IDA Help: Command line switches

IDA can be launched with one of the following command lines:

        ida input-file        (Start graphical interface)
        idat input-file       (Start text interface)

Add the '64' postfix to the command name in order to start the 64-bit version of IDA. For example:

        ida64 input-file

will start 64-bit graphical interface.

The following command line switches are recognized:

 -a     disable auto analysis. (-a- enables it)
 -A     autonomous mode. IDA will not display dialog boxes.
        Designed to be used together with -S switch.
 -b#### loading address, a hexadecimal number, in paragraphs
        (a paragraph is 16 bytes)
 -B     batch mode. IDA will generate .IDB and .ASM files automatically
 -c     disassemble a new file (delete the old database)
 -C#### set compiler in format name:abi
 --cvt64 confirms the question
         'You passed 32bit IDB file foo.idb to ida64.
         Do you wish to convert it to 64bit database?'
         more information available at Database conversion
 -ddirective
        A configuration directive which must be processed at the first
        pass. Example: -dVPAGESIZE=8192
 -Ddirective
        A configuration directive which must be processed at the second
        pass.
 -f     disable FPP instructions (IBM PC only)
 -h     help screen
 -i#### program entry point (hex)
 -I#    set IDA as just-in-time debugger (0 to disable and 1 to enable)
 -L#### name of the log file
 -M     disable mouse (text only)
 -O#### options to pass to plugins.
        This switch is not available in the IDA Home edition.
 -o#### specify the output database (implies -c)
 -p#### processor type
 -P+    compress database (create zipped idb)
 -P     pack database (create unzipped idb)
 -P-    do not pack database (not recommended, see Abort command)
 -r###  immediately run the built-in debugger
        format of this switch is explained here
 -R     load MS Windows exe file resources
 -S###  Execute a script file when the database is opened.
        The script file extension is used to determine which extlang
        will run the script.
        It is possible to pass command line arguments after the script name.
        For example: -S"myscript.idc argument1 \"argument 2\" argument3"

        The passed parameters are stored in the "ARGV" global IDC variable.
        Use "ARGV.count" to determine the number of arguments.
        The first argument "ARGV[0]" contains the script name.

        This switch is not available in the IDA Home edition.

 -T###  interpret the input file as the specified file type
        The file type is specified as a prefix of a file type
        visible in the 'load file' dialog box
        To specify archive member put it after the colon char,
        for example: -TZIP:classes.dex
        You can specify any nested paths:
        -T<ftype>[:<member>{:<ftype>:<member>}[:<ftype>]]
        IDA does not display the 'load file' dialog in this case
 -t     create an empty database.
 -W###  specify MS Windows directory
 -x     do not create segmentation
        (used in pair with Dump database command)
        this switch affects EXE and COM format files only.
 -z     debug:
                00000001 drefs
                00000002 offsets
                00000004 flirt
                00000008 idp module
                00000010 ldr module
                00000020 plugin module
                00000040 ids files
                00000080 config file
                00000100 check heap
                00000200 licensing
                00000400 demangler
                00000800 queue
                00001000 rollback
                00002000 already data or code
                00004000 type system
                00008000 show all notifications
                00010000 debugger
                00020000 dbg_appcall
                00040000 source-level debugger
                00080000 accessibility
                00100000 network
                00200000 full stack analysis (simplex method)
                00400000 handling of debug info (e.g. pdb, dwarf)
                00800000 lumina
 -?     this screen (works for the text version)
 ?      this screen (works for the text version)
 -h     this screen (works for the text version)
 -H     this screen (works for the text version)
 --help this screen (works for the text version)

For batch mode, IDA must be invoked with the following command line:

        ida -B input-file

which is equivalent to:

        ida -c -A -Sanalysis.idc input-file

The text interface (idat.exe/idat) is better for batch mode because it uses less system resources. However, please note that regular plugins are not automatically loaded in batch mode because the analysis.idc file quits and the kernel has no chance to load them.

For more information, please see the analysis.idc file in the IDC subdirectory.

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