ctfdump(1) User Commands ctfdump(1)
NAME
ctfdump - dumps CTF content
SYNOPSIS
ctfdump [-adfhlsStw] [-u ctffile] file...
DESCRIPTION
The ctfdump utility symbolically dumps the contents of the CTF (Compact
C Type Format) data from the specified file(s). By default, the con-
tents of the CTF header, label, data, function, and type information
sections are shown. While the string table is not included by default,
the strings it contains are seen as part of the output for the other
sections. The -a option can be used to add the string table to the dis-
play of these defaults. Alternatively, options are provided to select
the specific information to display.
OPTIONS
The following options are supported:
-a Display the information from all sections of the CTF
data. This consists of the CTF header, label, data, func-
tion, type information, and string table sections.
-d Display CTF data definitions.
-f Display CTF function definitions.
-h Display the contents of the CTF header.
-l Display CTF label definitions.
-s Display the CTF string table.
-S Display CTF statistics. This is a specialized option, of
interest primarily to CTF developers.
-t Display CTF type definitions.
-u ctffile Copy the uncompressed CTF data to the file given by ctf-
file.
-w Wide type definition output. When displaying type defini-
tions, ctfdump sets a default width for the name column
wide enough to accommodate most names while keeping the
average line length under 80 columns. Longer names will
disturb the alignment of the attribute column that fol-
lows. The -w option disables this limit, and makes the
name column wide enough to fit the longest name. The re-
sult may be more readable when many long names are
present.
OPERANDS
The following operands are supported.
file The file for which the CTF data symbolically displayed.
EXIT STATUS
The following exit values are returned:
0 Successful completion.
> 0 An error occurred.
NOTES
Archive files, produced by ar(1), can be inspected with ctfdump. In
this case, each object within the archive is processed using the op-
tions supplied.
Objects that have associated ancillary objects can be inspected with
the ctfdump utility. If file has associated ancillary objects, and
those ancillary objects are available in the same directory as file,
ctfdump will transparently read those ancillary objects to obtain any
sections absent from the primary object which are needed to display the
CTF. Support for reading ancillary objects is limited to plain objects.
The ctfdump utility will not access ancillary objects for objects found
in an archive. See ld(1), and ctf(7).
In addition to native Solaris CTF, the ctfdump utility is also able to
dump the GNU CTF produced by the -gctf option to the gcc compilers.
GNU CTF is a different variant that is not directly compatible with the
native CTF used on Oracle Solaris. However, ctfdump can be used to in-
spect their contents, and the Solaris CTF implementation is able to
translate them to native CTF as part of the merge process. See ctf(7).
EXAMPLES
Example 1 Default Information
Dump the CTF header, label, data, function, and type information sec-
tions of an object.
% ctfdump filename
Example 2 Default Information + String Table
Add the string table section to the information displayed by the previ-
ous example.
% ctfdump -a filename
Example 3 Full Information
Add the CTF statistics to to the information displayed by the previous
example. This shows everything that ctfdump is able to display.
% ctfdump -a -S filename
Example 4 CTF header
Display the CTF header for an object.
% ctfdump -h filename
Example 5 CTF header + Functions
Display the CTF header and function section for an object.
% ctfdump -h -f filename
ATTRIBUTES
See attributes(7) for descriptions of the following attributes:
+------------------------------+-----------------------------------+
| ATTRIBUTE TYPE | ATTRIBUTE VALUE |
+------------------------------+-----------------------------------+
| Availability |developer/base-developer-utilities |
+------------------------------+-----------------------------------+
| Interface Stability |Committed |
+------------------------------+-----------------------------------+
HISTORY
Support for reading data from ancillary objects was added in the Oracle
Solaris 11.4.97 release.
The -a and -w options were added, and the string table and statistics
information dropped from the default output, in Oracle Solaris 11.4.90.
Support for dumping GNU CTF from relocatable objects created by the gcc
compilers was added in the Oracle Solaris 11.4.84 release.
The CTF utilities, including ctfdump, have been used in the construc-
tion of Solaris since Sun Solaris 9. They were added as system utili-
ties in Oracle Solaris 11.4.75.
SEE ALSO
ar(1), ctfconvert(1), ctfmerge(1), ctf(7), ld(1)
Oracle Solaris 11.4 24 June 2026 ctfdump(1)