xref: /freebsd/bin/dd/dd.1 (revision 98fc0505155575df4170c863107153df2a751a13)
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5.\" This code is derived from software contributed to Berkeley by
6.\" Keith Muller of the University of California, San Diego.
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32.\"     @(#)dd.1	8.2 (Berkeley) 1/13/94
33.\" $FreeBSD$
34.\"
35.Dd August 8, 2018
36.Dt DD 1
37.Os
38.Sh NAME
39.Nm dd
40.Nd convert and copy a file
41.Sh SYNOPSIS
42.Nm
43.Op Ar operands ...
44.Sh DESCRIPTION
45The
46.Nm
47utility copies the standard input to the standard output.
48Input data is read and written in 512-byte blocks.
49If input reads are short, input from multiple reads are aggregated
50to form the output block.
51When finished,
52.Nm
53displays the number of complete and partial input and output blocks
54and truncated input records to the standard error output.
55.Pp
56The following operands are available:
57.Bl -tag -width "of=file"
58.It Cm bs Ns = Ns Ar n
59Set both input and output block size to
60.Ar n
61bytes, superseding the
62.Cm ibs
63and
64.Cm obs
65operands.
66If no conversion values other than
67.Cm noerror ,
68.Cm notrunc
69or
70.Cm sync
71are specified, then each input block is copied to the output as a
72single block without any aggregation of short blocks.
73.It Cm cbs Ns = Ns Ar n
74Set the conversion record size to
75.Ar n
76bytes.
77The conversion record size is required by the record oriented conversion
78values.
79.It Cm count Ns = Ns Ar n
80Copy only
81.Ar n
82input blocks.
83.It Cm files Ns = Ns Ar n
84Copy
85.Ar n
86input files before terminating.
87This operand is only applicable when the input device is a tape.
88.It Cm fillchar Ns = Ns Ar c
89When padding a block in conversion mode or due to use of
90.Cm noerror
91and
92.Cm sync
93modes, fill with the specified
94.Tn ASCII
95character, rather than using a space or
96.Dv NUL .
97.It Cm ibs Ns = Ns Ar n
98Set the input block size to
99.Ar n
100bytes instead of the default 512.
101.It Cm if Ns = Ns Ar file
102Read input from
103.Ar file
104instead of the standard input.
105.It Cm iseek Ns = Ns Ar n
106Seek on the input file
107.Ar n
108blocks.
109This is synonymous with
110.Cm skip Ns = Ns Ar n .
111.It Cm obs Ns = Ns Ar n
112Set the output block size to
113.Ar n
114bytes instead of the default 512.
115.It Cm of Ns = Ns Ar file
116Write output to
117.Ar file
118instead of the standard output.
119Any regular output file is truncated unless the
120.Cm notrunc
121conversion value is specified.
122If an initial portion of the output file is seeked past (see the
123.Cm oseek
124operand),
125the output file is truncated at that point.
126.It Cm oseek Ns = Ns Ar n
127Seek on the output file
128.Ar n
129blocks.
130This is synonymous with
131.Cm seek Ns = Ns Ar n .
132.It Cm seek Ns = Ns Ar n
133Seek
134.Ar n
135blocks from the beginning of the output before copying.
136On non-tape devices, an
137.Xr lseek 2
138operation is used.
139Otherwise, existing blocks are read and the data discarded.
140If the user does not have read permission for the tape, it is positioned
141using the tape
142.Xr ioctl 2
143function calls.
144If the seek operation is past the end of file, space from the current
145end of file to the specified offset is filled with blocks of
146.Dv NUL
147bytes.
148.It Cm skip Ns = Ns Ar n
149Skip
150.Ar n
151blocks from the beginning of the input before copying.
152On input which supports seeks, an
153.Xr lseek 2
154operation is used.
155Otherwise, input data is read and discarded.
156For pipes, the correct number of bytes is read.
157For all other devices, the correct number of blocks is read without
158distinguishing between a partial or complete block being read.
159.It Cm speed Ns = Ns Ar n
160Limit the copying speed to
161.Ar n
162bytes per second.
163.It Cm status Ns = Ns Ar value
164Where
165.Cm value
166is one of the symbols from the following list.
167.Bl -tag -width "progress"
168.It Cm noxfer
169Do not print the transfer statistics as the last line of status output.
170.It Cm none
171Do not print the status output.
172Error messages are shown; informational messages are not.
173.It Cm progress
174Print basic transfer statistics once per second.
175.El
176.It Cm conv Ns = Ns Ar value Ns Op , Ns Ar value ...
177Where
178.Cm value
179is one of the symbols from the following list.
180.Bl -tag -width "unblock"
181.It Cm ascii , oldascii
182The same as the
183.Cm unblock
184value except that characters are translated from
185.Tn EBCDIC
186to
187.Tn ASCII
188before the
189records are converted.
190(These values imply
191.Cm unblock
192if the operand
193.Cm cbs
194is also specified.)
195There are two conversion maps for
196.Tn ASCII .
197The value
198.Cm ascii
199specifies the recommended one which is compatible with
200.At V .
201The value
202.Cm oldascii
203specifies the one used in historic
204.At
205and
206.No pre- Ns Bx 4.3 reno
207systems.
208.It Cm block
209Treats the input as a sequence of newline or end-of-file terminated variable
210length records independent of input and output block boundaries.
211Any trailing newline character is discarded.
212Each input record is converted to a fixed length output record where the
213length is specified by the
214.Cm cbs
215operand.
216Input records shorter than the conversion record size are padded with spaces.
217Input records longer than the conversion record size are truncated.
218The number of truncated input records, if any, are reported to the standard
219error output at the completion of the copy.
220.It Cm ebcdic , ibm , oldebcdic , oldibm
221The same as the
222.Cm block
223value except that characters are translated from
224.Tn ASCII
225to
226.Tn EBCDIC
227after the
228records are converted.
229(These values imply
230.Cm block
231if the operand
232.Cm cbs
233is also specified.)
234There are four conversion maps for
235.Tn EBCDIC .
236The value
237.Cm ebcdic
238specifies the recommended one which is compatible with
239.At V .
240The value
241.Cm ibm
242is a slightly different mapping, which is compatible with the
243.At V
244.Cm ibm
245value.
246The values
247.Cm oldebcdic
248and
249.Cm oldibm
250are maps used in historic
251.At
252and
253.No pre- Ns Bx 4.3 reno
254systems.
255.It Cm lcase
256Transform uppercase characters into lowercase characters.
257.It Cm pareven , parnone , parodd , parset
258Output data with the specified parity.
259The parity bit on input is stripped unless
260.Tn EBCDIC
261to
262.Tn ASCII
263conversions is also specified.
264.It Cm noerror
265Do not stop processing on an input error.
266When an input error occurs, a diagnostic message followed by the current
267input and output block counts will be written to the standard error output
268in the same format as the standard completion message.
269If the
270.Cm sync
271conversion is also specified, any missing input data will be replaced
272with
273.Dv NUL
274bytes (or with spaces if a block oriented conversion value was
275specified) and processed as a normal input buffer.
276If the
277.Cm fillchar
278option is specified, the fill character provided on the command line
279will override
280the automatic selection of the fill character.
281If the
282.Cm sync
283conversion is not specified, the input block is omitted from the output.
284On input files which are not tapes or pipes, the file offset
285will be positioned past the block in which the error occurred using
286.Xr lseek 2 .
287.It Cm notrunc
288Do not truncate the output file.
289This will preserve any blocks in the output file not explicitly written
290by
291.Nm .
292The
293.Cm notrunc
294value is not supported for tapes.
295.It Cm osync
296Pad the final output block to the full output block size.
297If the input file is not a multiple of the output block size
298after conversion, this conversion forces the final output block
299to be the same size as preceding blocks for use on devices that require
300regularly sized blocks to be written.
301This option is incompatible with use of the
302.Cm bs Ns = Ns Ar n
303block size specification.
304.It Cm sparse
305If one or more output blocks would consist solely of
306.Dv NUL
307bytes, try to seek the output file by the required space instead of
308filling them with
309.Dv NUL Ns s ,
310resulting in a sparse file.
311.It Cm swab
312Swap every pair of input bytes.
313If an input buffer has an odd number of bytes, the last byte will be
314ignored during swapping.
315.It Cm sync
316Pad every input block to the input buffer size.
317Spaces are used for pad bytes if a block oriented conversion value is
318specified, otherwise
319.Dv NUL
320bytes are used.
321.It Cm ucase
322Transform lowercase characters into uppercase characters.
323.It Cm unblock
324Treats the input as a sequence of fixed length records independent of input
325and output block boundaries.
326The length of the input records is specified by the
327.Cm cbs
328operand.
329Any trailing space characters are discarded and a newline character is
330appended.
331.El
332.El
333.Pp
334Where sizes or speed are specified, a decimal, octal, or hexadecimal number of
335bytes is expected.
336If the number ends with a
337.Dq Li b ,
338.Dq Li k ,
339.Dq Li m ,
340.Dq Li g ,
341.Dq Li t ,
342.Dq Li p ,
343or
344.Dq Li w ,
345the
346number is multiplied by 512, 1024 (1K), 1048576 (1M), 1073741824 (1G),
3471099511627776 (1T), 1125899906842624 (1P)
348or the number of bytes in an integer, respectively.
349Two or more numbers may be separated by an
350.Dq Li x
351to indicate a product.
352.Pp
353When finished,
354.Nm
355displays the number of complete and partial input and output blocks,
356truncated input records and odd-length byte-swapping blocks to the
357standard error output.
358A partial input block is one where less than the input block size
359was read.
360A partial output block is one where less than the output block size
361was written.
362Partial output blocks to tape devices are considered fatal errors.
363Otherwise, the rest of the block will be written.
364Partial output blocks to character devices will produce a warning message.
365A truncated input block is one where a variable length record oriented
366conversion value was specified and the input line was too long to
367fit in the conversion record or was not newline terminated.
368.Pp
369Normally, data resulting from input or conversion or both are aggregated
370into output blocks of the specified size.
371After the end of input is reached, any remaining output is written as
372a block.
373This means that the final output block may be shorter than the output
374block size.
375.Pp
376If
377.Nm
378receives a
379.Dv SIGINFO
380(see the
381.Cm status
382argument for
383.Xr stty 1 )
384signal, the current input and output block counts will
385be written to the standard error output
386in the same format as the standard completion message.
387If
388.Nm
389receives a
390.Dv SIGINT
391signal, the current input and output block counts will
392be written to the standard error output
393in the same format as the standard completion message and
394.Nm
395will exit.
396.Sh EXIT STATUS
397.Ex -std
398.Sh EXAMPLES
399Check that a disk drive contains no bad blocks:
400.Pp
401.Dl "dd if=/dev/ada0 of=/dev/null bs=1m"
402.Pp
403Do a refresh of a disk drive, in order to prevent presently
404recoverable read errors from progressing into unrecoverable read errors:
405.Pp
406.Dl "dd if=/dev/ada0 of=/dev/ada0 bs=1m"
407.Pp
408Remove parity bit from a file:
409.Pp
410.Dl "dd if=file conv=parnone of=file.txt"
411.Pp
412Check for (even) parity errors on a file:
413.Pp
414.Dl "dd if=file conv=pareven | cmp -x - file"
415.Pp
416To create an image of a Mode-1 CD-ROM, which is a commonly used format
417for data CD-ROM disks, use a block size of 2048 bytes:
418.Pp
419.Dl "dd if=/dev/cd0 of=filename.iso bs=2048"
420.Pp
421Write a filesystem image to a memory stick, padding the end with zeros,
422if necessary, to a 1MiB boundary:
423.Pp
424.Dl "dd if=memstick.img of=/dev/da0 bs=1m conv=noerror,sync"
425.Sh SEE ALSO
426.Xr cp 1 ,
427.Xr mt 1 ,
428.Xr recoverdisk 1 ,
429.Xr tr 1 ,
430.Xr geom 4
431.Sh STANDARDS
432The
433.Nm
434utility is expected to be a superset of the
435.St -p1003.2
436standard.
437The
438.Cm files
439and
440.Cm status
441operands and the
442.Cm ascii ,
443.Cm ebcdic ,
444.Cm ibm ,
445.Cm oldascii ,
446.Cm oldebcdic
447and
448.Cm oldibm
449values are extensions to the
450.Tn POSIX
451standard.
452.Sh HISTORY
453A
454.Nm
455command appeared in
456.At v5 .
457.Sh BUGS
458Protection mechanisms in the
459.Xr geom 4
460subsystem might prevent the super-user from writing blocks to a disk.
461Instructions for temporarily disabling these protection mechanisms can be
462found in the
463.Xr geom 4
464man page.
465