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DD(1) System General Commands Manual DD(1)
NAME
dd - convert and copy a file
SYNOPSIS
dd [operands ...]
DESCRIPTION
The dd utility copies the standard input to the standard output, applying
any specified conversions. Input data is read and written in 512-byte
blocks. If input reads are short, input from multiple reads are aggre-
gated to form the output block. When finished, dd displays the number of
complete and partial input and output blocks and truncated input records
to the standard error output.
The following operands are available:
if=file Read input from file instead of the standard input.
of=file Write output to file instead of the standard output. Any regu-
lar output file is truncated unless the notrunc conversion value
is specified. If an initial portion of the output file is
skipped (see the seek operand), the output file is truncated at
that point.
ibs=n Set the input block size to n bytes instead of the default 512.
obs=n Set the output block size to n bytes instead of the default 512.
bs=n Set both the input and output block size to n bytes, superseding
the ibs and obs operands. If no conversion values other than
noerror, notrunc, or sync are specified, then each input block
is copied to the output as a single block without any aggrega-
tion of short blocks.
cbs=n Set the conversion record size to n bytes. The conversion
record size is required by the record oriented conversion val-
ues.
count=n Copy only n input blocks.
files=n Copy n input files before terminating. This operand is only
applicable when the input device is a tape.
seek=n Seek n blocks from the beginning of the output before copying.
On non-tape devices, an lseek(2) operation is used. Otherwise,
existing blocks are read and the data discarded. If the user
does not have read permission for the tape, it is positioned
using the tape ioctl(2) function calls. If the seek operation
is past the end of file, space from the current end of file to
the specified offset is filled with blocks of NUL bytes.
skip=n Skip n blocks from the beginning of the input before copying.
On input which supports seeks, an lseek(2) operation is used.
Otherwise, input data is read and discarded. For pipes, the
correct number of bytes is read. For all other devices, the
correct number of blocks is read without distinguishing between
a partial or complete block being read.
conv=value[, value ...]
Where value is one of the symbols from the following list.
ascii, oldascii
The same as the unblock value except that characters
are translated from EBCDIC to ASCII before the records
are converted. (These values imply unblock if the
operand cbs is also specified.) There are two conver-
sion maps for ASCII. The value ascii specifies the
recommended one which is compatible with System V. The
value oldascii specifies the one used in historic AT&T
and pre-4.3BSD-reno systems.
block Treats the input as a sequence of newline or end-of-
file terminated variable length records independent of
input and output block boundaries. Any trailing new-
line character is discarded. Each input record is con-
verted to a fixed length output record where the length
is specified by the cbs operand. Input records shorter
than the conversion record size are padded with spaces.
Input records longer than the conversion record size
are truncated. The number of truncated input records,
if any, is reported to the standard error output at the
completion of the copy.
ebcdic, ibm, oldebcdic, oldibm
The same as the block value except that characters are
translated from ASCII to EBCDIC after the records are
converted. (These values imply block if the operand
cbs is also specified.) There are four conversion maps
for EBCDIC. The value ebcdic specifies the recommended
one which is compatible with AT&T System V UNIX. The
value ibm is a slightly different mapping, which is
compatible with the AT&T System V UNIX ibm value. The
values oldebcdic and oldibm are maps used in historic
AT&T and pre-4.3BSD-reno systems.
lcase Transform uppercase characters into lowercase charac-
ters.
noerror Do not stop processing on an input error. When an
input error occurs, a diagnostic message followed by
the current input and output block counts will be writ-
ten to the standard error output in the same format as
the standard completion message. If the sync conver-
sion is also specified, any missing input data will be
replaced with NUL bytes (or with spaces if a block ori-
ented conversion value was specified) and processed as
a normal input buffer. If the sync conversion is not
specified, the input block is omitted from the output.
On input files which are not tapes or pipes, the file
offset will be positioned past the block in which the
error occurred using lseek(2).
notrunc Do not truncate the output file. This will preserve
any blocks in the output file not explicitly written by
dd. The notrunc value is not supported for tapes.
osync Pad the final output block to the full output block
size. If the input file is not a multiple of the out-
put block size after conversion, this conversion forces
the final output block to be the same size as preceding
blocks for use on devices that require regularly sized
blocks to be written. This option is incompatible with
use of the bs=n block size specification.
swab Swap every pair of input bytes. If an input buffer has
an odd number of bytes, the last byte will be ignored
during swapping.
sync Pad every input block to the input buffer size. Spaces
are used for pad bytes if a block oriented conversion
value is specified, otherwise NUL bytes are used.
ucase Transform lowercase characters into uppercase charac-
ters.
unblock Treats the input as a sequence of fixed length records
independent of input and output block boundaries. The
length of the input records is specified by the cbs
operand. Any trailing space characters are discarded
and a newline character is appended.
verbose=level
Where level is one of the symbols from the following list:
regular Same as not having specified this operand. All regular
messages are printed.
records Only print the records in and out for the summary. Do
not print bytes transferred. For compatibility with
some systems expecting different output.
silent Print no summary information at all. Error messages are
still printed.
debug Print to standard error additional diagnostic informa-
tion. Currently the same as regular.
Where sizes are specified, a decimal number of bytes is expected. If the
number ends with a `b', `k', `m', or `w', the number is multiplied by
512, 1024 (1K), 1048576 (1M), or the number of bytes in an integer,
respectively. Two or more numbers may be separated by an `x' to indicate
a product.
When finished, dd displays the number of complete and partial input and
output blocks, truncated input records, and odd-length byte-swapping
blocks to the standard error output. A partial input block is one where
less than the input block size was read. A partial output block is one
where less than the output block size was written. Partial output blocks
to tape devices are considered fatal errors. Otherwise, the rest of the
block will be written. Partial output blocks to character devices will
produce a warning message. A truncated input block is one where a vari-
able length record oriented conversion value was specified and the input
line was too long to fit in the conversion record or was not newline ter-
minated.
Normally, data resulting from input or conversion or both are aggregated
into output blocks of the specified size. After the end of input is
reached, any remaining output is written as a block. This means that the
final output block may be shorter than the output block size.
If dd receives a SIGINT signal, the current input and output block counts
will be written to the standard error output in the same format as the
standard completion message and dd will exit.
dd
EXAMPLES
To copy from tape drive 0 to tape drive 1:
dd if=/dev/tape0 of=/dev/tape1
SEE ALSO
cp(1), mt(1), pax(1), tr(1), tar(1)
STANDARDS
The dd utility is expected to be a superset of the IEEE Std 1003.2
(``POSIX.2'') standard. The files operand and the ascii, ebcdic, ibm,
oldascii, oldebcdic, and oldibm values are extensions to the POSIX stan-
dard.
Interix June 16, 2008 Interix