STRIP(1)

📦
version 2.45.50.20251209 · 5 versions
, in ubuntu resolute, ubuntu stonking

✨ STRIP(1) ✨

GNU Development Tools · the manual page for strip 🎀

okay bestie, buckle up, because this one is the glow-up artist of the binary world 💅

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

🦋 DESCRIPTION 🦋

so GNU strip is literally the declutter queen 👑 — it discards all the symbols from object files, aka your objfiles. and the list of object files? it can absolutely include archives, no biggie. but bestie, listen: at least one object file must be given. you cannot show up to the function with zero objfiles, that's not the vibe 🙈

💀 heads up: strip modifies the files named in its argument, rather than writing modified copies under different names. so like… it's not making you a cute little copy. it's editing your actual files in place. periodt.

okay that's the setup, more of this masterpiece is coming, don't go anywhere 🫶

✨ OPTIONS ✨

okay bestie, here's the whole menu of flags, no skips, no shortcuts 💅

  • -F bfdname, --target=bfdname — treat the original objfile like it's a file with the object code format bfdname, and rewrite it in that same format. one format in, same format out, iconic behavior ✨
  • --help — show a lil summary of all the strip options and then dip. exit stage left 🫶
  • --info — display a list showing every architecture and object format that's available. a whole buffet, fr fr 🍓
  • -I bfdname, --input-target=bfdname — treat the original objfile as a file with the object code format bfdname. this is the "what am i even looking at" flag 👀
  • -O bfdname, --output-target=bfdname — replace objfile with a file in the output format bfdname. glow-up but for file formats 💅
  • -R sectionname, --remove-section=sectionname — remove any section named sectionname from the output file, on top of whatever sections would already get removed. you can drop this option more than once if you're feeling extra. note that using it inappropriately may make the output file unusable 😭 so pls be careful. the wildcard character * may be given at the end of sectionname — if you do that, then any section starting with sectionname gets 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. it's giving "except this one bestie" 🎀

  • --keep-section=sectionpattern — when removing sections from the output file, keep the sections that match sectionpattern. protective queen behavior 👑
  • --remove-relocations=sectionpattern — remove relocations from the output file for any section matching sectionpattern. this one may be given more than once too. and yeah, using it 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 one is specific to ELF files. it implies --strip-all and --merge-notes. package deal, no cap 🎁
  • -s, --strip-all — remove all symbols. all of them. gone. bye 👋
  • -g, -S, -d, --strip-debug — remove debugging symbols only. just the debug ones, nothing else gets touched 🦋
  • --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 info, iykyk 📖
  • --strip-unneeded — remove all symbols that are not needed for relocation processing, in addition to the debugging symbols and sections stripped by --strip-debug. if it's not pulling its weight it's getting evicted ✨
  • -K symbolname, --keep-symbol=symbolname — when stripping symbols, keep the symbol symbolname even if it would normally get stripped. this option may be given more than once. protect your faves fr fr 🫶
  • -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. so like, default-on but with exceptions, very main character 🌈
  • -N symbolname, --strip-symbol=symbolname — remove the symbol symbolname from the source file. this option may be given more than once, and may be combined with strip options other than -K. (so -K and -N are not besties, they don't mix 💀)
  • -o file — put the stripped output in file, rather than replacing the existing file. when you use this argument, only one objfile argument may be specified. one in, one out 🎀
  • -p, --preserve-dates — preserve the access and modification dates of the file. keeps the vibe timestamps exactly as they were ⏰
  • -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". the reversal is so real 😭

  • -x, --discard-all — remove non-global symbols. the locals don't make the cut, sorry 🙈
  • -X, --discard-locals — remove compiler-generated local symbols. (these usually start with L or .) like, if it starts with an L or a dot, it's out 🧚
  • --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. save the section-name girlies 💜
  • --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. same energy but for filenames 🌸
  • --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 vibes are kept, the contents are not 🔥

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. two: 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 "objcopy --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, it's flexible 🦋

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 one debug file per object, that's the rule 📏

  • --plugin name — load 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. no plugin support, no plugin, periodt ✋

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 order, very organized bestie 📚

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. copy the newest, skip the rest 💅

  • -V, --version — show the version number for strip. flex your version real quick 👑
  • -v, --verbose — verbose output: list all object files modified. in the case of archives, strip -v lists all members of the archive. it's giving receipts 🧾
  • @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. no file? it just stays as the literal text, ok 💀

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, recursion girlies rise 🌈

🔍 SEE ALSO

the Info entries for binutils.

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".

and that's the whole page bestie, we did it 🎉 this was binutils-2.45.50, dated 2025-12-09, and it's the STRIP(1) page — go forth and strip responsibly, mwah 💖✨

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