Options
Below is an overview of all actions that can be accessed from this menu.
General...
Options
Open the General IDA Options dialog, where settings are organized thematically across multiple tabs. More…
Show command palette...
CommandPalette
Show command palette. This command opens a dialog, that provides quick access to all available IDA actions with shortcuts and descriptions. More…
Repeat last palette command
RepeatLastPaletteCommand
Repeat last palette command
Disable undo
UndoToggle
Disable undo
General...
Open the General IDA Options dialog, where settings are organized thematically across multiple tabs.
Disassembly options
This tab configures the appearance of the disassembly.
The checkboxes/input fields are organized into several categories:
Display disassembly line parts
Line prefixes (non-graph)
This checkbox enables or disables line prefixes display. Line prefix is the address of the current byte:
IDA.CFG parameter: SHOW_LINEPREFIXES
Stack pointer
If this option is set, IDA will display the value of the stack pointer in the line prefix.
IDA.CFG parameter: SHOW_SP
Number of opcode bytes (non-graph)
The opcode is the operation code of the current instruction. For the data items, the opcodes are elements of data directives. Sometimes there is not enough place to display all bytes of an item (of a large array, for example). In this case, IDA will display just the few first bytes of the item. For the code items, IDA will try to display all bytes of the instruction, even if it requires adding more lines just for the opcode bytes. If this behavior is not desired, the number of opcode bytes can be specified as a negative value. A negative value -N means to display N opcode bytes on a line but never display empty lines just for the opcode bytes. By default, IDA does not display the opcodes.
Opcode bytes are shown below:
IDA.CFG parameter: OPCODE_BYTES
Comments-related options:
Option
IDA.CFG Parameter
Comments
n/a
Repeatable comments
SHOW_REPEATABLE_COMMENTS
Auto comments
SHOW_AUTOCOMMENTS
Address representation
Function offsets
This option controls the appearance of the line prefixes. If it is enabled, the addresses will be displayed as offsets from a function beginning.
somefunc+0x44
cseg:0x4544
SHOW_SEGMENTS
Include segment addresses
Marking this checkbox, you can enable segment addresses in the disassembly. IDA will show only offsets.
codeseg:0034
0034
SHOW_SEGMENTS
Use segment names
This option controls the appearance of the segment names in the addresses. (codeseg has base 3000)
codeseg:0034
3000:0034
USE_SEGMENT_NAMES
Display disassembly lines
Empty lines
This option enables or disables the presence of the autogenerated empty lines in the disassembly. It could be useful to decrease the number of the blank lines on the screen increasing amount of information on it.
IDA.CFG parameter: SHOW_EMPTYLINES
Borders between data/code (non-graph)
This command enables or disables the presence of the autogenerated border lines in the disassembly. It could be useful to decrease the number of the blank lines on the screen increasing amount of information on it. A border line looks like this:
Note that you can hide a particular border by using the Toggle border command (action ToggleBorder).
IDA.CFG parameter: SHOW_BORDERS
Basic block boundaries (non-graph)
This option enables or disables the presence of the autogenerated empty lines at the end of basic blocks in the disassembly.
IDA.CFG(../../configuration/configuration-files.md) parameter: SHOW_BASIC_BLOCKS
Source line numbers
This options controls the presence of the source line number information in the disassembly. Some object files have this information.
IDA.CFG parameter: SHOW_SOURCE_LINNUM
Try block lines
This option controls the display of the try block information in the disassembly.
IDA.CFG parameter: SHOW_TRYBLOCKS
Other text formatting options
Instruction identation (non-graph)
You can change indention of disassembled instructions:
IDA.CFG parameter: INDENTION
Comments identation (non-graph)
You can change indention of comments:
IDA.CFG parameter: COMMENTS_INDENTION
Right margin (non-graph)
This option controls the length of disassembly lines for data directives.
IDA.CFG parameter: MAX_DATALINE_LENGTH
Low and high suspiciousness limit
If IDA suspects that an operand can be represented as something different from a plain number, it will mark the operand as "suspicious" and display it in red/orange.
Two values control the definition of suspiciousness. An operand is 'suspicious' if it has an immediate value between low and high 'suspicious' limits. The comparison is always unsigned, i.e., in the instruction:
the immediate operand is 0xFFFE, not -2.
IDA uses a simple heuristic to determine initial suspiciousness limits. You may change these limits any time you want.
Analysis options
This tab allows you to configure analysis settings and processor-specific options.
Target processor: Change the processor type (if multiple types are supported by the current processor module)
Target assembler: Select the assembler style
Additional options (buttons):
Processor specific analysis options: Configure processor-specific settings (available when the current processor supports additional options)
Memory mapping: Define memory mapping ranges (available when the current processor supports memory mapping)
Reanalyze program
Analysis section
The checkboxes:
Enabled
Indicator enabled
allows you to disable and enable the autoanalysis and its indicator.
By default, the auto analysis and indicator are enabled. Disable them only if you are sure it will help.
The analysis indicator is located in the bottom left corner of the main IDA window (upper right corner in text version). Possible values of the indicator:
(empty)
Indicator is turned off
AU: idle
Autoanalysis is finished
AU:disabled
Autoanalysis is disabled
FL:<address>
Execution flow is being traced
PR:<address>
A function is being created
TL:<address>
A function tail is being created
SP:<address>
The stack pointer is being traced
AC:<address>
The address is being analyzed
LL:<number>
A signature file is being loaded
L1:<address>
The first pass of FLIRT
L2:<address>
The second pass of FLIRT
L3:<address>
The third pass of FLIRT
TP:<address>
Type information is being applied
FI:<address>
The final pass of autoanalysis
WF:<address>
Weak execution flow is being traced
??:<address>
The address becomes unexplored
@:<number>
Indication of various activity
Hint: you can right-click the analysis indicator to quickly disable or enable it, or to reanalyze the program.
See also auto analysis explanation.
Processor Type
8086
Intel 8086
IBM PC family
80286r
Intel 80286 real mode
IBM PC family
80286p
Intel 80286 protected mode
IBM PC family
80386r
Intel 80386 real mode
IBM PC family
80386p
Intel 80386 protected mode
IBM PC family
80486r
Intel 80486 real mode
IBM PC family
80486p
Intel 80486 protected mode
IBM PC family
80586r
Intel Pentium & MMX real mode
IBM PC family
80586p
Intel Pentium & MMX prot mode
IBM PC family
80686p
Intel Pentium Pro & MMX
IBM PC family
k62
AMD K6-2 with 3DNow!
IBM PC family
p2
Intel Pentium II
IBM PC family
p3
Intel Pentium III
IBM PC family
athlon
AMD K7
IBM PC family
p4
Intel Pentium 4
IBM PC family
metapc
Disassemble all IBMPC opcodes
IBM PC family
8085
Intel 8085
Zilog 80 family
z80
Zilog 80
Zilog 80 family
z180
Zilog 180
Zilog 80 family
z380
Zilog 380
Zilog 80 family
64180
Hitachi HD64180
Zilog 80 family
gb
Gameboy
Zilog 80 family
z8
Zilog 8
Zilog 8 family
860xr
Intel 860 XR
Intel 860 family
860xp
Intel 860 XP
Intel 860 family
8051
Intel 8051
Intel 51 family
80196
Intel 80196
Intel 80196 family
80196NP
Intel 80196NP, NU
Intel 80196 family
m6502
MOS 6502
MOS Technology 65xx family
m65c02
MOS 65c02
MOS Technology 65xx family
pdp11
DEC PDP/11
PDP family
68000
Motorola MC68000
Motorola 680x0 family
68010
Motorola MC68010
Motorola 680x0 family
68020
Motorola MC68020
Motorola 680x0 family
68030
Motorola MC68030
Motorola 680x0 family
68040
Motorola MC68040
Motorola 680x0 family
68330
Motorola CPU32 (68330)
Motorola 680x0 family
68882
Motorola MC68020 with MC68882
Motorola 680x0 family
68851
Motorola MC68020 with MC68851
Motorola 680x0 family
68020EX
Motorola MC68020 with both
Motorola 680x0 family
colfire
Motorola ColdFire
Motorola 680x0 family
68K
Motorola MC680x0 all opcodes
Motorola 680x0 family
6800
Motorola MC68HC00
Motorola 8bit family
6801
Motorola MC68HC01
Motorola 8bit family
6803
Motorola MC68HC03
Motorola 8bit family
6301
Hitachi HD 6301
Motorola 8bit family
6303
Hitachi HD 6303
Motorola 8bit family
6805
Motorola MC68HC05
Motorola 8bit family
6808
Motorola MC68HC08
Motorola 8bit family
6809
Motorola MC68HC09
Motorola 8bit family
6811
Motorola MC68HC11
Motorola 8bit family
6812
Motorola MC68HC12
hcs12
Motorola MC68HCS12
6816
Motorola MC68HC16
java
java
Java family
ppc
PowerPC big endian
PowerPC family
ppcl
PowerPC little endian
PowerPC family
arm
ARM little endian
ARM family
armb
ARM big endian
ARM family
tms320c2
TMS320C2x series
TMS 16bit addressing family
tms320c5
TMS320C5x series
TMS 16bit addressing family
tms320c6
TMS320C6x series
TMS VLIW family
tms320c3
TMS320C3x series
TMS VLIW family
tms32054
TMS320C54xx series
tms32055
TMS320C55xx series
sh3
Renesas SH-3 (little endian)
Renesas SuperH series
sh3b
Renesas SH-3 (big endian)
Renesas SuperH series
sh4
Renesas SH-4 (little endian)
Renesas SuperH series
sh4b
Renesas SH-4 (big endian)
Renesas SuperH series
sh2a
Renesas SH-2A (big endian)
Renesas SuperH series
avr
ATMEL AVR
ATMEL family
mipsl
MIPS little endian
MIPS family: R2000, R3000, R4000, R4200, R4300, R4400, R4600, R8000, R10000
mipsb
MIPS big endian
MIPS family: R2000, R3000, R4000, R4200, R4300, R4400, R4600, R8000, R10000
mipsrl
MIPS & RSP little
MIPS family: R2000, R3000, R4000, R4200, R4300, R4400, R4600, R8000, R10000
mipsr
MIPS & RSP big
MIPS family: R2000, R3000, R4000, R4200, R4300, R4400, R4600, R8000, R10000
r5900l
MIPS R5900 little
MIPS family: R2000, R3000, R4000, R4200, R4300, R4400, R4600, R8000, R10000
r5900r
MIPS R5900 big
MIPS family: R2000, R3000, R4000, R4200, R4300, R4400, R4600, R8000, R10000
h8300
H8/300x in normal mode
Hitachi H8 family
h8300a
H8/300x in advanced mode
Hitachi H8 family
h8s300
H8S in normal mode
Hitachi H8 family
h8s300a
H8S in advanced mode
Hitachi H8 family
h8500
H8/500
Hitachi H8/500 family
pic12cxx
Microchip PIC 12-bit (12xxx)
PIC family
pic16cxx
Microchip PIC 14-bit (16xxx)
PIC family
pic18cxx
Microchip PIC 16-bit (18xxx)
PIC family
sparcb
SPARC big endian
SPARC family
sparcl
SPARC little endian
SPARC family
alphab
DEC Alpha big endian
ALPHA family
alphal
DEC Alpha little endian
ALPHA family
hppa
HP PA-RISC big endian
HP PA-RISC family
dsp56k
Motorola DSP 5600x
DSP 56K family
dsp561xx
Motorola DSP 561xx
DSP 56K family
dsp563xx
Motorola DSP 563xx
DSP 56K family
dsp566xx
Motorola DSP 566xx
DSP 56K family
c166
Siemens C166
C166 family
c166v1
Siemens C166 v1 family
C166 family
c166v2
Siemens C166 v2 family
C166 family
st10
SGS-Thomson ST10
C166 family
super10
Super10
C166 family
st20
SGS-Thomson ST20/C1
ST20 family
st20c4
SGS-Thomson ST20/C2-C4
st7
SGS-Thomson ST7
ST7 family
ia64l
Intel Itanium little endian
IA64 family
ia64b
Intel Itanium big endian
IA64 family
cli
Microsoft.Net platform
net
Microsoft.Net platform (alias)
i960l
Intel 960 little endian
i960 family
i960b
Intel 960 big endian
i960 family
f2mc16l
Fujitsu F2MC-16L
Fujitsu F2MC family
f2mc16lx
Fujitsu F2MC-16LX
Fujitsu F2MC family
78k0
NEC 78k/0
78k0s
NEC 78k/0s
m740
Mitsubishi 8-bit
m7700
Mitsubishi 16-bit
Mitsubishi 16-bit family
m7750
Mitsubishi 16-bit
Mitsubishi 16-bit family
m32r
Mitsubishi 32-bit
Mitsubishi 32-bit family
m32rx
Mitsubishi 32-bit extended
Mitsubishi 32-bit family
st9
STMicroelectronics ST9+
fr
Fujitsu FR family
m7900
Mitsubishi M7900
kr1878
Angstrem KR1878
ad218x
Analog Devices ADSP
oakdsp
Atmel OAK DSP
tricore
Infineon Tricore
ebc
EFI Bytecode
msp430
Texas Instruments MSP430
Processor modules can accept additional options that can be passed on the commandline with the -p switch. Currently only the ARM module supports it. For example, -parm:ARMv7-A will turn on options specific for the ARMv7-A architecture, such as NEON instruction set.
For information about additional processor modules, please check supported processors
Please note that when you change the processor type, IDA may change the target assembler, so check it out.
You may get a message saying that IDA does not know the specified processor if IDA fails to load the corresponding processor module:
Windows IDA uses .dll file extension
Linux IDA uses .so file extension
Mac IDA uses .dylib file extension
IDA determines the default processor using the input file extension and the contents of the input file. The table which describes the input file extensions and the corresponding processor types is located in IDA.CFG file and looks like this:
If you want to change the default processor type, you need to change this table. You may add/delete rows in this table.
See also: ARM processor specifics.
ARM processor specifics
Since architecture version v4 (introduced in ARM7 cores), ARM processors have a new 16-bit instruction set called Thumb (the original 32-bit set is referred to as "ARM"). Since these two sets have different instruction encodings and can be mixed in one segment, we need a way to specify how to disassemble instructions. For this purpose, IDA uses a virtual segment register named 'T'. If its value is 0, then ARM mode is used. Otherwise, Thumb mode is used. ARM is the default mode. Please note that if you change the value of T register for a range, IDA will destroy all instructions in that range because their disassembly is no longer correct.
IDA use UAL (Unified Assembly Language) syntax by default which uses the same syntax for both ARM and Thumb mode. If necessary, legacy assembler syntax can be selected in Analysis options.
To decode Aarch64 (ARM64) instructions the segment with instructions must be set to 64-bit (see Edit segment... command; action EditSegment).
Processor options for ARM
Simplify instructions: If this option is on, IDA will simplify instructions and replace them by clearer pseudo-instructions. For example:
is replaced by
Disable pointer dereferencing: If this option is on, IDA will not use =label syntax for loads from literal pools. For example,
will be shown as
No automatic ARM-Thumb switch: If this option is on, IDA will not propagate ARM-Thumb modes automatically when following jumps and calls.
Disable BL jumps detection: Some ARM compilers in Thumb mode use BL (branch-and-link) instead of B (branch) for long jumps, since BL has more range. By default, IDA tries to determine if BL is a jump or a call. You can override IDA's decision using commands in Edit → Other menu (Force BL call/Force BL jump). If your target does not use this trick, you can set this option and IDA will always treat BL as a call.
Scattered MOVT/MOVW pairs analysis: A pair of MOVT and MOVW instructions can be used to load any 32-bit constant into a register without having to use the literal pool. For example: MOVW R1, #0xABA2 MOVT R1, #0x32AA is simplified by IDA into MOV R1, 0x32AAABA2 (unless macro creation is turned off). However, if there is an unrelated instruction between them, such simplification is not possible. If you enable the conversion, then IDA will try to convert operands of even scattered instructions. The example above could be represented as:
It is possible to select how aggressively IDA should try to handle such pairs:
leave them as is, convert only if the result a valid address, or try to
convert all pairs even if the result does not look like a valid address.
Edit ARM architecture options: This button allows you to edit various features of the ARM architecture. This will affect the disassembly of some instructions depending on whether the selected architecture supports them. For details, see the ARM Architecture Reference Manual.
Command-line options
You can configure the architecture options from the command line. For that, use the -parm:<option1[;option2...]> switch. The following options are accepted:
ARMv<N>- base ARM architecture version (e.g. ARMv4, ARMv4T, ARMv5TE, ..., ARMv7-M, ARMv7-A), or<name>- ARM core name (e.g. ARM7TDMI, ARM926EJ-S, PXA270, Cortex-M3, Cortex-A8)
Additionally, a special name "armmeta" can be used to enable decoding of all known instructions.
The options above will set some default values that can be adjusted further:
NoVFP/VFPv<N>
disable or enable support for VFP instructions (e.g. VFPv3).
NoNEON/NEON/NEON-FMA
disable or enable support for NEON (aka Advanced SIMD) instructions.
NoThumb/Thumb/Thumb-2
disable or enable support for Thumb (16-bit) or Thumb-2 (16/32-bit) instructions.
NoARM/ARM
disable or enable support for ARM instructions.
XScale
support for XScale-specific instructions. Implies ARMv5TE.
NoWMMX/WMMXv1/WMMXv2
support for Intel Wireless MMX extensions (v1 or v2). Implies XScale.
See also
Change segment register value command (action
SetSegmentRegister)Set default segment register value... command (action
SetSegmentRegisterDefault) to specify the segment register value.
Specify Target Assembler
This command allows you to change the target assembler, i.e. the assembler for which the output is generated. You select the target assembler from a menu. The menu items depend on the current processor type.
Kernel options
Here you can change various kernel analysis options:
Kernel analysis options 1
Trace execution flow: This option allows IDA to trace execution flow and convert all references bytes to instructions (the Code command; action
MakeCode) Mark typical code sequences as code. IDA knows some typical code sequences for each processor. For example, it knows about typical sequence
If this option is enabled, IDA will search for all typical sequences and convert them to instructions even if there are no references to them. The search is performed at the loading time.
Locate and create jump tables: This option allows IDA to try to guess the address and size of jump tables. Please note that disabling this option will not disable the recognition of C-style typical switch constructs.
Control flow to data segment is ignored: If set, IDA will not analyze code reference targets in pure data segments. Usually pure data segments have some instructions (e.g., thunk functions), that's why this option is set off by default. For Mach-O files, it is set on because pure data segment do not contain instructions in them.
Analyze and create all xrefs: If this option is disabled, IDA will not thoroughly analyze the program: it will simply trace execution flow, nothing more (no xrefs, no additional checks, etc.)
Delete instructions with no xrefs: This option allows IDA to undefine instructions without any xrefs to them. For example, if you undefine (Edit → Undefine) an instruction at the start of a function, IDA will trace execution flow and delete all instructions that lose references to them.
Create function if data xref data->code32 exists: If IDA encounters a data reference from DATA segment to 32bit CODE segment, it will check for the presence of meaningful (disassemblable) instruction at the target. If there is an instruction, it will mark it as an instruction and will create a function there.
Create functions if call is present This option allows IDA to create function (Edit → Create function...) (proc) if a call instruction is present. For example, the presence of:
leads to creation of a function at label loc_1234
Create function tails: This option allows IDA to find and append separately located function tails to function definitions.
Create stack variables: This option allows IDA to automatically create stack variables and function parameters.
Propagate stack argument information:
This option propagates the stack argument information (the type and the name) to the caller's stack. If the caller is called, then the information will be propagated further through the whole program. Currently, the type propagation is really simple and non-intelligent: the first encountered type for a stack variable will be used.
Propagate register argument information: This option propagates the register argument information (the type and the name) to the caller. If the caller is also called, then the information will be propagated further through the whole program.
Trace stack pointer: This option allows IDA to trace (Edit → Functions → Change stack pointer...) the value of the SP register.
Perform full stack pointer analysis: This option allows IDA to perform the stack pointer analysis using the simplex method. This option is valid only for the IBM PC processor.
Perform 'no-return' analysis: This option allows IDA to perform the control flow analysis and determine functions which do not return to their callers. The 'exit()' function, for example, does not return to its caller.
Try to guess member function types: If set, IDA will guess member function types using the demangled names. Please note that this rule may occasionally produce wrong results, for example, for static member functions. IDA has no means of distinguishing them from non-static member functions. If clear, IDA will guess only types of non-member functions.
See also:
Kernel analysis options 2
Truncate functions upon code deletion: Truncate functions when the code at the function end gets deleted. If this option is turned off, IDA does not modify function definitions when code is deleted.
Create string literals if data xref exists: If IDA encounters a data reference to an undefined item, it checks for the presence of the string literal at the target. If the length of the candidate string literal is big enough (more than 4 chars in 16bit or data segments; more than 16 chars otherwise), IDA will automatically create a string literal(Edit → Strings → String).
Check for unicode strings: This option allows IDA to check for the presence of the unicode strings in the program and creates them if necessary. IDA will check for the unicode strings only if the string style is set to "C-style (0 terminated)" or "Unicode".
Create offsets and segments using fixup info: IDA will use relocation information to make the disassembly nicer. More precisely, it will convert all data items with relocation information to words or dwords like this:
If an instruction has a relocation information attached to it, IDA will convert its immediate operand to an offset or segment:
You can display the relocation information attached to the current item by using the Print internal flags command.
Create offset if data xref to seg32 exists: If IDA encounters a data reference to 32bit segment and the target contains 32bit value which can be represented as an offset expression, IDA will convert it to an offset.
Convert 32bit instruction operand to offset: This option works only in 32bit and 64bit segments. If an instruction has an immediate operand and the operand can be represented as a meaningful offset expression, IDA will convert it to an offset. However, the value of immediate operand must be higher than 0x10000.
Automatically convert data to offsets:
This option allows IDA to convert all newly created data items to offsets if the following conditions are satisfied:
the offset target is a valid address in the program
the target address is higher than 0x20
the target does not point into the middle of an item
if the target is code, the execution does not flow to it from the previous instruction
the data is dword (4 bytes) in a 32-bit segment or qword(8 bytes) in a 64-bit segment
the segment type is not special (extern, communal, abs...)
Use flirt signatures: Allows usage of FLIRT technology
Comment anonymous library functions: This option appends a comment to anonymous library functions. The comment consists of the description of the FLIRT signature which has recognized the function and marked it as coming from a library.
Multiple copy library function recognition: This option allows FLIRT to recognize several copies of the same function in the program.
Automatically hide libary functions: This option hides the functions recognized by FLIRT. It will have effect only from the time it is set.
Rename jump functions as j_...: This option allows IDA to rename simple functions containing only
instruction to "j_somewhere".
Rename empty functions as nullsub_...: This option allows IDA to rename empty functions containing only a "return" instruction as "nullsub_..." (... is replaced by a serial number: 0,1,2,3...)
Coagulate data at the final pass: This option is meaningful only if "Make final analysis pass" is enabled. It allows IDA to convert unexplored bytes (Edit → Undefine) to data arrays in the non-code segments.
Coagulate code at the final pass: This option is meaningful only if "Make final analysis pass" is enabled. It allows IDA to convert unexplored bytes to data arrays in the code segments. Make final analysis pass This option allows IDA to coagulate all unexplored bytes by converting them to data or instructions. See also analysis options 1 analysis options 3
Kernel analysis options 3
Enable EH analysis: If this option is set on, IDA uses EH information of the binary for more detailed analysis.
Enable RTTI analysis: If this option is set on, IDA tries to detect C++ Run-Time Type Identification and does additional analysis based on this information.
Enable macros: This option is disabled if the processor module does not support macros. If this option is on, IDA will combine several instructions into one macro instruction. For example for the ARM processor:
will be replaced by
Merge strlits: If the analysis option "Create string literals if data xref exists" is set and the target string literal ends at the existing one (without a termination character), IDA will merge these strlits into one.
Cross-References options
This tab configures how cross-references (xrefs) are displayed.
IDA maintains cross-references automatically. Of course, when IDA starts to disassemble a new file, the cross-references will not appear immediately; they will be collected during background analysis.
Cross-reference parts
Display segments in xrefs: This checkbox enables or disables segments in cross references:
Display xref type mark: If this option is disabled, IDA will not display "CODE" or "DATA" in the cross-references.
IDA.CFG parameter: SHOW_XREF_TYPES
Display function offsets: This option controls the appearance of the cross-reference addresses. If it is enabled, the addresses will be displayed as offsets from a function beginning.
Example:
IDA.CFG parameter: SHOW_XREF_FUNC
Display xref values: If this option is disabled, IDA will just display the presence of cross-references, like this:
IDA.CFG parameter: SHOW_XREF_VALUES
Right margin: Determines the maximal length of a line with the cross references.
IDA.CFG parameter: MAX_XREF_LENGTH
Cross reference depth: This value "how many bytes of an object to look at to collect cross references". For example, we have an array:
If some instruction refers to the 5-th element of the array:
IDA.CFG parameter: MAX_TAIL
Number of displayed xrefs:
Determines the maximal number of the cross references to display. You may keep this value low because you can access all xrefs by using the List cross references to/from... command. IDA.CFG parameter: SHOW_XREFS
String options
This tab sets up the string literals options.
Generate names If this option is set, IDA will give meaningful names to newly created string literals.
Name generation
Prefix: The prefix inserted in the field will be used to form the string name.
Mark as autogenerated: If a name is marked as autogenerated, it will be displayed in a different color and will be included in the list of names [action
JumpName] depending on the current setting.Generate serial names: IDA can generate serial names for string literals, i.e.
To enable serial names generation, specify prefix for names, starting serial number, and number of leading zeroes.
Each time you create a string literal (Edit → Strings → String), IDA generates a new serial name and assigns it to the string.
String literal next line char: This symbol, when encountered in the string, will make IDA start a new line in the string representation in the disassembly. Usually it is the line feed character ('\n').
Comment string literal references: This option tells IDA to display the contents of the string literal next to the instruction or offset that refers to the string.
Browser options
This tab of IDA Options configures the disassembly browser's display behavior, hints, highlighting and navigation features. There are two groups of settings:
The first group is for hints that are displayed when the mouse is hovered over some text.
The second group is for other navigation and display settings, like highlighting.
Hints
Number of lines for identifier hints
Specifies how tall the hint window will be initially. IDA may decide to display less lines than specified if the hint is small. The user can resize the hint window using the mouse wheel.
Delay for identifier hints
Milliseconds that pass before the hint appears when the user hovers the mouse pointer over an identifier.
Mouse wheel resizes hint window
Permit to resize the hint window by using the mouse wheel. Can be turned off if the user does not want to resize the hints.
No hints if debugger is active
Hints will be disabled when the debugger is active. This may be useful to speed of debugging: calculating hints for zero filled ranges can be very expensive.
Other settings
Auto highlight the current identifier
Highlight the current identifier everywhere on the screen. IDA tries to determine if the current identifier denotes a register. In this case it will highlight references to other parts of the register. For example, if "AL" is highlighted, IDA will also highlight "AH", "AX", and "EAX" (if the current processor is x86).
Unhide collapsed items automatically when jumping to them
If this option is set on, IDA will automatically uncollapse hidden functions if the user decides to jump to them. As soon as the user quits the function by pressing Esc, the function is automatically collapsed again.
Lazy jumps
If this option is set on, IDA will not redraw the disassembly window if the jump target is already on the screen. In this case, it will just move the cursor to the specified address. This option leads to less screen redraws and less jumpy behavior.
Enable history sharing
This option is enabled by default. It keeps a shared global history across multiple widgets (including Disassembly, Pseudocode, Local Types, and Stack), allowing you to navigate back and forward between them.
Number of items in navigation stack drop-down menus
Specifies the number of entries in the drop-down menu for the 'Jump' toolbar.
Number of lines for auto scroll
Specifies how many lines force automatic scrolling of the disassembly view.
Caret blinking interval
Specifies how fast the input caret blinks (in milliseconds). Must be greater than or equal to 500, or zero. Zero means to disable blinking.
Graph options
This tab configures the visual appearance and behavior of graph view and proximity view.
General
Use graph view by default
IDA switches to graph mode for each 'jump' command.
Enable graph animation
Animate the graph layout, movement, and group collapsing/uncollapsing. While animation takes time, it gives the user some idea what's going on.
Draw node shadows
Display shadows for each graph node. Shadows are not displayed for really huge or ridiculously small nodes.
Auto fit graph into window
Zoom the graph so that it occupies the whole window.
Fit window max zoom level 100%
The 'fit window' command maximal zoom level is 100%.
Re-layout graph if nodes overlap
IDA recomputes the graph layout if a node overlap is detected. The presence of a custom layout (if the user has displaced some graph nodes) effectively turns off this option.
Re-layout graph upon screen refresh
IDA recomputes the graph layout at each screen refresh. Turning this option off accelerates IDA but then a manual layout might be required after some operations.
Truncate at the right margin
All nodes at truncated at the right margin. The right margin is specified in the Options → General → Disassembly tab. This option narrows the graph but hides some information by truncating long lines.
Lock graph layout
Locks the graph layout by ignoring attempts to displace nodes. This prevents the creation of custom layouts that might lead to ugly graph layouts when nodes change their sizes.
Proximity view
Show data references
Show data cross-referenced items in proximity view.
Hide library functions
Do not show data or code cross-references to library functions, only show cross-referenced local functions.
Unlimited children recursion
Recurse until there are no more callees (children) of the currently selected central node and all of his children.
Recurse into library functions
Displays children data or code cross-references from library functions.
Max parents recursion
Maximum recursion level for displaying parents of the currently selected central node. The value 0 disables parents recursion.
Max children recursion
Maximum recursion level for displaying children of the currently selected central node. The value 0 means no maximum recursion level.
Max nodes per level
Maximum number of nodes to show per level of children and parents.
Lumina options
This tab configures Lumina server connection settings.
Servers
Use public: Sets host and port to the default public server hosted by Hex-Rays. No username or password is required.
Private server authentication
Specify the username and password credentials for a Private Lumina server.
Automatically use Lumina server for analysis
Instructs IDA to fetch function metadata from the current Lumina server, after the initial auto-analysis is complete. This helps with the recognition of known functions stored in the database of the Lumina server.
Lumina command line options
Command line switch '-Olumina' overrides for ida session the primary server and '-Osecondary_lumina' the secondary one.
List of options
host
lumina server host
port
lumina server port
user
username for authentification on private lumina
pass
password for authentification on private lumina
proxy_host
proxy host
proxy_port
proxy port
proxy_user
username for authentification on proxy
proxy_pass
password for authentification on proxy
Example
Use the public lumina as secondary server for this ida session
Miscellaneous options
This tab configures miscellaneous options including editor settings, encoding and types autocompletion.
Editor: A text editor is to be used when the user decides to edit an IDC script using the IDC toolbar.
Navigation band refresh interval (milliseconds): Specifies how often the navigation band will be refreshed. IDA tries to minimize the number of redrawings because they could be really time and processor consuming (imagine a huge program, 50-100 megabytes of code. It would take a long time to refresh information on the navigation band because the whole program will be examined to determine how to draw the band). If this option is set to
0, the navigation band is refreshed only when the cursor is moved far enough to reflect its movement on the band.Convert already defined bytes: Determines how IDA should behave when user operations would end up redefining some already-defined bytes.
Associate .IDB file extension with IDA: Whether or not the .IDB extension should be associated, at the OS-level, with IDA.
Enable autocomplete in forms: Determines whether input fields should provide an auto-complete combo box by default.
Output files encoding: The encoding used to generate output text files from IDA. The value '' means that the IDB's default 8 bit-per-unit encoding will be used.
Types autocompletion
Enable autocomplete for types
Enables or disables the entire autocomplete mechanism for types. If you uncheck the box, the behavior will not differ from previous versions. Enabled by default.
Case sensitive
Changes case sensitivity. When enabled, for example, the prefix b will show bucket but not BigStruct. Disabled by default.
Enable autocomplete for curly braces
Enables or disables autocompletion of curly braces and indents. When enabled, typing { inserts a closing brace on a new line, with an indented empty line and the cursor placed in between. Enabled by default.
Enable type hints
Enables or disables hints when selecting a type from the autocomplete suggestions. These hints behave similarly to the hints in Local Types. Enabled by default.
Colors...
Setup colors. The IDA Colors dialog lets you change the active theme or fine-tune the one currently in use. Each tab lets you customize specific parts of the UI.
IDA keeps the color configuration in the registry. There are 3 predefined schemes. The user can modify the existing schemes or add his own schemes. New schemes should be added to the "themes" subdirectory in IDA.
Windows 11 style contrast
By default, IDA uses the "out-of-the-box" Qt style - named windows11.
That style mimics the core Microsoft Windows 11 theme, with which some users have reported some discomfort due to low-contrast hints.
This is observable especially in "tabular" widgets, where the selection painted using an somewhat discrete overlay:
Addressing this naïvely (e.g., by overriding the selection entries through CSS) might do more harm than good though, so we have decided against that.
Instead, we recommend using the Qt "Fusion" style, which offers significantly better contrast:
This is achievable by opening the "Environment variables" dialog, and adding an entry called QT_STYLE_OVERRIDE with the value fusion.
Font...
Setup font. This dialog allows you to customize the font used in listings.
Feature Flags...
Configure feature flags. This dialog lists optional features that can be enabled or disabled. By default, the two options below are enabled, supporting the new JumpAnywhere feature:
Override G shortcut with new Jump Anywhere dialog.
(If disabled, the G will continue to trigger "Jump to address..." dialog).
Enable preview pane in Jump Anywhere dialog.
Shortcuts...
Edit shortcuts. This dialog allows you to view and customize all keyboard shortcuts used in IDA. You can use Ctrl + F to search by command name or keyboard shortcut.
Show command palette...
Show command palette. This command opens a dialog, that provides quick access to all available IDA actions with shortcuts and descriptions.
Reset undo history
Reset undo history. This command clears the undo history. After it the Undo and Redo commands become unavailable. However, once the user performs a new action, IDA will again start journaling all database modifications.
A side effect of this command is fast autoanalysis: since there is no user action to revert yet, IDA does not maintain undo buffers and this speeds up the analysis.
Assembler directives...
Setup assembler directive generation.
This command enables/disables the generation of some assembler directives, namely:
assume directive
origin directive Sometimes (when you do not intend to assemble the output file), you may want to disable their generation.
Name representation...
Setup name representation. Dummy names are automatically generated by IDA. They are used to denote subroutines, program locations and data. Dummy names have various prefixes depending on the item type and value:
sub_
instruction, subroutine start
locret_
'return' instruction
loc_
instruction
off_
data, contains offset value
seg_
data, contains segment address value
asc_
data, string literal
byte_
data, byte
word_
data, 16-bit
dword_
data, 32-bit
qword_
data, 64-bit
byte3_
data, 3 bytes
xmmword_
data, 128-bit
ymmword_
data, 256-bit
packreal_
data, packed real
flt_
floating point data, 32-bit
dbl_
floating point data, 64-bit
tbyte_
floating point data, 80-bit
stru_
structure
custdata_
custom data type
algn_
alignment directive
unk_
unexplored byte
You can change representation of dummy names. IDA supports several types of dummy names:
0
loc_0_1234
segment base address relative to program base address & offset from the segment base
1
loc_1000_1234
segment base address & offset from the segment base
2
loc_dseg_1234
segment name & offset from the segment base
3
loc_0_11234
segment relative to base address & full address
4
loc_1000_11234
segment base address & full address
5
loc_dseg_11234
segment name & full address
6
loc_12
full address
7
loc_0012
full address (at least 4 digits)
8
loc_00000012
full address (at least 8 digits)
9
dseg_1234
the same as 2, but without data type specifier
10
loc_1
enumerated names (loc_1,loc_2,loc_3...)
If you have selected names type 10 (enumerated names), you may renumber them using a checkbox. The process is relatively fast, surprisingly.
The best representation for MS DOS programs is #0, for 16-bit processors - #7, and for 32-bit processors - #8. You can change dummy names type any time you want.
You can also set up types of names included in the name list (Jump by name... command, action JumpName). IDA knows about the following types of names:
normal names
public names
weak public or extern names
autogenerated (meaningful) names.
dummy (meaningless) names.
Dummy names may be public or weak, but they never appear in the list of names. You can specify the type of a name when you create or rename it.
You can also set maximal length of new names. Old names will not be affected by this parameter.
See also: the Rename command.
Demangled names...
Setup C++ demangled name representation. IDA can demangle mangled C++ names of the most popular C++ compilers:
Microsoft
Borland
Watcom
Visual Age
GNU
The demangled names are represented in two forms: short and long form. The short form is used when a name is used as a reference, the long form is used at the declaration.
You can set how demangled C++ names must be represented:
as comments: this representation allows you to obtain recompilable source text
instead of mangled names: this representation makes the output more readable (the disadvantage is that you cannot recompile the output)
don't display demangled names.
You can setup short and long forms of demangled names. Short form is used when a reference to the name is made; long form is used at the declaration.
To make demangled names more readable, we introduce the possibility to suppress pointer modifiers (near/far/huge).
To demangle GNU C v3.x names, the "Assume GCC v3.x names" checkbox should be set, otherwise such names might not be demangled. Furthermore, to make the demangled name more compact, unsigned types may be displayed as uchar, uint, ushort, ulong. The same with signed basic types.
If the "Override type info" checkbox is set, the demangled name overrides the type information if both are present.
See also How to customize demangled names
Compiler...
Setup target compiler and its parameters. This dialog allows the user to specify the compiler used to create the program along with the memory model, default calling convention, ABI and other parameters. Please note that while some combinations of the parameters are meaningless, IDA doesn't check them for validity. It is up to the user to specify a correct combination.
IDA tries to determine the correct values automatically.
The include directories are a list of directories that look for the standard C headers. This parameter is used during parsing C header files (the Parse C header file... command; action LoadHeaderFile). The directories must be separated by ';' in MS Windows and ':' in Linux. The predefined macros field has the same format and is used similarly. Please note that IDA doesn't define any compiler-specific macros by default.
Parser options
You can select between different parsers using the parser settings located at the bottom of the Compiler options dialog.
IDA provides three parser options:
legacy - old internal IDA parser (will be removed in future versions)
old_clang - previous parser based on clang
clang - new parser introduced in IDA 9.2, (based on LLVM)
Parser Configuration
The old_clang and new clang parser can be fine-tuned using the Parser specific options dialog.
String literals...
Setup string literal style. With this dialog you can setup string styles and also create a new string immediately at the current location.
The following string styles are defined:
C-style (zero-terminated)
DOS style ($ terminated)
Pascal style (one byte length prefix)
Wide pascal (two-byte length prefix)
Delphi (four-byte length prefix)
Unicode (UTF-16)
Unicode pascal style (two-byte length prefix)
Unicode wide pascal style (four-byte length prefix)
Character terminated
If you select "character terminated" string style then you may specify up to 2 termination characters. The string will be terminated by any of these characters. If the second character is equal to 0, then it is ignored. In IDA Qt you can also set a specific encoding to be used to display the string, or change the defaults for all strings.
String encodings
IDA Qt can display program strings using different encodings. You can specify default encodings for all strings or override the encoding of a specific string.
The following encodings can be used:
<default>- the default encoding for this string type (8-bit or 16-bit)<no conversion>- the string bytes are printed using the current system encoding (after translating with XlatAsciiOutput array in the configuration file).Windows codepages (e.g., 866, CP932, windows-1251)
Charset names (e.g., Shift-JIS, UTF-8, Big5)
You can add new encodings to the list using the context menu item Insert (Ins hotkey).
On Linux/OS X, you can run "iconv -l" to see the available encodings. Please note that some encodings are not supported on all systems.
Setup data types...
Setup data types. This command allows you to select the data types used in the round-robin carousel in the Data (action MakeData) command.
Valid data types are:
byte
word
2 bytes
double word
4 bytes
float
4 bytes
quadro word
8 bytes
double
8 bytes
long double
10 or 12 bytes
packed real
10 or 12 bytes
octa word
16 bytes
Naturally, not all data types are usable for all processors. For example, Intel 8051 processor doesn't have the 'double word' type. Furthermore, this command allows you to select a data type for the current undefined item and convert it to data. Please note that if the current processor does not support a data type, you cannot assign it even if you have selected it. If you unselect all data types, IDA will use the 'byte' type.
Source paths...
Setup source paths. In this dialog you can configure path mappings to help IDA locate source files in different locations.
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