READELF(1)

📦
version 2.47 · 3 versions
, in arch rolling

🌸 NAME 🌸

okay bestie, welcome to the readelf(1) page from GNU Development Tools — this is the one that displays information about ELF files, and it's lowkey iconic. Fr fr.

✨ 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>]
        [-j <number or name>|--display-section=<number or name>]
        [-z|--decompress]
        [-c|--archive-index]
        [-w|--debug-dump]
        [-wa|--debug-dump=abbrev]
        [-wA|--debug-dump=addr]
        [-wr|--debug-dump=aranges]
        [-wc|--debug-dump=cu_index]
        [-wL|--debug-dump=decodedline]
        [-wf|--debug-dump=frames]
        [-wF|--debug-dump=frames-interp]
        [-wg|--debug-dump=gdb_index]
        [-wi|--debug-dump=info]
        [-wk|--debug-dump=links]
        [-wo|--debug-dump=loc]
        [-wm|--debug-dump=macro]
        [-wp|--debug-dump=pubnames]
        [-wt|--debug-dump=pubtypes]
        [-wR|--debug-dump=Ranges]
        [-wl|--debug-dump=rawline]
        [-ws|--debug-dump=str]
        [-wO|--debug-dump=str-offsets]
        [-wu|--debug-dump=trace_abbrev]
        [-wT|--debug-dump=trace_aranges]
        [-wU|--debug-dump=trace_info]
        [-wK|--debug-dump=follow-links]
        [-wN|--debug-dump=no-follow-links]
        [-wD|--debug-dump=use-debuginfod]
        [-wE|--debug-dump=do-not-use-debuginfod]
        [--debug-dir=dir]
        [-P|--process-links]
        [--dwarf-depth=n]
        [--dwarf-start=n]
        [--ctf=section]
        [--ctf-parent=section]
        [--ctf-symbols=section]
        [--ctf-strings=section]
        [--sframe=section]
        [-I|--histogram]
        [--got-contents]
        [-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. Periodt.

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

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. That's the main character energy right there.

💅 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, --got-contents, --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. iykyk 💖

  • -h, --file-header — displays the information contained in the ELF header at the start of the file. the opening credits, basically ✨
  • -l, --program-headers, --segments — displays the information contained in the file's segment headers, if it has any. only if they exist, bestie 🫶
  • --quiet — suppress "no symbols" diagnostic. shhh, no negativity 🙈
  • -S, --sections, --section-headers — displays the information contained in the file's section headers, if it has any. section header serve 💅
  • -g, --section-groups — displays the information contained in the file's section groups, if it has any. group chat but for sections 🎀
  • -t, --section-details — displays the detailed section information. Implies -S. yes, it brings -S along ✨
  • -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. symbol lore unlocked 💀
  • --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. same vibe, different table 🦋
  • --lto-syms — displays the contents of any LTO symbol tables in the file. LTO girlies rise 🔥
  • --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. numbers but make it fashion 🍓
  • -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. translating cryptic into cute 🧚
  • --no-demangle — do not demangle low-level symbol names. This is the default. raw names, no filter 🙈
  • --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. do not come for the devs after ignoring the warning, bestie 💀

  • -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, enclosed in curly parenthesis characters.

Using the --unicode=escape option will display the characters 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 highlight 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. unicode with a highlighter moment ✨

  • -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. more info, more main character energy 👑

  • --no-extra-sym-info — disables the effect of the --extra-sym-info option. This is the default. back to normal, no extras 🌸
  • -e, --headers — display all the headers in the file. Equivalent to -h -l -S. header combo meal 🎀
  • -n, --notes — displays the contents of the NOTE segments and/or sections, if any. noted, bestie 🫶
  • -r, --relocs — displays the contents of the file's relocation section, if it has one. relocations are having a moment 💅
  • -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. unwind but only where supported, no cap 🦋
  • -d, --dynamic — displays the contents of the file's dynamic section, if it has one. dynamic section said hi ✨
  • -V, --version-info — displays the contents of the version sections in the file, if they exist. version info is literally the vibe check 🍓
  • -A, --arch-specific — displays architecture-specific information in the file, if there is any. architecture-specific serve 🔥
  • -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. dynamic mode activated 💅

  • -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. lint is the friend who tells you the truth, lovingly 🫶
  • -x <number or name>, --hex-dump=<number or name> — shows you the section you asked for as hexadecimal bytes ✨. A number picks a specific section by its index in the section table; literally any other string picks all the sections with that name in the object file. And yes bestie, you can repeat this option as many times as you want on the command line to grab multiple hex dumps at once 💅.
  • -R <number or name>, --relocated-dump=<number or name> — same idea, hex bytes of the section you point at. A number = a particular section by index in the section table, any other string = all sections with that name in the object file. The glow-up here? The contents get relocated before they're displayed 🔥. Repeatable on the command line for multiple relocated dumps, no cap.
  • -p <number or name>, --string-dump=<number or name> — dumps that section as printable strings 🎀. Number = section by table index, other string = every section with that name in the object file. Also repeatable, so go off, request as many string dumps as your heart desires 🫶.
  • -j <number or name>, --display-section — this one's the main character 👑: it displays the contents of the section according to its section header type. Sections with relocations get shown as if you'd used --relocations, sections with symbols get shown as if you'd used --syms, and so on. So it just knows.

A number identifies a particular section by index in the section table; any other string identifies all sections with that name in the input file(s).

Repeatable multiple times on the command line for multiple section dumps 💖.

  • -z, --decompress — asks that the section(s) being dumped by the x, R or p options get decompressed before display. If they're not compressed, they're shown as-is. Respectfully, it tries its best 😭.
  • -c, --archive-index — displays the file symbol index info sitting in the header part of binary archives. Does the exact same thing as the t command to ar, but without using the BFD library 💀. Iconic shortcut behaviour.
  • -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] — shows the contents of the DWARF debug sections in the file, if there are any 🌸. Compressed debug sections get automatically decompressed (temporarily!) before display. If you tack on one or more of the optional letters or words after the switch, only those type(s) of data get dumped. Here's the legend, bestie:
    • "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" — displays the raw contents of a .debug_frame section.
    • "F", "=frames-interp" — displays 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 --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're specified by the DW_AT_GNU_dwo_name or DW_AT_dwo_name attributes in the .debug_info section.
    • "K", "=follow-links" — displays the contents of any selected debug sections found in linked, separate debug info file(s). Heads up: this can result in multiple versions of the same debug section being displayed if it exists in more than one file 🙈. On top of that, when displaying DWARF attributes, if a form is found that references the separate debug info file, 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's a need to follow debug links. This is the default behaviour ⭐.
  • "E", "=do-not-use-debuginfod" — disables contacting debuginfod servers when there's 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 — limits the dump of the .debug_info section to n children. Only useful with --debug-dump=info. Default is to print all DIEs, and the special value 0 for n also has that effect. With a non-zero n, DIEs at or deeper than n levels won't be printed. The range for n is zero-based ✨.
  • --dwarf-start=n — prints only DIEs beginning with the DIE numbered n. Also only useful with --debug-dump=info. If you specify it, it suppresses printing of any header information and all DIEs before the DIE numbered n — only siblings and children of the specified DIE get printed. Plays nicely with --dwarf-depth 💫.
  • --debug-dir=dir — search dir when looking for separate debug info files 🔍.
  • -P, --process-links — displays the contents of non-debug sections found in separate debuginfo files that are linked to the main file. Automatically implies the -wK option, and only sections requested by other command line options get displayed 🎀.
  • --ctf[=section] — displays the contents of the specified CTF section. CTF sections contain a whole bunch of subsections and all of them get displayed in order. By default, it displays 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'll consist of an archive of many CTF dictionaries, all inheriting from one dictionary containing unambiguous types. That member is by default named .ctf, like the section containing it, but you can change this name using the "ctf_link_set_memb_name_changer" function at link time. When you're looking at CTF archives created by a linker that uses the name changer to rename the parent archive member, --ctf-parent lets you specify the name used for the parent 💅.
  • --ctf-parent-section=section — lets you pick a completely different section for the CTF parent dictionary (the one with unambiguous types) than for the child dictionaries (the ones with the ambiguous remainder). The linker doesn't emit ELF objects structured like this, but some third-party linkers may 👀. It's also handy for inspecting CTF written out as multiple raw files so you can compose them with objcopy — which can put them in different ELF sections but not in different members of a single CTF dict.
  • --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. And important: if either --ctf-symbols or --ctf-strings is specified, the other must be specified as well 🫶 (they're a package deal, fr fr).
  • --got-contents — displays the contents of the file's Global Offset Table (GOT) sections, if it has any. For MIPS this option is similar to --arch-specific, but it only displays the GOT-related contents, and it's ignored when --arch-specific is used 💀.
  • -I, --histogram — displays a histogram of bucket list lengths when displaying the contents of the symbol tables 📊. Data girlie behaviour, honestly.
  • -v, --version — prints out the version number of readelf, that's it, that's the whole vibe ✨
  • -W, --wide — okay so by default readelf breaks its section header and segment listing lines for 64-bit ELF files so everything fits in 80 columns 😤 this flag says "bestie, don't do that". Each section header and each segment gets printed on a single line, which is so much more readable on terminals wider than 80 columns. no cap, use this one 🫶
  • -T, --silent-truncation — so normally, when readelf is showing you a symbol name and has to truncate it to fit into an 80 column display, it slaps a [...] suffix on the end of the name 💀 this option disables that behaviour, which means you get 5 more characters of the name displayed, and it also restores the old readelf behaviour from prior to release 2.35. it's giving vintage 👑
  • -H, --help — displays all the command-line options that readelf understands, aka the full menu, the whole buffet 🎀
  • @file — reads command-line options from file 💖 the options that get read are inserted in place of the original @file option. and listen, if file doesn't exist, or can't be read, then the option is treated literally and not removed 🙈

Options inside file are separated by whitespace 🌸 a whitespace character can be included in an option by surrounding the entire option in either single or double quotes. any character (including a backslash) can be included by prefixing the character you want with a backslash. and the file may itself contain additional @file options — any such options get processed recursively, it's turtles all the way down 🐢✨

🌈 SEE ALSO 🌈

  • objdump(1) — go say hi 👋
  • and the Info entries for binutils 📚

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" 💜

and that's the whole page bestie!! 🦋 this masterpiece is from binutils-2.47, dated 2026-09-30, and honestly? iconic. go read some ELF files, you've earned it 💅✨🎀

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