DD - Manpage

Quick Example

dd bs=1M status=progress if=/path/to/source of=/path/to/destination

dd --help

Usage: dd [OPERAND]...
  or:  dd OPTION
Copy a file, converting and formatting according to the operands.

  bs=BYTES        read and write up to BYTES bytes at a time (default: 512);
                  overrides ibs and obs
  cbs=BYTES       convert BYTES bytes at a time
  conv=CONVS      convert the file as per the comma separated symbol list
  count=N         copy only N input blocks
  ibs=BYTES       read up to BYTES bytes at a time (default: 512)
  if=FILE         read from FILE instead of stdin
  iflag=FLAGS     read as per the comma separated symbol list
  obs=BYTES       write BYTES bytes at a time (default: 512)
  of=FILE         write to FILE instead of stdout
  oflag=FLAGS     write as per the comma separated symbol list
  seek=N          (or oseek=N) skip N obs-sized output blocks
  skip=N          (or iseek=N) skip N ibs-sized input blocks
  status=LEVEL    The LEVEL of information to print to stderr;
                  'none' suppresses everything but error messages,
                  'noxfer' suppresses the final transfer statistics,
                  'progress' shows periodic transfer statistics

N and BYTES may be followed by the following multiplicative suffixes:
c=1, w=2, b=512, kB=1000, K=1024, MB=1000*1000, M=1024*1024, xM=M,
GB=1000*1000*1000, G=1024*1024*1024, and so on for T, P, E, Z, Y.
Binary prefixes can be used, too: KiB=K, MiB=M, and so on.
If N ends in 'B', it counts bytes not blocks.

Each CONV symbol may be:

  ascii     from EBCDIC to ASCII
  ebcdic    from ASCII to EBCDIC
  ibm       from ASCII to alternate EBCDIC
  block     pad newline-terminated records with spaces to cbs-size
  unblock   replace trailing spaces in cbs-size records with newline
  lcase     change upper case to lower case
  ucase     change lower case to upper case
  sparse    try to seek rather than write all-NUL output blocks
  swab      swap every pair of input bytes
  sync      pad every input block with NULs to ibs-size; when used
            with block or unblock, pad with spaces rather than NULs
  excl      fail if the output file already exists
  nocreat   do not create the output file
  notrunc   do not truncate the output file
  noerror   continue after read errors
  fdatasync  physically write output file data before finishing
  fsync     likewise, but also write metadata

Each FLAG symbol may be:

  append    append mode (makes sense only for output; conv=notrunc suggested)
  direct    use direct I/O for data
  directory  fail unless a directory
  dsync     use synchronized I/O for data
  sync      likewise, but also for metadata
  fullblock  accumulate full blocks of input (iflag only)
  nonblock  use non-blocking I/O
  noatime   do not update access time
  nocache   Request to drop cache.  See also oflag=sync
  noctty    do not assign controlling terminal from file
  nofollow  do not follow symlinks

Sending a USR1 signal to a running 'dd' process makes it
print I/O statistics to standard error and then resume copying.

Options are:

      --help        display this help and exit
      --version     output version information and exit

GNU coreutils online help: <https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/>
Full documentation <https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/dd>
or available locally via: info '(coreutils) dd invocation'

Manpage

DD(1)                                                                                           User Commands                                                                                           DD(1)

NAME
       dd - convert and copy a file

SYNOPSIS
       dd [OPERAND]...
       dd OPTION

DESCRIPTION
       Copy a file, converting and formatting according to the operands.

       bs=BYTES
              read and write up to BYTES bytes at a time (default: 512); overrides ibs and obs

       cbs=BYTES
              convert BYTES bytes at a time

       conv=CONVS
              convert the file as per the comma separated symbol list

       count=N
              copy only N input blocks

       ibs=BYTES
              read up to BYTES bytes at a time (default: 512)

       if=FILE
              read from FILE instead of stdin

       iflag=FLAGS
              read as per the comma separated symbol list

       obs=BYTES
              write BYTES bytes at a time (default: 512)

       of=FILE
              write to FILE instead of stdout

       oflag=FLAGS
              write as per the comma separated symbol list

       seek=N (or oseek=N) skip N obs-sized output blocks

       skip=N (or iseek=N) skip N ibs-sized input blocks

       status=LEVEL
              The LEVEL of information to print to stderr; 'none' suppresses everything but error messages, 'noxfer' suppresses the final transfer statistics, 'progress' shows periodic transfer statistics

       N  and  BYTES may be followed by the following multiplicative suffixes: c=1, w=2, b=512, kB=1000, K=1024, MB=1000*1000, M=1024*1024, xM=M, GB=1000*1000*1000, G=1024*1024*1024, and so on for T, P, E,
       Z, Y.  Binary prefixes can be used, too: KiB=K, MiB=M, and so on.  If N ends in 'B', it counts bytes not blocks.

       Each CONV symbol may be:

       ascii  from EBCDIC to ASCII

       ebcdic from ASCII to EBCDIC

       ibm    from ASCII to alternate EBCDIC

       block  pad newline-terminated records with spaces to cbs-size

       unblock
              replace trailing spaces in cbs-size records with newline

       lcase  change upper case to lower case

       ucase  change lower case to upper case

       sparse try to seek rather than write all-NUL output blocks

       swab   swap every pair of input bytes

       sync   pad every input block with NULs to ibs-size; when used with block or unblock, pad with spaces rather than NULs

       excl   fail if the output file already exists

       nocreat
              do not create the output file

       notrunc
              do not truncate the output file

       noerror
              continue after read errors

       fdatasync
              physically write output file data before finishing

       fsync  likewise, but also write metadata

       Each FLAG symbol may be:

       append append mode (makes sense only for output; conv=notrunc suggested)

       direct use direct I/O for data

       directory
              fail unless a directory

       dsync  use synchronized I/O for data

       sync   likewise, but also for metadata

       fullblock
              accumulate full blocks of input (iflag only)

       nonblock
              use non-blocking I/O

       noatime
              do not update access time

       nocache
              Request to drop cache.  See also oflag=sync

       noctty do not assign controlling terminal from file

       nofollow
              do not follow symlinks

       Sending a USR1 signal to a running 'dd' process makes it print I/O statistics to standard error and then resume copying.

       Options are:

       --help display this help and exit

       --version
              output version information and exit

AUTHOR
       Written by Paul Rubin, David MacKenzie, and Stuart Kemp.

REPORTING BUGS
       GNU coreutils online help: <https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/>
       Report any translation bugs to <https://translationproject.org/team/>

COPYRIGHT
       Copyright © 2022 Free Software Foundation, Inc.  License GPLv3+: GNU GPL version 3 or later <https://gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html>.
       This is free software: you are free to change and redistribute it.  There is NO WARRANTY, to the extent permitted by law.

SEE ALSO
       Full documentation <https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/dd>
       or available locally via: info '(coreutils) dd invocation'

GNU coreutils 9.1                                                                               September 2022                                                                                          DD(1)