18.1.5.2 DLL Name Prefixes

In keeping with the naming conventions used by the Microsoft debugging tools, DLL export symbols are made available with a prefix based on the DLL name, for instance KERNEL32!CreateFileA. The plain name is also entered into the symbol table, so CreateFileA is often sufficient. In some cases there will be name clashes within a program (particularly if the executable itself includes full debugging symbols) necessitating the use of the fully qualified name when referring to the contents of the DLL. Use single-quotes around the name to avoid the exclamation mark (“!”) being interpreted as a language operator.

Note that the internal name of the DLL may be all upper-case, even though the file name of the DLL is lower-case, or vice-versa. Since symbols within No value for GDBN are case-sensitive this may cause some confusion. If in doubt, try the info functions and info variables commands or even maint print msymbols (see section Examining the Symbol Table). Here's an example:

(No value for GDBP) info function CreateFileA
All functions matching regular expression "CreateFileA":

Non-debugging symbols:
0x77e885f4  CreateFileA
0x77e885f4  KERNEL32!CreateFileA

(No value for GDBP) info function !
All functions matching regular expression "!":

Non-debugging symbols:
0x6100114c  cygwin1!__assert
0x61004034  cygwin1!_dll_crt0@0
0x61004240  cygwin1!dll_crt0(per_process *)
[etc...]