"tailing" a binary file based on string location using bash?

Question

I've got a bunch of binary files, each containing an embedded string near the end of the file but at different places (only occurs once in each file). I need to extract the part of the file starting at the location of the string till the end of the file and dump it into a new file.

eg. If the file's contents is "AWREDEDEDEXXXERESSDSDS" and the string of interest is "XXX", then the part of the file I need is "XXXERESSDSDS".

What's the easiest way to do this in bash?

Answer 1

In PERL, there is a variable built in that specifically refers to the part of the string after the matched regular expression. That would be the method I would use. It is not just Bash and utilities, but PERL is so commonly installed that you should be OK.

Answer 2

Following is a small hack shell solution that is not very performant. But it works.

Write the script file tail.sh as follows:

#!/bin/sh
dd bs=1 if=$1 of=$2 skip=`grep --binary-files=text -m1 -b -o $3 $1 | cut -d ':' -f 1 | head -1`

Call tail.sh INPUTNAME OUTPUTNAME PATTERN

p.s.: sorry forgot one option to grep in first post