STRIP(1)

📦 version 2.47, in arch rolling

💅 STRIP(1) — the GNU Development Tools glow-up 🎀

okay bestie, gather round, because strip is one of those tools that sounds boring and is actually so iconic once you get what it's doing. it's part of GNU Development Tools, and it's basically the "clean out your closet" of object files. let's go ✨

🌸 NAME 🌸

strip — literally just discards symbols and other data from object files. that's the whole vibe. she takes your chunky debug-info-laden binaries and makes them lean. 💅

🦋 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]
      [--plugin name]
      [-v |--verbose] [-V|--version]
      [--help] [--info]
      objfile...

like, yes, it's a lot of brackets. she's flexible. she's got options. 😌

💖 DESCRIPTION 💖

GNU strip discards all symbols from object files objfile. no cap, that's the default behaviour — she goes in and clears them out.

the list of object files may include archives, so you can point her at a .a file too and she'll do her thing. 🫶

⚠️ but listen — at least one object file must be given. she's not gonna guess. feed her something or she's not doing anything.

and here's the important bit that trips people up, bestie, so pay attention: strip modifies the files named in its argument, rather than writing modified copies under different names. 🩷

💀 which means if you run it on something you still needed the symbols from... that's it. that's the tea. it's edited in place. the original symbols are GONE. no undo button, no "wait I meant to copy it first." she is not gentle about this and honestly that's her main character energy. 🌈

so like... maybe back up your file before you go stripping it, iykyk 😭✨

and that's just part one, bestie — the options are coming and there are SO many of them 🎀

✨ OPTIONS ✨

okay bestie, this is the part where it gets juicy — every single flag, no skips, no cap 💅

  • -F bfdname, --target=bfdname — treats the original objfile as a file with the object code format bfdname, and rewrites it in that same format. in-and-out, same vibe ✨
  • --help — shows a lil summary of the options strip has and dips. that's it, that's the whole thing 🫶
  • --info — displays a list showing all architectures and object formats available. window shopping for formats, iconic 👑
  • -I bfdname, --input-target=bfdname — treats the original objfile as a file with the object code format bfdname. input side only, bestie 🎀
  • -O bfdname, --output-target=bfdname — replaces objfile with a file in the output format bfdname. output side only 💖
  • -R sectionname, --remove-section=sectionname — removes 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.
⚠️ using this option inappropriately may make the output file unusable. like fr, do not just be flinging sections into the void 😭

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'. the ! is literally the "not me" of section patterns 🙈

  • --keep-section=sectionpattern — when removing sections from the output file, keeps sections that match sectionpattern. the safekeeping list, we love her 🎀
  • --remove-relocations=sectionpattern — removes 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. same warning, same energy 💀

wildcard characters are accepted in sectionpattern. for example:

          --remove-relocations=.text.*

will remove the relocations for all sections matching the pattern '.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'. exclamation point stays undefeated 🔥

  • --strip-section-headers — strips section headers. this option is specific to ELF files. it implies --strip-all and --merge-notes. two-for-one situation, we love a multitasker ✨
  • -s, --strip-all — removes all symbols. all of them. gone. bye 👋
  • -g, -S, -d, --strip-debug — removes debugging symbols only. four whole spellings, one job 💅
  • --strip-dwo — removes 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. (yes we're outsourcing the lore 📚)
  • --strip-unneeded — removes all symbols that are not needed for relocation processing, in addition to debugging symbols and sections stripped by --strip-debug. the "if you're not useful you're out" option 😤
  • -K symbolname, --keep-symbol=symbolname — when stripping symbols, keeps symbol symbolname even if it would normally be stripped. this option may be given more than once. the VIP list 🫶
  • -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. dedupe era, no cap ✨
  • -N symbolname, --strip-symbol=symbolname — removes symbol symbolname from the source file. this option may be given more than once, and may be combined with strip options other than -K. note: other than -K — they do not fraternize 💀
  • -o file — puts the stripped output in file, rather than replacing the existing file. when this argument is used, only one objfile argument may be specified. one file in, one file out, no harem 🌸
  • -p, --preserve-dates — preserves the access and modification dates of the file. timestamps stay untouched, iconic 🎀
  • -D, --enable-deterministic-archives — operates in deterministic mode. when copying archive members and writing the archive index, it uses zero for UIDs, GIDs, timestamps, and uses 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. default behavior reveal 💅

  • -U, --disable-deterministic-archives — does not operate in deterministic mode. this is the inverse of the -D option, above: when copying archive members and writing the archive index, it uses their actual UID, GID, timestamp, and file mode values.

this is the default unless binutils was configured with --enable-deterministic-archives. so like, check your build config before you assume bestie 🦋

  • -w, --wildcard — permits 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". the ! doing the most, as always 👑

  • -x, --discard-all — removes non-global symbols. local girlies, your time is up 😭
  • -X, --discard-locals — removes compiler-generated local symbols. (these usually start with L or ..) so if it's giving L-name energy, it's outta here 💀
  • --keep-section-symbols — when stripping a file, perhaps with --strip-debug or --strip-unneeded, retains any symbols specifying section names, which would otherwise get stripped. protective gf behavior 🫶
  • --keep-file-symbols — when stripping a file, perhaps with --strip-debug or --strip-unneeded, retains any symbols specifying source file names, which would otherwise get stripped. same protective energy, different symbols 💖
  • --only-keep-debug — strips 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. receipts kept, contents yeeted ✨

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...
  2. run "objcopy --only-keep-debug foo foo.dbg" to create a file containing the debugging info.
  3. run "strip --strip-debug foo" to create a stripped executable.
  4. 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.
  2. copy "foo" to "foo.full".
  3. run "strip --strip-debug foo".
  4. 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. plot twist, both routes slay 🌈

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. so like, one debuglink, no sharing 😭

  • --plugin name — loads the plugin called name to add support for extra target types. this option is only available if the toolchain has been built with plugin support enabled.

if --plugin is not provided, but plugin support has been enabled, then strip iterates over the files in ${libdir}/bfd-plugins in alphabetic order and the first plugin that claims the object in question is used. alphabetical, first-come-first-served, very cafeteria lunch line 🍓

please note that this plugin search directory is not the one used by ld's -plugin option. in order to make strip use the linker plugin it must be copied into the ${libdir}/bfd-plugins directory. for GCC based compilations the linker plugin is called liblto_plugin.so.0.0.0. for Clang based compilations it is called LLVMgold.so. the GCC plugin is always backwards compatible with earlier versions, so it is sufficient to just copy the newest one. newest one only, we don't collect ancient plugin lore 💅

  • -V, --version — shows the version number for strip. know your queen's birthday 💖
  • -v, --verbose — verbose output: lists all object files modified. in the case of archives, strip -v lists all members of the archive. every single one, we're nosy and we're proud 🙈
  • @file — reads 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. it's files all the way down, inception behavior 🌀

🌸 SEE ALSO 🌸

the Info entries for binutils. that's it, that's the whole rec list, go read the info pages bestie 📚✨

copyright (c) 1991-2026 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". legal but make it cute 🫶

okay bestie that's the whole page!! 💜 this is binutils-2.47, dated 2026-08-26, and it's the STRIP(1) manual — go forth and strip responsibly, mwah 🎀💅

📦 where this page comes from