sillystrings

A Python reimplementation of the Unix strings utility. Extracts printable character sequences from binary files with support for multiple encodings, offset display, and standard CLI conventions.

Pure Python, zero dependencies, comprehensive test coverage.

Installation

Requires Python 3.11+.

Install from source using uv:

git clone https://github.com/jkomalley/sillystrings.git
cd sillystrings
uv sync

Usage

sillystrings [OPTIONS] [FILE ...]

With no file arguments, reads from stdin.

Options

Examples

Scan a binary for readable strings:

sillystrings /usr/bin/ls

Show hex offsets with 8-bit encoding:

sillystrings -t x -e S firmware.bin

Read from stdin:

cat firmware.bin | sillystrings -

Find wide (UTF-16 LE) strings with a minimum length of 8:

sillystrings -e l -n 8 program.exe

Architecture

The project is organized into three layers:

• encodings -- character-level printability checks for ASCII and UTF-16
• scanner -- accumulates printable runs into strings, tracks byte offsets
• cli -- argument parsing, file I/O, output formatting

Development

just install    # or: uv sync && uv run pre-commit install
just check      # format, lint, type check, and the test suite

Tests cover all encoding modes, offset calculations, CLI flags, edge cases, and integration via subprocess.

See CONTRIBUTING.md for development setup, project layout, and the conventions this repo follows.

License

MIT