xref: /freebsd/bin/dd/dd.1 (revision edf8578117e8844e02c0121147f45e4609b30680)
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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.\"
34.Dd June 4, 2020
35.Dt DD 1
36.Os
37.Sh NAME
38.Nm dd
39.Nd convert and copy a file
40.Sh SYNOPSIS
41.Nm
42.Op Ar operands ...
43.Sh DESCRIPTION
44The
45.Nm
46utility copies the standard input to the standard output.
47Input data is read and written in 512-byte blocks.
48If input reads are short, input from multiple reads are aggregated
49to form the output block.
50When finished,
51.Nm
52displays the number of complete and partial input and output blocks
53and truncated input records to the standard error output.
54.Pp
55The following operands are available:
56.Bl -tag -width "of=file"
57.It Cm bs Ns = Ns Ar n
58Set both input and output block size to
59.Ar n
60bytes, superseding the
61.Cm ibs
62and
63.Cm obs
64operands.
65If no conversion values other than
66.Cm noerror ,
67.Cm notrunc
68or
69.Cm sync
70are specified, then each input block is copied to the output as a
71single block without any aggregation of short blocks.
72.It Cm cbs Ns = Ns Ar n
73Set the conversion record size to
74.Ar n
75bytes.
76The conversion record size is required by the record oriented conversion
77values.
78.It Cm count Ns = Ns Ar n
79Copy only
80.Ar n
81input blocks.
82.It Cm files Ns = Ns Ar n
83Copy
84.Ar n
85input files before terminating.
86This operand is only applicable when the input device is a tape.
87.It Cm fillchar Ns = Ns Ar c
88When padding a block in conversion mode or due to use of
89.Cm noerror
90and
91.Cm sync
92modes, fill with the specified
93.Tn ASCII
94character, rather than using a space or
95.Dv NUL .
96.It Cm ibs Ns = Ns Ar n
97Set the input block size to
98.Ar n
99bytes instead of the default 512.
100.It Cm if Ns = Ns Ar file
101Read input from
102.Ar file
103instead of the standard input.
104.It Cm iflag Ns = Ns Ar value Ns Op , Ns Ar value ...
105Where
106.Cm value
107is one of the symbols from the following list.
108.Bl -tag -width "fullblock"
109.It Cm fullblock
110Reading from the input file may not obtain a full block.
111When a read returns short, continue reading to fill the block.
112Without this flag,
113.Cm count
114limits the number of times
115.Xr read 2
116is called on the input rather than the number of blocks copied in full.
117May not be combined with
118.Cm conv=sync .
119.It Cm direct
120Set the O_DIRECT flag on the input file to make reads bypass any local caching.
121.El
122.It Cm iseek Ns = Ns Ar n
123Seek on the input file
124.Ar n
125blocks.
126This is synonymous with
127.Cm skip Ns = Ns Ar n .
128.It Cm obs Ns = Ns Ar n
129Set the output block size to
130.Ar n
131bytes instead of the default 512.
132.It Cm of Ns = Ns Ar file
133Write output to
134.Ar file
135instead of the standard output.
136Any regular output file is truncated unless the
137.Cm notrunc
138conversion value is specified.
139If an initial portion of the output file is seeked past (see the
140.Cm oseek
141operand),
142the output file is truncated at that point.
143.It Cm oflag Ns = Ns Ar value Ns Op , Ns Ar value ...
144Where
145.Cm value
146is one of the symbols from the following list.
147.Bl -tag -width "direct"
148.It Cm fsync
149Set the O_FSYNC flag on the output file to make writes synchronous.
150.It Cm sync
151Set the O_SYNC flag on the output file to make writes synchronous.
152This is synonymous with the
153.Cm fsync
154value.
155.It Cm direct
156Set the O_DIRECT flag on the output file to make writes bypass any local caching.
157.El
158.It Cm oseek Ns = Ns Ar n
159Seek on the output file
160.Ar n
161blocks.
162This is synonymous with
163.Cm seek Ns = Ns Ar n .
164.It Cm seek Ns = Ns Ar n
165Seek
166.Ar n
167blocks from the beginning of the output before copying.
168On non-tape devices, an
169.Xr lseek 2
170operation is used.
171Otherwise, existing blocks are read and the data discarded.
172If the user does not have read permission for the tape, it is positioned
173using the tape
174.Xr ioctl 2
175function calls.
176If the seek operation is past the end of file, space from the current
177end of file to the specified offset is filled with blocks of
178.Dv NUL
179bytes.
180.It Cm skip Ns = Ns Ar n
181Skip
182.Ar n
183blocks from the beginning of the input before copying.
184On input which supports seeks, an
185.Xr lseek 2
186operation is used.
187Otherwise, input data is read and discarded.
188For pipes, the correct number of bytes is read.
189For all other devices, the correct number of blocks is read without
190distinguishing between a partial or complete block being read.
191.It Cm speed Ns = Ns Ar n
192Limit the copying speed to
193.Ar n
194bytes per second.
195.It Cm status Ns = Ns Ar value
196Where
197.Cm value
198is one of the symbols from the following list.
199.Bl -tag -width "progress"
200.It Cm noxfer
201Do not print the transfer statistics as the last line of status output.
202.It Cm none
203Do not print the status output.
204Error messages are shown; informational messages are not.
205.It Cm progress
206Print basic transfer statistics once per second.
207.El
208.It Cm conv Ns = Ns Ar value Ns Op , Ns Ar value ...
209Where
210.Cm value
211is one of the symbols from the following list.
212.Bl -tag -width "unblock"
213.It Cm ascii , oldascii
214The same as the
215.Cm unblock
216value except that characters are translated from
217.Tn EBCDIC
218to
219.Tn ASCII
220before the
221records are converted.
222(These values imply
223.Cm unblock
224if the operand
225.Cm cbs
226is also specified.)
227There are two conversion maps for
228.Tn ASCII .
229The value
230.Cm ascii
231specifies the recommended one which is compatible with
232.At V .
233The value
234.Cm oldascii
235specifies the one used in historic
236.At
237and
238.No pre- Ns Bx 4.3 reno
239systems.
240.It Cm block
241Treats the input as a sequence of newline or end-of-file terminated variable
242length records independent of input and output block boundaries.
243Any trailing newline character is discarded.
244Each input record is converted to a fixed length output record where the
245length is specified by the
246.Cm cbs
247operand.
248Input records shorter than the conversion record size are padded with spaces.
249Input records longer than the conversion record size are truncated.
250The number of truncated input records, if any, are reported to the standard
251error output at the completion of the copy.
252.It Cm ebcdic , ibm , oldebcdic , oldibm
253The same as the
254.Cm block
255value except that characters are translated from
256.Tn ASCII
257to
258.Tn EBCDIC
259after the
260records are converted.
261(These values imply
262.Cm block
263if the operand
264.Cm cbs
265is also specified.)
266There are four conversion maps for
267.Tn EBCDIC .
268The value
269.Cm ebcdic
270specifies the recommended one which is compatible with
271.At V .
272The value
273.Cm ibm
274is a slightly different mapping, which is compatible with the
275.At V
276.Cm ibm
277value.
278The values
279.Cm oldebcdic
280and
281.Cm oldibm
282are maps used in historic
283.At
284and
285.No pre- Ns Bx 4.3 reno
286systems.
287.It Cm fdatasync
288Perform an
289.Xr fdatasync 2
290on the output file before closing it.
291.It Cm fsync
292Perform an
293.Xr fsync 2
294on the output file before closing it.
295.It Cm lcase
296Transform uppercase characters into lowercase characters.
297.It Cm pareven , parnone , parodd , parset
298Output data with the specified parity.
299The parity bit on input is stripped unless
300.Tn EBCDIC
301to
302.Tn ASCII
303conversions is also specified.
304.It Cm noerror
305Do not stop processing on an input error.
306When an input error occurs, a diagnostic message followed by the current
307input and output block counts will be written to the standard error output
308in the same format as the standard completion message.
309If the
310.Cm sync
311conversion is also specified, any missing input data will be replaced
312with
313.Dv NUL
314bytes (or with spaces if a block oriented conversion value was
315specified) and processed as a normal input buffer.
316If the
317.Cm fillchar
318option is specified, the fill character provided on the command line
319will override
320the automatic selection of the fill character.
321If the
322.Cm sync
323conversion is not specified, the input block is omitted from the output.
324On input files which are not tapes or pipes, the file offset
325will be positioned past the block in which the error occurred using
326.Xr lseek 2 .
327.It Cm notrunc
328Do not truncate the output file.
329This will preserve any blocks in the output file not explicitly written
330by
331.Nm .
332The
333.Cm notrunc
334value is not supported for tapes.
335.It Cm osync
336Pad the final output block to the full output block size.
337If the input file is not a multiple of the output block size
338after conversion, this conversion forces the final output block
339to be the same size as preceding blocks for use on devices that require
340regularly sized blocks to be written.
341This option is incompatible with use of the
342.Cm bs Ns = Ns Ar n
343block size specification.
344.It Cm sparse
345If one or more output blocks would consist solely of
346.Dv NUL
347bytes, try to seek the output file by the required space instead of
348filling them with
349.Dv NUL Ns s ,
350resulting in a sparse file.
351.It Cm swab
352Swap every pair of input bytes.
353If an input buffer has an odd number of bytes, the last byte will be
354ignored during swapping.
355.It Cm sync
356Pad every input block to the input buffer size.
357Spaces are used for pad bytes if a block oriented conversion value is
358specified, otherwise
359.Dv NUL
360bytes are used.
361.It Cm ucase
362Transform lowercase characters into uppercase characters.
363.It Cm unblock
364Treats the input as a sequence of fixed length records independent of input
365and output block boundaries.
366The length of the input records is specified by the
367.Cm cbs
368operand.
369Any trailing space characters are discarded and a newline character is
370appended.
371.El
372.El
373.Pp
374Where sizes or speed are specified, a decimal, octal, or hexadecimal number of
375bytes is expected.
376If the number ends with a
377.Dq Li b ,
378.Dq Li k ,
379.Dq Li m ,
380.Dq Li g ,
381.Dq Li t ,
382.Dq Li p ,
383or
384.Dq Li w ,
385the
386number is multiplied by 512, 1024 (1K), 1048576 (1M), 1073741824 (1G),
3871099511627776 (1T), 1125899906842624 (1P)
388or the number of bytes in an integer, respectively.
389Two or more numbers may be separated by an
390.Dq Li x
391to indicate a product.
392.Pp
393When finished,
394.Nm
395displays the number of complete and partial input and output blocks,
396truncated input records and odd-length byte-swapping blocks to the
397standard error output.
398A partial input block is one where less than the input block size
399was read.
400A partial output block is one where less than the output block size
401was written.
402Partial output blocks to tape devices are considered fatal errors.
403Otherwise, the rest of the block will be written.
404Partial output blocks to character devices will produce a warning message.
405A truncated input block is one where a variable length record oriented
406conversion value was specified and the input line was too long to
407fit in the conversion record or was not newline terminated.
408.Pp
409Normally, data resulting from input or conversion or both are aggregated
410into output blocks of the specified size.
411After the end of input is reached, any remaining output is written as
412a block.
413This means that the final output block may be shorter than the output
414block size.
415.Pp
416If
417.Nm
418receives a
419.Dv SIGINFO
420(see the
421.Cm status
422argument for
423.Xr stty 1 )
424signal, the current input and output block counts will
425be written to the standard error output
426in the same format as the standard completion message.
427If
428.Nm
429receives a
430.Dv SIGINT
431signal, the current input and output block counts will
432be written to the standard error output
433in the same format as the standard completion message and
434.Nm
435will exit.
436.Sh EXIT STATUS
437.Ex -std
438.Sh EXAMPLES
439Check that a disk drive contains no bad blocks:
440.Pp
441.Dl "dd if=/dev/ada0 of=/dev/null bs=1m"
442.Pp
443Do a refresh of a disk drive, in order to prevent presently
444recoverable read errors from progressing into unrecoverable read errors:
445.Pp
446.Dl "dd if=/dev/ada0 of=/dev/ada0 bs=1m"
447.Pp
448Remove parity bit from a file:
449.Pp
450.Dl "dd if=file conv=parnone of=file.txt"
451.Pp
452Check for (even) parity errors on a file:
453.Pp
454.Dl "dd if=file conv=pareven | cmp -x - file"
455.Pp
456To create an image of a Mode-1 CD-ROM, which is a commonly used format
457for data CD-ROM disks, use a block size of 2048 bytes:
458.Pp
459.Dl "dd if=/dev/cd0 of=filename.iso bs=2048"
460.Pp
461Write a filesystem image to a memory stick, padding the end with zeros,
462if necessary, to a 1MiB boundary:
463.Pp
464.Dl "dd if=memstick.img of=/dev/da0 bs=1m conv=noerror,sync"
465.Sh SEE ALSO
466.Xr cp 1 ,
467.Xr mt 1 ,
468.Xr recoverdisk 1 ,
469.Xr tr 1 ,
470.Xr geom 4 ,
471.Xr trim 8
472.Sh STANDARDS
473The
474.Nm
475utility is expected to be a superset of the
476.St -p1003.2
477standard.
478The
479.Cm files
480and
481.Cm status
482operands and the
483.Cm ascii ,
484.Cm ebcdic ,
485.Cm ibm ,
486.Cm oldascii ,
487.Cm oldebcdic
488and
489.Cm oldibm
490values are extensions to the
491.Tn POSIX
492standard.
493.Sh HISTORY
494A
495.Nm
496command appeared in
497.At v5 .
498.Sh BUGS
499Protection mechanisms in the
500.Xr geom 4
501subsystem might prevent the super-user from writing blocks to a disk.
502Instructions for temporarily disabling these protection mechanisms can be
503found in the
504.Xr geom 4
505man page.
506