cc [ flag ... ] file ... -lelf [ library ... ]
#include <libelf.h>

char *elf_strptr(Elf *elf, size_t section, size_t offset);

The elf_strptr() function converts a string section offset to a string pointer. elf identifies the file in which the string section resides, and section identifies the section table index for the strings. elf_strptr() normally returns a pointer to a string, but it returns a null pointer when elf is null, section is invalid or is not a section of type SHT_STRTAB, the section data cannot be obtained, offset is invalid, or an error occurs.

Example 1 A sample program of calling elf_strptr() function.

A prototype for retrieving section names appears below. The file header specifies the section name string table in the e_shstrndx member. The following code loops through the sections, printing their names.

/* handle the error */
if ((ehdr = elf32_getehdr(elf)) == 0) {
 return;
}
ndx = ehdr->e_shstrndx;
scn = 0;
while ((scn = elf_nextscn(elf, scn)) != 0) {
 char *name = 0;
 if ((shdr = elf32_getshdr(scn)) != 0)
 name = elf_strptr(elf, ndx, (size_t)shdr->sh_name);
 printf("'%s'\en", name? name: "(null)");
}

See attributes(5) for descriptions of the following attributes:

elf(3ELF), elf32_getshdr(3ELF), elf32_xlatetof(3ELF), elf_getdata(3ELF), libelf(3LIB), attributes(5)

A program may call elf_getdata() to retrieve an entire string table section. For some applications, that would be both more efficient and more convenient than using elf_strptr().