xref: /netbsd-src/bin/dd/dd.1 (revision c8da0e5fefd3800856b306200a18b2315c7fbb9f)
1.\"	$NetBSD: dd.1,v 1.22 2009/03/11 12:43:58 joerg Exp $
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3.\" Copyright (c) 1990, 1993
4.\"	The Regents of the University of California.  All rights reserved.
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6.\" This code is derived from software contributed to Berkeley by
7.\" Keith Muller of the University of California, San Diego.
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33.\"	@(#)dd.1	8.2 (Berkeley) 1/13/94
34.\"
35.Dd April 13, 2007
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 any non-zero value.
140This will cause a
141.Dq \&.
142to be printed (to the standard error output) for every
143.Va n
144full or partial blocks written to the output file.
145.Sm off
146.It Cm conv= Cm value Op \&, Cm value \&...
147.Sm on
148Where
149.Cm value
150is one of the symbols from the following list.
151.Bl -tag -width unblock
152.It Cm ascii , oldascii
153The same as the
154.Cm unblock
155value except that characters are translated from
156.Tn EBCDIC
157to
158.Tn ASCII
159before the
160records are converted.
161(These values imply
162.Cm unblock
163if the operand
164.Cm cbs
165is also specified.)
166There are two conversion maps for
167.Tn ASCII .
168The value
169.Cm ascii
170specifies the recommended one which is compatible with
171.At V .
172The value
173.Cm oldascii
174specifies the one used in historic
175.Tn AT\*[Am]T
176and pre-
177.Bx 4.3 Reno
178systems.
179.It Cm block
180Treats the input as a sequence of newline or end-of-file terminated variable
181length records independent of input and output block boundaries.
182Any trailing newline character is discarded.
183Each input record is converted to a fixed length output record where the
184length is specified by the
185.Cm cbs
186operand.
187Input records shorter than the conversion record size are padded with spaces.
188Input records longer than the conversion record size are truncated.
189The number of truncated input records, if any, are reported to the standard
190error output at the completion of the copy.
191.It Cm ebcdic , ibm , oldebcdic , oldibm
192The same as the
193.Cm block
194value except that characters are translated from
195.Tn ASCII
196to
197.Tn EBCDIC
198after the
199records are converted.
200(These values imply
201.Cm block
202if the operand
203.Cm cbs
204is also specified.)
205There are four conversion maps for
206.Tn EBCDIC .
207The value
208.Cm ebcdic
209specifies the recommended one which is compatible with
210.At V .
211The value
212.Cm ibm
213is a slightly different mapping, which is compatible with the
214.At V
215.Cm ibm
216value.
217The values
218.Cm oldebcdic
219and
220.Cm oldibm
221are maps used in historic
222.Tn AT\*[Am]T
223and pre
224.Bx 4.3 Reno
225systems.
226.It Cm lcase
227Transform uppercase characters into lowercase characters.
228.It Cm noerror
229Do not stop processing on an input error.
230When an input error occurs, a diagnostic message followed by the current
231input and output block counts will be written to the standard error output
232in the same format as the standard completion message.
233If the
234.Cm sync
235conversion is also specified, any missing input data will be replaced
236with
237.Tn NUL
238bytes (or with spaces if a block oriented conversion value was
239specified) and processed as a normal input buffer.
240If the
241.Cm sync
242conversion is not specified, the input block is omitted from the output.
243On input files which are not tapes or pipes, the file offset
244will be positioned past the block in which the error occurred using
245.Xr lseek 2 .
246.It Cm notrunc
247Do not truncate the output file.
248This will preserve any blocks in the output file not explicitly written
249by
250.Nm .
251The
252.Cm notrunc
253value is not supported for tapes.
254.It Cm osync
255Pad the final output block to the full output block size.
256If the input file is not a multiple of the output block size
257after conversion, this conversion forces the final output block
258to be the same size as preceding blocks for use on devices that require
259regularly sized blocks to be written.
260This option is incompatible with use of the
261.Cm bs= Ns Ar n
262block size specification.
263.It Cm sparse
264If one or more non-final output blocks would consist solely of
265.Dv NUL
266bytes, try to seek the output file by the required space instead of
267filling them with
268.Dv NUL Ns s .
269This results in a sparse file on some file systems.
270.It Cm swab
271Swap every pair of input bytes.
272If an input buffer has an odd number of bytes, the last byte will be
273ignored during swapping.
274.It Cm sync
275Pad every input block to the input buffer size.
276Spaces are used for pad bytes if a block oriented conversion value is
277specified, otherwise
278.Tn NUL
279bytes are used.
280.It Cm ucase
281Transform lowercase characters into uppercase characters.
282.It Cm unblock
283Treats the input as a sequence of fixed length records independent of input
284and output block boundaries.
285The length of the input records is specified by the
286.Cm cbs
287operand.
288Any trailing space characters are discarded and a newline character is
289appended.
290.El
291.El
292.Pp
293Where sizes are specified, a decimal number of bytes is expected.
294Two or more numbers may be separated by an
295.Dq x
296to indicate a product.
297Each number may have one of the following optional suffixes:
298.Bl -tag -width 3n -offset indent -compact
299.It b
300Block; multiply by 512
301.It k
302Kibi; multiply by 1024 (1 KiB)
303.It m
304Mebi; multiply by 1048576 (1 MiB)
305.It g
306Gibi; multiply by 1073741824 (1 GiB)
307.It t
308Tebi; multiply by 1099511627776 (1 TiB)
309.It w
310Word; multiply by the number of bytes in an integer
311.El
312.Pp
313When finished,
314.Nm
315displays the number of complete and partial input and output blocks,
316truncated input records and odd-length byte-swapping blocks to the
317standard error output.
318A partial input block is one where less than the input block size
319was read.
320A partial output block is one where less than the output block size
321was written.
322Partial output blocks to tape devices are considered fatal errors.
323Otherwise, the rest of the block will be written.
324Partial output blocks to character devices will produce a warning message.
325A truncated input block is one where a variable length record oriented
326conversion value was specified and the input line was too long to
327fit in the conversion record or was not newline terminated.
328.Pp
329Normally, data resulting from input or conversion or both are aggregated
330into output blocks of the specified size.
331After the end of input is reached, any remaining output is written as
332a block.
333This means that the final output block may be shorter than the output
334block size.
335.Pp
336If
337.Nm
338receives a
339.Dv SIGINFO
340signal
341(see the
342.Ic status
343argument for
344.Xr stty 1 ) ,
345the current input and output block counts will
346be written to the standard error output
347in the same format as the standard completion message.
348If
349.Nm
350receives a
351.Dv SIGINT
352signal, the current input and output block counts will
353be written to the standard error output
354in the same format as the standard completion message and
355.Nm
356will exit.
357.Sh EXIT STATUS
358The
359.Nm
360utility exits 0 on success and \*[Gt]0 if an error occurred.
361.Sh SEE ALSO
362.Xr cp 1 ,
363.Xr mt 1 ,
364.Xr tr 1
365.Sh STANDARDS
366The
367.Nm
368utility is expected to be a superset of the
369.St -p1003.2
370standard.
371The
372.Cm files
373operand and the
374.Cm ascii ,
375.Cm ebcdic ,
376.Cm ibm ,
377.Cm oldascii ,
378.Cm oldebcdic
379and
380.Cm oldibm
381values are extensions to the
382.Tn POSIX
383standard.
384