passing a command to gdb when running a program

Question

I am using gdb to debug a program, and I want to have the output of the command

$(perl -e 'print "A"x20')

as my argument. How can I do that? This way the argument would be very flexible.

Are you reading the Hacking: The art of exploitation? I remember that he used perl to smash the stack. — Kasper
– Kasper, Commented Aug 25, 2009 at 23:30

foobarfuzzbizz · Accepted Answer · 2009-07-01 17:07:58Z

5

You can use the run command and pass it any parameters afterwards which will be arguments.

If you want the above, try:

run `$(perl -e 'print "A"x20')`

as a command once you start gdb.

answered Jul 1, 2009 at 17:07

foobarfuzzbizz

59.1k57 gold badges148 silver badges198 bronze badges

Sign up to request clarification or add additional context in comments.

Comments

gnometorule · Accepted Answer · 2011-08-23 20:42:40Z

4

The above is slightly off and wouldn't work for me either. If you use the set args command, the following will work (at least on my system):

set args "`perl -e 'print "A"x20;'`"

As usual, simply type 'run' after to start debugging, and the proper argument should be passed.

answered Aug 23, 2011 at 20:42

gnometorule

2,1394 gold badges20 silver badges30 bronze badges

Cosmin · Accepted Answer · 2012-01-24 11:37:55Z

1

It looks like you didn't start your program with gdb properly. Supposing your program is "a.out", in bash:

$gdb a.out
(gdb)run `$(perl -e 'print "A"x20')`

Hope this helps you.

Cosmin

21.5k5 gold badges47 silver badges61 bronze badges

answered Mar 23, 2011 at 7:57

rui

111 bronze badge