xref: /netbsd-src/bin/dd/dd.1 (revision 8e6ab8837d8d6b9198e67c1c445300b483e2f304)
1.\"	$NetBSD: dd.1,v 1.16 2003/08/07 09:05:10 agc Exp $
2.\"
3.\" Copyright (c) 1990, 1993
4.\"	The Regents of the University of California.  All rights reserved.
5.\"
6.\" This code is derived from software contributed to Berkeley by
7.\" Keith Muller of the University of California, San Diego.
8.\"
9.\" Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without
10.\" modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions
11.\" are met:
12.\" 1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright
13.\"    notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.
14.\" 2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright
15.\"    notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the
16.\"    documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution.
17.\" 3. Neither the name of the University nor the names of its contributors
18.\"    may be used to endorse or promote products derived from this software
19.\"    without specific prior written permission.
20.\"
21.\" THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE REGENTS AND CONTRIBUTORS ``AS IS'' AND
22.\" ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE
23.\" IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE
24.\" ARE DISCLAIMED.  IN NO EVENT SHALL THE REGENTS OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE
25.\" FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL
26.\" DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS
27.\" OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION)
28.\" HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT
29.\" LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY
30.\" OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF
31.\" SUCH DAMAGE.
32.\"
33.\"	@(#)dd.1	8.2 (Berkeley) 1/13/94
34.\"
35.Dd November 25, 2001
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 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 Ar n
59Set both input and output block size, superseding the
60.Cm ibs
61and
62.Cm obs
63operands.
64If no conversion values other than
65.Cm noerror ,
66.Cm notrunc
67or
68.Cm sync
69are specified, then each input block is copied to the output as a
70single block without any aggregation of short blocks.
71.It Cm cbs= Ns Ar n
72Set the conversion record size to
73.Va n
74bytes.
75The conversion record size is required by the record oriented conversion
76values.
77.It Cm count= Ns Ar n
78Copy only
79.Va n
80input blocks.
81.It Cm files= Ns Ar n
82Copy
83.Va n
84input files before terminating.
85This operand is only applicable when the input device is a tape.
86.It Cm ibs= Ns Ar n
87Set the input block size to
88.Va n
89bytes instead of the default 512.
90.It Cm if= Ns Ar file
91Read input from
92.Ar file
93instead of the standard input.
94.It Cm obs= Ns Ar n
95Set the output block size to
96.Va n
97bytes instead of the default 512.
98.It Cm of= Ns Ar file
99Write output to
100.Ar file
101instead of the standard output.
102Any regular output file is truncated unless the
103.Cm notrunc
104conversion value is specified.
105If an initial portion of the output file is skipped (see the
106.Cm seek
107operand)
108the output file is truncated at that point.
109.It Cm seek= Ns Ar n
110Seek
111.Va n
112blocks from the beginning of the output before copying.
113On non-tape devices, a
114.Xr lseek 2
115operation is used.
116Otherwise, existing blocks are read and the data discarded.
117If the user does not have read permission for the tape, it is positioned
118using the tape
119.Xr ioctl 2
120function calls.
121If the seek operation is past the end of file, space from the current
122end of file to the specified offset is filled with blocks of
123.Tn NUL
124bytes.
125.It Cm skip= Ns Ar n
126Skip
127.Va n
128blocks from the beginning of the input before copying.
129On input which supports seeks, a
130.Xr lseek 2
131operation is used.
132Otherwise, input data is read and discarded.
133For pipes, the correct number of bytes is read.
134For all other devices, the correct number of blocks is read without
135distinguishing between a partial or complete block being read.
136.It Cm progress= Ns Ar n
137Switch on display of progress if
138.Va n
139is set to
140.Dq 1 ,
141i.e. a
142.Dq \&.
143is printed for each block written to the output file.
144.It Xo
145.Sm off
146.Cm conv=
147.Cm value Op \&, Cm value \&...
148.Sm on
149.Xc
150Where
151.Cm value
152is one of the symbols from the following list.
153.Bl -tag -width unblock
154.It Cm ascii , oldascii
155The same as the
156.Cm unblock
157value except that characters are translated from
158.Tn EBCDIC
159to
160.Tn ASCII
161before the
162records are converted.
163(These values imply
164.Cm unblock
165if the operand
166.Cm cbs
167is also specified.)
168There are two conversion maps for
169.Tn ASCII .
170The value
171.Cm ascii
172specifies the recommended one which is compatible with
173.At V .
174The value
175.Cm oldascii
176specifies the one used in historic
177.Tn AT\*[Am]T
178and pre-
179.Bx 4.3 Reno
180systems.
181.It Cm block
182Treats the input as a sequence of newline or end-of-file terminated variable
183length records independent of input and output block boundaries.
184Any trailing newline character is discarded.
185Each input record is converted to a fixed length output record where the
186length is specified by the
187.Cm cbs
188operand.
189Input records shorter than the conversion record size are padded with spaces.
190Input records longer than the conversion record size are truncated.
191The number of truncated input records, if any, are reported to the standard
192error output at the completion of the copy.
193.It Cm ebcdic , ibm , oldebcdic , oldibm
194The same as the
195.Cm block
196value except that characters are translated from
197.Tn ASCII
198to
199.Tn EBCDIC
200after the
201records are converted.
202(These values imply
203.Cm block
204if the operand
205.Cm cbs
206is also specified.)
207There are four conversion maps for
208.Tn EBCDIC .
209The value
210.Cm ebcdic
211specifies the recommended one which is compatible with
212.At V .
213The value
214.Cm ibm
215is a slightly different mapping, which is compatible with the
216.At V
217.Cm ibm
218value.
219The values
220.Cm oldebcdic
221and
222.Cm oldibm
223are maps used in historic
224.Tn AT\*[Am]T
225and pre
226.Bx 4.3 Reno
227systems.
228.It Cm lcase
229Transform uppercase characters into lowercase characters.
230.It Cm noerror
231Do not stop processing on an input error.
232When an input error occurs, a diagnostic message followed by the current
233input and output block counts will be written to the standard error output
234in the same format as the standard completion message.
235If the
236.Cm sync
237conversion is also specified, any missing input data will be replaced
238with
239.Tn NUL
240bytes (or with spaces if a block oriented conversion value was
241specified) and processed as a normal input buffer.
242If the
243.Cm sync
244conversion is not specified, the input block is omitted from the output.
245On input files which are not tapes or pipes, the file offset
246will be positioned past the block in which the error occurred using
247.Xr lseek 2 .
248.It Cm notrunc
249Do not truncate the output file.
250This will preserve any blocks in the output file not explicitly written
251by
252.Nm .
253The
254.Cm notrunc
255value is not supported for tapes.
256.It Cm osync
257Pad the final output block to the full output block size.
258If the input file is not a multiple of the output block size
259after conversion, this conversion forces the final output block
260to be the same size as preceding blocks for use on devices that require
261regularly sized blocks to be written.
262This option is incompatible with use of the
263.Cm bs= Ns Ar n
264block size specification.
265.It Cm swab
266Swap every pair of input bytes.
267If an input buffer has an odd number of bytes, the last byte will be
268ignored during swapping.
269.It Cm sync
270Pad every input block to the input buffer size.
271Spaces are used for pad bytes if a block oriented conversion value is
272specified, otherwise
273.Tn NUL
274bytes are used.
275.It Cm ucase
276Transform lowercase characters into uppercase characters.
277.It Cm unblock
278Treats the input as a sequence of fixed length records independent of input
279and output block boundaries.
280The length of the input records is specified by the
281.Cm cbs
282operand.
283Any trailing space characters are discarded and a newline character is
284appended.
285.El
286.El
287.Pp
288Where sizes are specified, a decimal number of bytes is expected.
289Two or more numbers may be separated by an
290.Dq x
291to indicate a product.
292Each number may have one of the following optional suffices:
293.Bl -tag -width 3n -offset indent -compact
294.It b
295Block; multiply by 512
296.It k
297Kilo; multiply by 1024 (1 KB)
298.It m
299Mega; multiply by 1048576 (1 MB)
300.It g
301Giga; multiply by 1073741824 (1 GB)
302.It t
303Tera; multiply by 1099511627776 (1 TB)
304.It w
305Word; multiply by the number of bytes in an integer
306.El
307.Pp
308When finished,
309.Nm
310displays the number of complete and partial input and output blocks,
311truncated input records and odd-length byte-swapping blocks to the
312standard error output.
313A partial input block is one where less than the input block size
314was read.
315A partial output block is one where less than the output block size
316was written.
317Partial output blocks to tape devices are considered fatal errors.
318Otherwise, the rest of the block will be written.
319Partial output blocks to character devices will produce a warning message.
320A truncated input block is one where a variable length record oriented
321conversion value was specified and the input line was too long to
322fit in the conversion record or was not newline terminated.
323.Pp
324Normally, data resulting from input or conversion or both are aggregated
325into output blocks of the specified size.
326After the end of input is reached, any remaining output is written as
327a block.
328This means that the final output block may be shorter than the output
329block size.
330.Pp
331If
332.Nm
333receives a
334.Dv SIGINFO
335signal
336(see the
337.Ic status
338argument for
339.Xr stty 1 ) ,
340the current input and output block counts will
341be written to the standard error output
342in the same format as the standard completion message.
343If
344.Nm
345receives a
346.Dv SIGINT
347signal, the current input and output block counts will
348be written to the standard error output
349in the same format as the standard completion message and
350.Nm
351will exit.
352.Sh EXIT STATUS
353The
354.Nm
355utility exits 0 on success and \*[Gt]0 if an error occurred.
356.Sh SEE ALSO
357.Xr cp 1 ,
358.Xr mt 1 ,
359.Xr tr 1
360.Sh STANDARDS
361The
362.Nm
363utility is expected to be a superset of the
364.St -p1003.2
365standard.
366The
367.Cm files
368operand and the
369.Cm ascii ,
370.Cm ebcdic ,
371.Cm ibm ,
372.Cm oldascii ,
373.Cm oldebcdic
374and
375.Cm oldibm
376values are extensions to the
377.Tn POSIX
378standard.
379