GNU Coreutils

This manual documents version 5.93 of the GNU core utilities, including the standard programs for text and file manipulation.

Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.1 or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no Invariant Sections, with no Front-Cover Texts, and with no Back-Cover Texts. A copy of the license is included in the section entitled "GNU Free Documentation License".

Introduction: Caveats, overview, and authors.
Common options: Common options.
Output of entire files: cat tac nl od
Formatting file contents: fmt pr fold
Output of parts of files: head tail split csplit
Summarizing files: wc sum cksum md5sum sha1sum sha2
Operating on sorted files: sort uniq comm ptx tsort
Operating on fields within a line: cut paste join
Operating on characters: tr expand unexpand
Directory listing: ls dir vdir dircolors
Basic operations: cp dd install mv rm shred
Special file types: ln mkdir rmdir mkfifo mknod
Changing file attributes: chgrp chmod chown touch
Disk usage: df du stat sync
Printing text: echo printf yes
Conditions: false true test expr
Redirection: tee
File name manipulation: dirname basename pathchk
Working context: pwd stty printenv tty
User information: id logname whoami groups users who
System context: date uname hostname
Modified command invocation: chroot env nice nohup su
Process control: kill
Delaying: sleep
Numeric operations: factor seq
File permissions: Access modes.
Date input formats: Specifying date strings.
Opening the software toolbox: The software tools philosophy.
GNU Free Documentation License: The license for this documentation.
Index: General index.
--- The Detailed Node Listing ---
Common Options
Exit status: Indicating program success or failure.
Backup options: Backup options
Block size: Block size
Target directory: Target directory
Trailing slashes: Trailing slashes
Traversing symlinks: Traversing symlinks to directories
Treating / specially: Treating / specially
Standards conformance: Standards conformance
Output of entire files
cat invocation: Concatenate and write files.
tac invocation: Concatenate and write files in reverse.
nl invocation: Number lines and write files.
od invocation: Write files in octal or other formats.
Formatting file contents
fmt invocation: Reformat paragraph text.
pr invocation: Paginate or columnate files for printing.
fold invocation: Wrap input lines to fit in specified width.
Output of parts of files
head invocation: Output the first part of files.
tail invocation: Output the last part of files.
split invocation: Split a file into fixed-size pieces.
csplit invocation: Split a file into context-determined pieces.
Summarizing files
wc invocation: Print newline, word, and byte counts.
sum invocation: Print checksum and block counts.
cksum invocation: Print CRC checksum and byte counts.
md5sum invocation: Print or check MD5 digests.
sha1sum invocation: Print or check SHA-1 digests.
sha2 utilities: Print or check SHA-2 digests.
Operating on sorted files
sort invocation: Sort text files.
uniq invocation: Uniquify files.
comm invocation: Compare two sorted files line by line.
ptx invocation: Produce a permuted index of file contents.
tsort invocation: Topological sort.
ptx: Produce permuted indexes
General options in ptx: Options which affect general program behavior.
Charset selection in ptx: Underlying character set considerations.
Input processing in ptx: Input fields, contexts, and keyword selection.
Output formatting in ptx: Types of output format, and sizing the fields.
Compatibility in ptx: The GNU extensions to ptx
Operating on fields within a line
cut invocation: Print selected parts of lines.
paste invocation: Merge lines of files.
join invocation: Join lines on a common field.
Operating on characters
tr invocation: Translate, squeeze, and/or delete characters.
expand invocation: Convert tabs to spaces.
unexpand invocation: Convert spaces to tabs.
tr: Translate, squeeze, and/or delete characters
Character sets: Specifying sets of characters.
Translating: Changing one set of characters to another.
Squeezing: Squeezing repeats and deleting.
Directory listing
ls invocation: List directory contents
dir invocation: Briefly list directory contents
vdir invocation: Verbosely list directory contents
dircolors invocation: Color setup for ls
ls: List directory contents
Which files are listed: Which files are listed
What information is listed: What information is listed
Sorting the output: Sorting the output
More details about version sort: More details about version sort
General output formatting: General output formatting
Formatting the file names: Formatting the file names
Basic operations
cp invocation: Copy files and directories
dd invocation: Convert and copy a file
install invocation: Copy files and set attributes
mv invocation: Move (rename) files
rm invocation: Remove files or directories
shred invocation: Remove files more securely
Special file types
link invocation: Make a hard link via the link syscall
ln invocation: Make links between files
mkdir invocation: Make directories
mkfifo invocation: Make FIFOs (named pipes)
mknod invocation: Make block or character special files
readlink invocation: Print the referent of a symbolic link
rmdir invocation: Remove empty directories
unlink invocation: Remove files via unlink syscall
Changing file attributes
chown invocation: Change file owner and group
chgrp invocation: Change group ownership
chmod invocation: Change access permissions
touch invocation: Change file timestamps
Disk usage
df invocation: Report file system disk space usage
du invocation: Estimate file space usage
stat invocation: Report file or file system status
sync invocation: Synchronize data on disk with memory
Printing text
echo invocation: Print a line of text
printf invocation: Format and print data
yes invocation: Print a string until interrupted
Conditions
false invocation: Do nothing, unsuccessfully
true invocation: Do nothing, successfully
test invocation: Check file types and compare values
expr invocation: Evaluate expressions
test: Check file types and compare values
File type tests: File type tests
Access permission tests: Access permission tests
File characteristic tests: File characteristic tests
String tests: String tests
Numeric tests: Numeric tests
expr: Evaluate expression
String expressions: + : match substr index length
Numeric expressions: + - * / %
Relations for expr: | & < <= = == != >= >
Examples of expr: Examples of using expr
Redirection
tee invocation: Redirect output to multiple files
File name manipulation
basename invocation: Strip directory and suffix from a file name
dirname invocation: Strip non-directory suffix from a file name
pathchk invocation: Check file name portability
Working context
pwd invocation: Print working directory
stty invocation: Print or change terminal characteristics
printenv invocation: Print all or some environment variables
tty invocation: Print file name of terminal on standard input
stty: Print or change terminal characteristics
Control: Control settings
Input: Input settings
Output: Output settings
Local: Local settings
Combination: Combination settings
Characters: Special characters
Special: Special settings
User information
id invocation: Print user identity
logname invocation: Print current login name
whoami invocation: Print effective user ID
groups invocation: Print group names a user is in
users invocation: Print login names of users currently logged in
who invocation: Print who is currently logged in
System context
date invocation: Print or set system date and time
uname invocation: Print system information
hostname invocation: Print or set system name
hostid invocation: Print numeric host identifier.
date: Print or set system date and time
Time conversion specifiers: %[HIklMNpPrRsSTXzZ]
Date conversion specifiers: %[aAbBcCdDeFgGhjmuUVwWxyY]
Literal conversion specifiers: %[%nt]
Padding and other flags: Pad with zeroes, spaces, etc.
Setting the time: Changing the system clock.
Options for date: Instead of the current time.
Examples of date: Examples.
Modified command invocation
chroot invocation: Run a command with a different root directory
env invocation: Run a command in a modified environment
nice invocation: Run a command with modified niceness
nohup invocation: Run a command immune to hangups
su invocation: Run a command with substitute user and group ID
Process control
kill invocation: Sending a signal to processes.
Delaying
sleep invocation: Delay for a specified time
Numeric operations
factor invocation: Print prime factors
seq invocation: Print numeric sequences
File permissions
Mode Structure: Structure of File Permissions
Symbolic Modes: Mnemonic permissions representation
Numeric Modes: Permissions as octal numbers
Date input formats
General date syntax: Common rules.
Calendar date items: 19 Dec 1994.
Time of day items: 9:20pm.
Time zone items: EST, PDT, GMT.
Day of week items: Monday and others.
Relative items in date strings: next tuesday, 2 years ago.
Pure numbers in date strings: 19931219, 1440.
Seconds since the Epoch: @1078100502.
Specifying time zone rules: TZ="America/New_York", TZ="UTC0".
Authors of get_date: Bellovin, Eggert, Salz, Berets, et al.
Opening the software toolbox
Toolbox introduction: Toolbox introduction
I/O redirection: I/O redirection
The who command: The who command
The cut command: The cut command
The sort command: The sort command
The uniq command: The uniq command
Putting the tools together: Putting the tools together
GNU Free Documentation License
How to use this License for your documents: