readelf

Readelf is a command line tool included in most UNIX-like operating systems. It stands for "read ELF" where ELF refers to Executable and Linkable Format, a common binary file format used in Linux and related systems. The primary purpose of readelf is to display information about ELF files, such as binary executables, shared libraries, and object files.

Using readelf, one can extract various details from an ELF file, including the header information, section headers, symbol tables, segment information, and dynamic linking information. It provides a wealth of information about the internal structure and properties of an ELF binary.

Readelf can be particularly useful in debugging and analysis tasks, such as determining the architecture for which the binary was compiled, examining shared library dependencies, checking the virtual memory layout, and inspecting symbol tables to understand the functions and symbols used in the binary.

Additionally, readelf allows for modification of certain attributes of an ELF file, although it is primarily designed for reading and examining their contents. Due to its versatility and utility, readelf is widely used by developers, system administrators, security analysts, and anyone needing to inspect the internals of an ELF file. It is an essential tool in the UNIX command line toolkit.