Article ID: 177429 - Last Review: September 1, 2005 - Revision: 4.0

Description of the DUMPBIN utility

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SUMMARY

The DUMPBIN utility, which is provided with the 32-bit version of Microsoft Visual C++, combines the abilities of the LINK, LIB, and EXEHDR utilities. The combination of these tools features the ability to provide information about the format and symbols provided in executable, library, and DLL files.

This article provides a brief overview of some options and output produced by the DUMPBIN utility. For more information about the DUMPBIN tool, consult your product documentation.

MORE INFORMATION

The DUMPBIN command line options are listed below. Some of the output each option provides is also listed.

/ALL Displays all available information except code disassembly. Use the /DISASM option to display disassembly. You can use /RAWDATA:NONE with the /ALL option to omit the raw binary details of the file.
Because the /ALL option is simply a combination of all the other options, an example is not needed.
/ARCHIVEMEMBERS Displays minimal information about member objects in a library.
The size of the output file depends on the number of object modules in the library. The following is part of the output from the Scrnsave.lib file: 
Archive member name at 582: /0        ..\..\common\retail\scrnsave.obj
2FF359CC time/date Thu Jun 29 18:56:28 1995
         uid
         gid
  100666 mode
    214A size
correct header end
/DISASM Displays disassembly of code sections, using symbols if present in the file.
The following is part of the disassembly code from the Lib.exe file: 
00401000: 8B 44 24 08        mov         eax,dword ptr [esp+8]
00401004: 68 00 20 40 00     push        402000h
00401009: 8B 4C 24 08        mov         ecx,dword ptr [esp+8]
0040100D: 50                 push        eax
0040100E: 51                 push        ecx
0040100F: E8 0C 00 00 00     call        00401020
00401014: 33 C0              xor         eax,eax
00401016: C3                 ret
00401017: CC                 int         3
/EXPORTS Displays all definitions exported from an executable file or DLL.
MFC40.DLL produces the following export information:

Section contains the following Exports for MFC40.DLL 
          0 characteristics
   30733286 time date stamp Wed Oct 04 18:19:02 1995
       0.00 version
          1 ordinal base
       5782 number of functions
          4 number of names

ordinal hint   name

      2    0   DllCanUnloadNow  (00096182)
      1    1   DllGetClassObject  (0009611E)
      3    2   DllRegisterServer  (000961DB)
      4    3   DllUnregisterServer  (00096242)
/FPO Displays frame pointer optimization (FPO) records.
One of the MFC libraries, Nafxis.lib, provided us with some examples of frame pointer optimization records: 
FPO Data (1)
                                       Use Has  Frame
 Address  Proc Size   Locals   Prolog  BP  SEH  Type   Params
00000000          9        0        0   N   N    fpo        0

FPO Data (1)
                                       Use Has  Frame
 Address  Proc Size   Locals   Prolog  BP  SEH  Type   Params
00000000         11        0        0   N   N    fpo        C

FPO Data (1)
                                       Use Has  Frame
 Address  Proc Size   Locals   Prolog  BP  SEH  Type   Params
00000000          3        0        0   N   N    fpo        0
/HEADERS Displays the file header and the header for each section. When used with a library, it displays the header for each member object.
This information was displayed from the Resource Compiler, Rc.exe: 
FILE HEADER VALUES
     14C machine (i386)
       6 number of sections
306F7A22 time date stamp Sun Oct 01 22:35:30 1995
       0 file pointer to symbol table
     1D1 number of symbols
      E0 size of optional header
     302 characteristics
            Executable
            32 bit word machine
            Debug information stripped

OPTIONAL HEADER VALUES
     10B magic #
    2.60 linker version
    1E00 size of code
    1E00 size of initialized data
       0 size of uninitialized data
    1144 address of entry point
    1000 base of code
    3000 base of data
         ----- new -----
 2BB0000 image base
    1000 section alignment
     200 file alignment
       3 subsystem (Windows CUI)
    4.00 operating system version
    4.00 image version
    3.50 subsystem version
    8000 size of image
     400 size of headers
    62C8 checksum
  100000 size of stack reserve
    1000 size of stack commit
  100000 size of heap reserve
    1000 size of heap commit
       0 [       0] address [size] of Export Directory
    5000 [      3C] address [size] of Import Directory
    6000 [     394] address [size] of Resource Directory
       0 [       0] address [size] of Exception Directory
       0 [       0] address [size] of Security Directory
    7000 [     21C] address [size] of Base Relocation Directory
    3030 [      38] address [size] of Debug Directory
       0 [       0] address [size] of Description Directory
       0 [       0] address [size] of Special Directory
       0 [       0] address [size] of Thread Storage Directory
       0 [       0] address [size] of Load Configuration Directory
     268 [      44] address [size] of Bound Import Directory
    50A0 [      64] address [size] of Import Address Table Directory
       0 [       0] address [size] of Reserved Directory
       0 [       0] address [size] of Reserved Directory
       0 [       0] address [size] of Reserved Directory

SECTION HEADER #1
   .text name
    1D24 virtual size
    1000 virtual address
    1E00 size of raw data
     400 file pointer to raw data
       0 file pointer to relocation table
    3C20 file pointer to line numbers
       0 number of relocations
     37E number of line numbers
60000020 flags
         Code
         (no align specified)
         Execute Read
/IMPORTS Displays all definitions imported to an executable file or DLL.
The output displayed here is similar to the /EXPORTS output.
/LINENUMBERS Displays COFF line numbers. Line numbers exist in an object file if it was compiled with the Program Database (/Zi), C7 Compatible (/Z7), or Line Numbers Only (/Zd) switches. An executable file or DLL contains COFF line numbers if it was linked with the Generate Debug Info (/DEBUG) and COFF Format (/DEBUGTYPE:COFF) options.
An application generated using AppWizard displays line information data such as the following: 
LINENUMBERS #1
   1E90   13     1ECD   13     1EF7   13     1F16   13     1F31   15
   1F46   15     1F61   24     1F9A   27     1FD0   2A     2001   2B
/LINKERMEMBER[:{1|2}] Displays public symbols defined in a library. Specify the 1 argument to display symbols in object order, along with their offsets. Specify the 2 argument to display offsets and index numbers of objects, and then list the symbols in alphabetical order, along with the object index for each. To get both outputs, specify /LINKERMEMBER without the number argument.
Winmmm.lib, the Windows Multimedia library, was used to get the following sample of DUMPBIN output. 
Archive member name at 8: / 
2FB537E1 time/date Sat May 13 15:51:13 1995
         uid
         gid
       0 mode
    2864 size
correct header end

    391 public symbols

     556C _CloseDriver@12
     58A0 _DefDriverProc@20
     5BDC _DriverCallback@28
     5F1C _DrvGetModuleHandle@4
     626A _GetDriverModuleHandle@4
     65C4 _NotifyCallbackData@20
     6914 _OpenDriver@12
     6C44 _PlaySound@12
     6F70 _PlaySoundA@12
     72A0 _PlaySoundW@12
/OUT:filename Specifies a filename for the output. By default, DUMPBIN displays the information to standard output.

/RAWDATA[:{BYTES|SHORTS|LONGS|NONE}[,number]] Displays the raw contents of each section in the file. The arguments control the format of the display, as shown below: 
Argument    Result

BYTES      The default. Contents are displayed in hexadecimal bytes,
           and also as ASCII characters if they have a printed
           representation.
SHORTS     Contents are displayed as hexadecimal words.
LONGS      Contents are displayed as hexadecimal longwords.
NONE       Raw data is suppressed. This argument is useful to control
           the output of /ALL.
number     Displayed lines are set to a width that holds <number> values
           per line.
The information generated with this option is quite large, this is a small sample of output from an AppWizard application using the LONGS format: 
RAW DATA #1
00000000  53EC8B55 00A15756 | E9004058 00000000      U[ASCII 239]_SVW[ASCII
237].|X@._...._
00000010  C95B5E5F EC8B55C3 | 5304EC83 4D895756      _^[++U[ASCII
239]_|[ASCII 226]_.SVW[ASCII 235]M_
00000020  3058B8FC 00E90040 | 5F000000 C3C95B5E      n+X0@._.|..._^[++_
/RELOCATIONS Displays any relocations in the object or image.
Below is a small portion of the relocation output obtained from an AppWizard application: 
BASE RELOCATIONS #6

    1000 virtual address,       B0 SizeOfBlock
       7 HIGHLOW
      22 HIGHLOW
      36 HIGHLOW
      67 HIGHLOW
      89 HIGHLOW
/SECTION:section Restricts the output to information on the specified section.

/SUMMARY Displays minimal information about sections, including total size. This option is the default if no other option is specified. 
Microsoft (R) COFF Binary File Dumper Version 3.00.5270
Copyright (C) Microsoft Corp 1992-1995. All rights reserved.

Dump of file tracer.exe

File Type: EXECUTABLE IMAGE

     Summary

        1000 .data
        1000 .idata
        1000 .rdata
        1000 .reloc
        1000 .rsrc
        1000 .text
/SYMBOLS Displays the COFF symbol table. Symbol tables exist in all object files. A COFF symbol table appears in an image file only if it is linked with the Generate Debug Info and COFF Format options under Debug Info on the Debug category for the linker (or the /DEBUG and /DEBUGTYPE:COFF options on the command line).
An AppWizard application was used to obtain the following example: 
COFF SYMBOL TABLE
000 000065D0 SECT5  notype       Static       | .rsrc$02
001 00000011 DEBUG  notype       Filename     | .file
 C:\code\test\testView.cpp
004 000041A0 SECT3  notype       Static       | $SG23289
005 00004018 SECT3  notype       Static       | _$S189$S23301
006 00004168 SECT3  notype       Static       | _THIS_FILE$S23282
007 00001E90 SECT1  notype       Static       | .text
 Section length  2DE, #relocs   27, #linenums   22
009 00001EE2 SECT1  notype ()    Static       | _$E188
00A 00001EF7 SECT1  notype ()    Static       | _$E187
 tag index 0000002E size 0000001F lines 000012DF next function 00000033
00C 000042AC SECT3  notype       Static       | __init_CTestView$S23291
00D 00003998 SECT2  notype       Static       | $T23440
00E 00003978 SECT2  notype       Static       | $T23438
00F 000039C0 SECT2  notype       Static       | $T23447
010 000039A0 SECT2  notype       Static       | $T23446
011 00000021 DEBUG  notype       Filename     | .file
APPLIES TO
  • Microsoft Visual C++ 2.0 Professional Edition
  • Microsoft Visual C++ 2.1
  • Microsoft Visual C++ 2.2
  • Microsoft Visual C++ 4.0 Standard Edition
  • Microsoft Visual C++ 4.1 Subscription
  • Microsoft Visual C++ 4.2 Enterprise Edition
  • Microsoft Visual C++ 4.2 Enterprise Edition
  • Microsoft Visual C++ 5.0 Enterprise Edition
  • Microsoft Visual C++ 6.0 Enterprise Edition
  • Microsoft Visual C++ 4.2 Professional Edition
  • Microsoft Visual C++ 5.0 Professional Edition
  • Microsoft Visual C++ 4.2 Professional Edition
  • Microsoft Visual C++ 6.0 Professional Edition
  • Microsoft Visual C++, 32-bit Learning Edition 6.0
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