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Browse system RAM in a human readable form

Terminal - Browse system RAM in a human readable form
sudo cat /proc/kcore | strings | awk 'length > 20' | less
2009-03-09 02:19:47
User: nesquick
Functions: awk cat strings sudo
15
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Browse system RAM in a human readable form

This command lets you see and scroll through all of the strings that are stored in the RAM at any given time. Press space bar to scroll through to see more pages (or use the arrow keys etc).

Sometimes if you don't save that file that you were working on or want to get back something you closed it can be found floating around in here!

The awk command only shows lines that are longer than 20 characters (to avoid seeing lots of junk that probably isn't "human readable").

If you want to dump the whole thing to a file replace the final '| less' with '> memorydump'. This is great for searching through many times (and with the added bonus that it doesn't overwrite any memory...).

Here's a neat example to show up conversations that were had in pidgin (will probably work after it has been closed)...

sudo cat /proc/kcore | strings | grep '([0-9]\{2\}:[0-9]\{2\}:[0-9]\{2\})'

(depending on sudo settings it might be best to run

sudo su

first to get to a # prompt)

Add to favourites | Report as malicious

Alternatives

There are 4 alternatives - vote for the best!

Terminal - Alternatives

Know a better way?

If you can do better, submit your command here.

What others think

don't you need to install kdump or something? this doesnt work at all for me on ubuntu 2.6.27-11-generic #1 SMP Thu Jan 29 19:28:32 UTC 2009 x86_64 GNU/Linux

Comment by linuxrawkstar 223 weeks and 2 days ago

s/strings | awk 'length > 20'/strings -20/

Comment by Xate 223 weeks and 2 days ago

Hey linuxrawkstar I'm on 2.6.27-11-generic too. Does running `sudo cat /proc/kcore` give any output at all?

Comment by nesquick 223 weeks and 2 days ago

Try running "sudo su" fist

Comment by nesquick 223 weeks and 2 days ago

this is sweet. thanks for sharing

Comment by foucault 223 weeks and 1 day ago

Your point of view

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