded by an @ character.  For
           example foo@VER_1.  If the version is the default  version  to  be  used  when  resolving
           unversioned  references  to the symbol then it is displayed as a suffix preceded by two @
           characters.  For example foo@@VER_2.

       --dyn-syms
           Displays the entries in dynamic symbol table section of the file, if  it  has  one.   The
           output format is the same as the format used by the --syms option.

       --lto-syms
           Displays the contents of any LTO symbol tables in the file.

       --sym-base=[0|8|10|16]
           Forces  the  size  field  of  the  symbol  table to use the given base.  Any unrecognized
           options will be treated as 0.  --sym-base=0 represents the default and legacy  behaviour.
           This  will  output  sizes  as decimal for numbers less than 100000.  For sizes 100000 and
           greater hexadecimal notation will be used with a 0x prefix.  --sym-base=8 will  give  the
           symbol  sizes  in  octal.   --sym-base=10  will  always give the symbol sizes in decimal.
           --sym-base=16 will always give the symbol sizes in hexadecimal with a 0x prefix.

       -C
       --demangle[=style]
           Decode (demangle) low-level symbol names into user-level names.  This makes C++  function
           names  readable.   Different  compilers  have  different  mangling  styles.  The optional
           demangling style argument can be used to choose an appropriate demangling style for  your
           compiler.

       --no-demangle
           Do not demangle low-level symbol names.  This is the default.

       --recurse-limit
       --no-recurse-limit
       --recursion-limit
       --no-recursion-limit
           Enables  or  disables  a  limit  on  the  amount of recursion performed whilst demangling
           strings.  Since the name mangling formats allow for an infinite level of recursion it  is
           possible  to  create  strings  whose  decoding  will  exhaust  the  amount of stack space
           available on the host machine, triggering a memory fault.  The  limit  tries  to  prevent
           this from happening by restricting recursion to 2048 levels of nesting.

           The  default  is for this limit to be enabled, but disabling it may be necessary in order
           to demangle truly complicated names.   Note  however  that  if  the  recursion  limit  is
           disabled  then  stack exhaustion is possible and any bug reports about such an event will
           be rejected.

       -U [d|i|l|e|x|h]
       --unicode=[default|invalid|locale|escape|hex|highlight]
           Controls  the  display  of  non-ASCII  characters  in  identifier  names.   The   default
           (--unicode=locale  or  --unicode=default)  is  to  treat them as multibyte characters and
           display them in the current locale.  All other versions of this option treat the bytes as
           UTF-8 encoded values and attempt to interpret them.  If they cannot be interpreted or  if
           the  --unicode=invalid option is used then they are displayed as a sequence of hex bytes,
           encloses in curly parethesis characters.

           Using the --unicode=escape option will  display  the  characters  as  as  unicode  escape
           sequences  (\uxxxx).   Using  the  --unicode=hex  will display the characters as hex byte
           sequences enclosed between angle brackets.

           Using the --unicode=highlight will display the characters as unicode escape sequences but
           it will also highlighted them in red, assuming that colouring is supported by the  output
           device.  The colouring is intended to draw attention to the presence of unicode sequences
           when they might not be expected.

       -X
       --extra-sym-info
           When  displaying  details  of  symbols, include extra information not normally presented.
           Currently this just adds the name of the section referenced by the symbol's index  field,
           if  there  is  one.   In the future more information may be displayed when this option is
           enabled.

           Enabling this option effectively enables  the  --wide  option  as  well,  at  least  when
           displaying symbol information.

       --no-extra-sym-info
           Disables the effect of the --extra-sym-info option.  This is the default.

       -e
       --headers
           Display all the headers in the file.  Equivalent to -h -l -S.

       -n
       --notes
           Displays the contents of the NOTE segments and/or sections, if any.

       -r
       --relocs
           Displays the contents of the file's relocation section, if it has one.

       -u
       --unwind
           Displays  the  contents  of  the  file's  unwind section, if it has one.  Only the unwind
           sections for IA64 ELF files, as well as ARM unwind tables (".ARM.exidx"  /  ".ARM.extab")
           are  currently  supported.   If  support is not yet implemented for your architecture you
           could try dumping the contents of the .eh_frames section using the --debug-dump=frames or
           --debug-dump=frames-interp options.

       -d
       --dynamic
           Displays the contents of the file's dynamic section, if it has one.

       -V
       --version-info
           Displays the contents of the version sections in the file, it they exist.

       -A
       --arch-specific
           Displays architecture-specific information in the file, if there is any.

       -D
       --use-dynamic
           When displaying symbols, this option makes readelf use the  symbol  hash  tables  in  the
           file's dynamic section, rather than the symbol table sections.

           When  displaying  relocations,  this option makes readelf display the dynamic relocations
           rather than the static relocations.

       -L
       --lint
       --enable-checks
           Displays warning messages about possible problems with the file(s)  being  examined.   If
           used  on  its own then all of the contents of the file(s) will be examined.  If used with
           one of the dumping options then the warning messages will only be produced for the things
           being displayed.

       -x <number or name>
       --hex-dump=<number or name>
           Displays the contents of  the  indicated  section  as  a  hexadecimal  bytes.   A  number
           identifies  a  particular  section  by  index  in  the  section  table;  any other string
           identifies all sections with that name in the object file.

       -R <number or name>
       --relocated-dump=<number or name>
           Displays the contents of  the  indicated  section  as  a  hexadecimal  bytes.   A  number
           identifies  a  particular  section  by  index  in  the  section  table;  any other string
           identifies all sections with that name in the object file.  The contents of  the  section
           will be relocated before they are displayed.

       -p <number or name>
       --string-dump=<number or name>
           Displays the contents of the indicated section as printable strings.  A number identifies
           a  particular  section  by  index  in  the section table; any other string identifies all
           sections with that name in the object file.

       -z
       --decompress
           Requests that the section(s) being dumped by x, R or p options  are  decompressed  before
           being displayed.  If the section(s) are not compressed then they are displayed as is.

       -c
       --archive-index
           Displays  the  file  symbol  index  information  contained  in  the header part of binary
           archives.  Performs the same function as the t command to ar, but without using  the  BFD
           library.

       -w[lLiaprmfFsOoRtUuTgAckK]
       --debug-dump[=rawline,=decodedline,=info,=abbrev,=pubnames,=aranges,=macro,=frames,=frames-interp,=str,=str-offsets,=loc,=Ranges,=pubtypes,=trace_info,=trace_abbrev,=trace_aranges,=gdb_index,=addr,=cu_index,=links,=follow-links]
           Displays  the  contents  of  the  DWARF  debug  sections in the file, if any are present.
           Compressed debug sections are automatically decompressed (temporarily)  before  they  are
           displayed.   If one or more of the optional letters or words follows the switch then only
           those type(s) of data will be dumped.  The letters  and  words  refer  to  the  following
           information:

           "a"
           "=abbrev"
               Displays the contents of the .debug_abbrev section.

           "A"
           "=addr"
               Displays the contents of the .debug_addr section.

           "c"
           "=cu_index"
               Displays the contents of the .debug_cu_index and/or .debug_tu_index sections.

           "f"
           "=frames"
               Display the raw contents of a .debug_frame section.

           "F"
           "=frames-interp"
               Display the interpreted contents of a .debug_frame section.

           "g"
           "=gdb_index"
               Displays the contents of the .gdb_index and/or .debug_names sections.

           "i"
           "=info"
               Displays  the contents of the .debug_info section.  Note: the output from this option
               can also be restricted by the use of the --dwarf-depth and --dwarf-start options.

           "k"
           "=links"
               Displays  the  contents  of  the  .gnu_debuglink,  .gnu_debugaltlink  and  .debug_sup
               sections,  if  any  of  them  are present.  Also displays any links to separate dwarf
               object files (dwo), if they are specified by the DW_AT_GNU_dwo_name or DW_AT_dwo_name
               attributes in the .debug_info section.

           "K"
           "=follow-links"
               Display the contents of any  selected  debug  sections  that  are  found  in  linked,
               separate  debug info file(s).  This can result in multiple versions of the same debug
               section being displayed if it exists in more than one file.

               In addition, when displaying DWARF attributes, if a form is found that references the
               separate debug info file, then the referenced contents will also be displayed.

               Note - in some distributions this option is enabled by default.  It can  be  disabled
               via  the N debug option.  The default can be chosen when configuring the binutils via
               the --enable-follow-debug-links=yes or  --enable-follow-debug-links=no  options.   If
               these are not used then the default is to enable the following of debug links.

               Note  -  if  support  for  the debuginfod protocol was enabled when the binutils were
               built then this option will also include an attempt to contact any debuginfod servers
               mentioned in the DEBUGINFOD_URLS environment variable.  This could take some time  to
               resolve.  This behaviour can be disabled via the =do-not-use-debuginfod debug option.

           "N"
           "=no-follow-links"
               Disables the following of links to separate debug info files.

           "D"
           "=use-debuginfod"
               Enables contacting debuginfod servers if there is a need to follow debug links.  This
               is the default behaviour.

           "E"
           "=do-not-use-debuginfod"
               Disables contacting debuginfod servers when there is a need to follow debug links.

           "l"
           "=rawline"
               Displays the contents of the .debug_line section in a raw format.

           "L"
           "=decodedline"
               Displays the interpreted contents of the .debug_line section.

           "m"
           "=macro"
               Displays the contents of the .debug_macro and/or .debug_macinfo sections.

           "o"
           "=loc"
               Displays the contents of the .debug_loc and/or .debug_loclists sections.

           "O"
           "=str-offsets"
               Displays the contents of the .debug_str_offsets section.

           "p"
           "=pubnames"
               Displays the contents of the .debug_pubnames and/or .debug_gnu_pubnames sections.

           "r"
           "=aranges"
               Displays the contents of the .debug_aranges section.

           "R"
           "=Ranges"
               Displays the contents of the .debug_ranges and/or .debug_rnglists sections.

           "s"
           "=str"
               Displays  the  contents  of the .debug_str, .debug_line_str and/or .debug_str_offsets
               sections.

           "t"
           "=pubtype"
               Displays the contents of the .debug_pubtypes and/or .debug_gnu_pubtypes sections.

           "T"
           "=trace_aranges"
               Displays the contents of the .trace_aranges section.

           "u"
           "=trace_abbrev"
               Displays the contents of the .trace_abbrev section.

           "U"
           "=trace_info"
               Displays the contents of the .trace_info section.

           Note:  displaying   the   contents   of   .debug_static_funcs,   .debug_static_vars   and
           debug_weaknames sections is not currently supported.

       --dwarf-depth=n
           Limit  the  dump  of  the  ".debug_info" section to n children.  This is only useful with
           --debug-dump=info.  The default is to print all DIEs; the special value 0 for n will also
           have this effect.

           With a non-zero value for n, DIEs at or deeper than n levels will not  be  printed.   The
           range for n is zero-based.

       --dwarf-start=n
           Print  only  DIEs  beginning  with  the  DIE  numbered  n.   This  is  only  useful  with
           --debug-dump=info.

           If specified, this option will suppress printing of any header information and  all  DIEs
           before  the  DIE  numbered  n.   Only  siblings and children of the specified DIE will be
           printed.

           This can be used in conjunction with --dwarf-depth.

       -P
       --process-links
           Display the contents of non-debug sections found in separate  debuginfo  files  that  are
           linked  to  the  main  file.   This option automatically implies the -wK option, and only
           sections requested by other command line options will be displayed.

       --ctf[=section]
           Display the contents of the specified CTF section.  CTF sections themselves contain  many
           subsections, all of which are displayed in order.

           By default, display the name of the section named .ctf, which is the name emitted by ld.

       --ctf-parent=member
           If  the  CTF section contains ambiguously-defined types, it will consist of an archive of
           many CTF dictionaries, all inheriting from one dictionary containing  unambiguous  types.
           This  member is by default named .ctf, like the section containing it, but it is possible
           to change this name using the "ctf_link_set_memb_name_changer"  function  at  link  time.
           When  looking  at  CTF  archives  that  have  been created by a linker that uses the name
           changer to rename the parent archive member, --ctf-parent can be used to specify the name
           used for the parent.

       --ctf-symbols=section
       --ctf-strings=section
           Specify the name of another section from which the  CTF  file  can  inherit  strings  and
           symbols.  By default, the ".symtab" and its linked string table are used.

           If  either of --ctf-symbols or --ctf-strings is specified, the other must be specified as
           well.

       -I
       --histogram
           Display a histogram of bucket list lengths when displaying the  contents  of  the  symbol
           tables.

       -v
       --version
           Display the version number of readelf.

       -W
       --wide
           Don't break output lines to fit into 80 columns. By default readelf breaks section header
           and  segment  listing  lines for 64-bit ELF files, so that they fit into 80 columns. This
           option causes readelf to print each section header resp. each segment one a single  line,
           which is far more readable on terminals wider than 80 columns.

       -T
       --silent-truncation
           Normally when readelf is displaying a symbol name, and it has to truncate the name to fit
           into  an  80  column  display, it will add a suffix of "[...]" to the name.  This command
           line option disables this behaviour, allowing  5  more  characters  of  the  name  to  be
           displayed and restoring the old behaviour of readelf (prior to release 2.35).

       -H
       --help
           Display the command-line options understood by readelf.

       @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
       objdump(1), and the Info entries for binutils.

COPYRIGHT
       Copyright (c) 1991-2024 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-2.42                                2026-02-09                                   READELF(1)
readelf(1)
NAME SYNOPSIS DESCRIPTION OPTIONS
-a --all -h --file-header -l --program-headers --segments --quiet -S --sections --section-headers -g --section-groups -t --section-details -s --symbols --syms --dyn-syms --lto-syms --sym-base=[0|8|10|16] -C --no-demangle --recurse-limit --no-recurse-limit --recursion-limit --no-recursion-limit -U [d|i|l|e|x|h] --unicode=[default|invalid|locale|escape|hex|highlight] -X --extra-sym-info --no-extra-sym-info -e --headers -n --notes -r --relocs -u --unwind -d --dynamic -V --version-info -A --arch-specific -D --use-dynamic -L --lint --enable-checks -x --hex-dump= -R --relocated-dump= -p --string-dump= -z --decompress -c --archive-index -w[lLiaprmfFsOoRtUuTgAckK] --debug-dump[=rawline,=decodedline,=info,=abbrev,=pubnames,=aranges,=macro,=frames,=frames-interp,=str,=str-offsets,=loc,=Ranges,=pubtypes,=trace_info,=trace_abbrev,=trace_aranges,=gdb_index,=addr,=cu_index,=links,=follow-links] -P --process-links -I --histogram -v --version -W --wide -T --silent-truncation -H --help
SEE ALSO COPYRIGHT

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