File format not recognized when run objdump in binutils

Question

There is a .a lib in iOS project. I want to see the methods name in it, so I installed binutils on Mac. But when I run objdump [-h] xxx.a. It says:

"File format not recognized".

So, what format does objdump supports? And how can I see the methods in that .a lib without using objdump?

Answer 1

There are several tools to this.

1. strings tool.
2. nm tool
3. otool
4. For Objective C code, use class dump