String Table

String table sections hold null-terminated character sequences, commonly called strings. The object file uses these strings to represent symbol and section names. One references a string as an index into the string table section.

The first byte, which is index zero, is defined to hold a null character. Likewise, a string table's last byte is defined to hold a null character, ensuring null termination for all strings. A string whose index is zero specifies either no name or a null name, depending on the context.

An empty string table section is permitted; its section header's sh_size member will contain zero. Nonzero indexes are invalid for an empty string table.

A section header's sh_name member holds an index into the section header string table section, as designated by the e_shstrndx member of the ELF header. The following figures show a string table with 25 bytes and the strings associated with various indexes.

Figure 7-4 String Table

The table below shows the strings of the string table above:

Table 7-17 String Table Indexes

Index	String
0	none
1	name
7	Variable
11	able
16	able
24	null string

As the example shows, a string table index can refer to any byte in the section. A string can appear more than once; references to substrings can exist; and a single string can be referenced multiple times. Unreferenced strings also are allowed.