How to dump the symbols in a .a file

Question

Can you please tell me how can I dump all the symbols in a .a file on MacOS X?

I am getting a linking error while compiling my c++ problem on MacOS X. I would like to find out if the sybmols exists on the .a file that I am linking with.

Thank you.

`nm -gC yourLib.a` (based on http://stackoverflow.com/questions/34732/how-do-i-list-the-symbols-in-a-so-file) — sligocki, Mar 10 '15 at 17:07
@sligocki The -C option doesn't seem to exist on Apple's implementation — 16807, May 31 '17 at 16:37

Sinan Ünür · Accepted Answer · 2009-07-30T00:24:09.787

64

man nm

Nm displays the name list (symbol table) of each object file in the argument list. If an argument is an archive, a listing for each object file in the archive will be produced. File can be of the form libx.a(x.o), in which case only symbols from that member of the object file are listed. ... etc

edited Jul 30 '09 at 00:24

answered Jul 30 '09 at 00:11

Sinan Ünür

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A similarly useful program is "strings", which prints everything in a binary that looks like a null terminated string. – markets Jul 30 '09 at 03:31

score 16 · Answer 2 · answered Jan 04 '19 at 14:37

16

nm -g | c++filt

Mac nm doesn't have the demangle option, so you just run the output through c++filt (a demangler) afterwards.

answered Jan 04 '19 at 14:37

Tomeamis

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How to dump the symbols in a .a file

2 Answers2