LLVM-READELF(1)

📦
version 20.1.8 · 8 versions
, in fedora 43, fedora 44

✨ NAME ✨

okay bestie, so this is llvm-readelf — the GNU-style LLVM Object Reader 💅 she's from the LLVM manual pages and she's here to spill all the tea about your object files.

🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

llvm-readelf [options] [input...]

🦋 DESCRIPTION 🦋

So like, llvm-readelf shows you the low-level, format-specific info about one or more object files. It's giving microscope energy 🔬 she does not do surface-level, she goes deep.

If an input is literally -, then llvm-readelf reads from standard input instead. Otherwise it reads from the filenames you gave it, bestie. Simple as.

💖 OPTIONS 💖

  • --all, -a — the "give me everything" button ✨ same as turning on all the main display options that actually apply to the file format.
  • --addrsig — shows the address-significance table 🫶
  • --arch-specific, -A — shows architecture-specific info, like the ARM attributes section on ARM 🎀
  • --bb-addr-map — dumps the contents of the basic block address map section(s). These hold the address of every function plus the relative offset of each basic block 🔥
  • --decompress, -z — when you pair it with -x or -p, it dumps the decompressed section content. If the section(s) aren't compressed, they just get displayed as-is. No drama 💅
  • --demangle, -C — shows demangled symbol names in the output ✨
  • --dependent-libraries — shows the dependent libraries section 📚
  • --dyn-relocations — shows the dynamic relocation entries 👑
  • --dyn-symbols, --dyn-syms — shows the dynamic symbol table 💫
  • --dynamic-table, --dynamic, -d — shows the dynamic table 🎀
  • --cg-profile — shows the callgraph profile section 🕸️
  • --histogram, -I — shows a bucket list histogram for dynamic symbol hash tables 📊
  • --elf-linker-options — shows the linker options section 🔗
  • --elf-output-style=<value> — formats ELF info in the style you picked. Valid options are LLVM, GNU, and JSON. LLVM is the expanded, structured format. GNU — which is the default — mimics the equivalent GNU readelf output. JSON is JSON-formatted output meant for machines to consume 🤖
  • --extra-sym-info — shows extra info (the section name) when it's showing symbols 🏷️
  • --section-groups, -g — shows section groups 🗂️
  • --expand-relocs — when you use it with --relocations, it shows each relocation in an expanded multi-line format 📖
  • --file-header, -h — shows file headers 📄
  • --gnu-hash-table — shows the GNU hash table for dynamic symbols 🍓
  • --hash-symbols — shows the expanded hash table with dynamic symbol data 🔍
  • --hash-table — shows the hash table for dynamic symbols #️⃣
  • --headers, -e — same as setting --file-header, --program-headers, and --sections all at once 💥
  • --help — shows a summary of the command line options 🆘
  • --hex-dump=<section[,section,...]>, -x — shows the specified section(s) as hexadecimal bytes. section can be a section index or a section name 🔢
  • --memtag — shows info about memory tagging present in the binary. This includes the various memtag-specific dynamic entries, decoded global descriptor sections, and decoded Android-specific ELF notes 🧠
  • --needed-libs — shows the needed libraries 📚
  • --no-demangle — does not show demangled symbol names in the output. This one is on by default, bestie 🙈
  • --notes, -n — shows all notes 📝
  • --pretty-print — when used with --elf-output-style, the JSON output gets formatted in a more readable way 💅
  • --program-headers, --segments, -l — shows the program headers 🧩
  • --relocations, --relocs, -r — shows the relocation entries in the file 🔄
  • --sections, --section-headers, -S — shows all sections 🗃️
  • --section-data — when used with --sections, shows section data for every section displayed. Heads up: this option has no effect for GNU style output ⚠️
  • --section-details, -t — shows all section details. Use it as an alternative to --sections 🔎
  • --section-mapping — shows the section to segment mapping 🗺️
  • --section-relocations — when used with --sections, shows relocations for every section displayed. This option has no effect for GNU style output ⚠️
  • --section-symbols — when used with --sections, shows symbols for every section displayed. This option has no effect for GNU style output ⚠️
  • --stackmap — shows contents of the stackmap section 🗺️
  • --stack-sizes — shows the contents of the stack sizes section(s), i.e. pairs of function names and the size of their stack frames. Currently this is only implemented for GNU style output 🫠
  • --string-dump=<section[,section,...]>, -p — shows the specified section(s) as a list of strings. section can be a section index or a section name 🧵
  • --symbols, --syms, -s — shows the symbol table. It also shows the dynamic symbol table when using GNU output style for ELF 👑
  • --unwind, -u — shows unwind information 🌀
  • --version — shows the version of the llvm-readelf executable 🏷️
  • --version-info, -V — shows version sections 🔖
  • --wide, -W — ignored, for GNU readelf compatibility. The output is already similar to what you'd get using -W with GNU readelf 😌
  • @<FILE> — reads command-line options from the response file <FILE> 📂

🌈 EXIT STATUS 🌈

llvm-readelf returns 0 under normal operation. If there were any errors, she returns a non-zero exit code. periodt 💅

🫶 SEE ALSO 🫶

llvm-nm(1), llvm-objdump(1), llvm-readobj(1) — go read those next, bestie, iykyk 💜

👑 AUTHOR 👑

Maintained by the LLVM Team (https://llvm.org/). iconic behavior fr fr.

2003-2025, LLVM Project

okay that's the whole page!! 🌟 brought to you by the LLVM Project, version dated 2025-09-03, page 20 of the manual — mwah, take care of her, she's a legend 💖✨

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