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BINDER-CALL(1) User Commands BINDER-CALL(1)

NAME

binder-call - perform binder transactions from the command line

SYNOPSIS

binder-call [OPTION...] NAME CODE [VALUE1 [VALUE2 ...]] [reply [TYPE1 [TYPE2 ...]]]

DESCRIPTION

binder-call sends a transaction to the binder service NAME (registered with servicemanager). The transaction code CODE must be (>= 1).

Optional VALUE arguments constitute the transaction data parcel. Values can be integers, floats, strings, structs, or vectors formatted according to the type descriptions below. By default, types are interpreted as HIDL; the --aidl switch enables AIDL semantics.

If the transaction expects a reply, the keyword reply is followed by a list of type specifiers that describe the reply parcel layout. The reply is printed in a human‑readable form.

The binder device can be selected with --device. A one‑way transaction (no reply) is used if --oneway is given.

OPTIONS

Binder device to use (default: /dev/binder).
Use a one‑way transaction (no reply expected).
Treat argument and reply types as AIDL instead of HIDL.
Enable verbose output.
Suppress non‑error messages.
Show help options.

ARGUMENT FORMAT

Values before reply may be written as:

[0-9]*:8 8‑bit integer
[0-9]* 32‑bit integer
[0-9]*L 64‑bit integer
[0-9]*.[0-9]* 32‑bit float
[0-9]*.[0-9]*L 64‑bit double
"[^"]*" 8‑bit AIDL string
"[^"]*"u UTF‑16 AIDL string
"[^"]*"h 8‑bit HIDL string
{ V1 V2 ... VN } struct containing the given values
[ V1 V2 ... VN ] vector of length N (all values must share the same type)

Reply type specifiers after reply are:

i8 8‑bit integer
i32 32‑bit integer
i64 64‑bit integer
s8 8‑bit AIDL string
s16 UTF‑16 AIDL string
hstr 8‑bit HIDL string
f or float 32‑bit float
d or double 64‑bit double
[ TYPE ] vector of TYPE
{ TYPE1 TYPE2 ... } struct with the given member types

EXAMPLE

Call the getSensorsList method (transaction code 1) on the HIDL sensors service and decode the returned vector of sensor structs:

binder-call -d /dev/hwbinder \


  android.hardware.sensors@1.0::ISensors/default 1 \


  reply i32 "[ { i32 i32 hstr hstr i32 i32 hstr f f f i32 i32 i32 hstr i32 i32 } ]"

SEE ALSO

binder-list(1), binder-ping(1), binder-bridge(1)

Project repository: https://github.com/mer-hybris/libgbinder

2026-05-07 libgbinder