NAME

SYNTAX

 busybox <applet> [arguments...]  # or

 <applet> [arguments...]          # if symlinked

DESCRIPTION

BusyBox has been written with size-optimization and limited resources in mind. It is also extremely modular so you can easily include or exclude commands (or features) at compile time. This makes it easy to customize your embedded systems. To create a working system, just add /dev, /etc, and a Linux kernel. BusyBox provides a fairly complete POSIX environment for any small or embedded system.

BusyBox is extremely configurable. This allows you to include only the components you need, thereby reducing binary size. Run 'make config' or 'make menuconfig' to select the functionality that you wish to enable. Then run 'make' to compile BusyBox using your configuration.

After the compile has finished, you should use 'make install' to install BusyBox. This will install the 'bin/busybox' binary, in the target directory specified by CONFIG_PREFIX. CONFIG_PREFIX can be set when configuring BusyBox, or you can specify an alternative location at install time (i.e., with a command line like 'make CONFIG_PREFIX=/tmp/foo install'). If you enabled any applet installation scheme (either as symlinks or hardlinks), these will also be installed in the location pointed to by CONFIG_PREFIX.

USAGE

You can also invoke BusyBox by issuing a command as an argument on the command line. For example, entering

        /bin/busybox ls

will also cause BusyBox to behave as 'ls'.

Of course, adding '/bin/busybox' into every command would be painful. So most people will invoke BusyBox using links to the BusyBox binary.

For example, entering

        ln -s /bin/busybox ls
        ./ls

will cause BusyBox to behave as 'ls' (if the 'ls' command has been compiled into BusyBox). Generally speaking, you should never need to make all these links yourself, as the BusyBox build system will do this for you when you run the 'make install' command.

If you invoke BusyBox with no arguments, it will provide you with a list of the applets that have been compiled into your BusyBox binary.

COMMON OPTIONS

COMMANDS

        [, [[, addgroup, adduser, adjtimex, ar, arp, arping, ash, awk,
        base64, basename, bbconfig, beep, blkid, blockdev, brctl, bunzip2,
        bzcat, cal, cat, chgrp, chmod, chown, chpasswd, chroot, chrt, chvt,
        cksum, clear, cmp, comm, conspy, cp, cpio, crond, crontab, cryptpw,
        cut, date, dd, deallocvt, delgroup, deluser, depmod, df, dhcprelay,
        diff, dirname, dmesg, dnsd, dnsdomainname, dos2unix, dpkg, dpkg-deb,
        du, dumpkmap, dumpleases, echo, egrep, eject, env, ether-wake,
        expand, expr, fakeidentd, false, fatattr, fbset, fbsplash, fbvnc,
        fdflush, fdformat, fdisk, fgrep, find, findfs, flock, fold, free,
        freeramdisk, fstrim, fsync, ftpd, ftpget, ftpput, fuser, getty,
        grep, groups, gunzip, gzip, halt, hdparm, head, hexdump, hostid,
        hostname, httpd, hwclock, id, ifconfig, ifenslave, inetd, init,
        insmod, install, ionice, iostat, ip, ipaddr, ipcalc, ipcrm, ipcs,
        iplink, iproute, iprule, iptunnel, kbd_mode, kill, killall,
        killall5, klogd, last, less, linux32, linux64, linuxrc, ln,
        loadkmap, logger, login, logname, losetup, lpd, lpq, lpr, ls, lsmod,
        lsof, lspci, lsusb, lzcat, md5sum, mesg, microcom, mkdir, mkdosfs,
        mkfifo, mkfs.vfat, mknod, mkpasswd, mkswap, mktemp, modinfo,
        modprobe, more, mount, mountpoint, mpstat, mt, mv, nameif,
        nbd-client, nc, netstat, nice, nmeter, nohup, nslookup, ntpd, od,
        openvt, passwd, patch, pgrep, pidof, ping, ping6, pipe_progress,
        pivot_root, pkill, pmap, poweroff, powertop, printenv, printf, ps,
        pscan, pstree, pwd, raidautorun, rdate, rdev, readlink, readprofile,
        realpath, reboot, renice, reset, rev, rm, rmdir, rmmod, route, rpm,
        rpm2cpio, rtcwake, script, scriptreplay, sed, sendmail, seq,
        setarch, setconsole, setkeycodes, setlogcons, setserial, setsid, sh,
        sha1sum, sha256sum, sha3sum, sha512sum, shutdown, sleep, smemcap,
        sort, split, stat, strings, stty, su, sulogin, sum, swapoff, swapon,
        switch_root, sync, sysctl, syslogd, tac, tail, tar, taskset, tee,
        telnet, test, tftp, tftpd, time, timeout, top, touch, tr,
        traceroute, traceroute6, true, tty, ttysize, tunctl, ubiattach,
        ubidetach, udhcpc, udhcpc6, udhcpd, umount, uname, uncompress,
        unexpand, uniq, unix2dos, unlzma, unxz, unzip, uptime, users,
        usleep, uudecode, uuencode, vconfig, vi, vlock, volname, wall,
        watch, watchdog, wc, wget, which, who, whoami, whois, xargs, xzcat,
        yes, zcat, zcip

COMMAND DESCRIPTIONS

addgroup

addgroup [-g GID] [-S] [USER] GROUP

Add a group or add a user to a group

        -g GID  Group id
        -S      Create a system group

adduser

adduser [OPTIONS] USER [GROUP]

Create new user, or add USER to GROUP

        -h DIR          Home directory
        -g GECOS        GECOS field
        -s SHELL        Login shell
        -G GRP          Add user to existing group
        -S              Create a system user
        -D              Don't assign a password
        -H              Don't create home directory
        -u UID          User id

adjtimex

adjtimex [-q] [-o OFF] [-f FREQ] [-p TCONST] [-t TICK]

Read or set kernel time variables. See adjtimex(2)

        -q      Quiet
        -o OFF  Time offset, microseconds
        -f FREQ Frequency adjust, integer kernel units (65536 is 1ppm)
        -t TICK Microseconds per tick, usually 10000
                (positive -t or -f values make clock run faster)
        -p TCONST

ar

ar [-o] [-v] [-p] [-t] [-x] ARCHIVE FILES

Extract or list FILES from an ar archive

        -o      Preserve original dates
        -p      Extract to stdout
        -t      List
        -x      Extract
        -v      Verbose

arp

arp [-vn]   [-H HWTYPE] [-i IF] -a [HOSTNAME]
[-v]             [-i IF] -d HOSTNAME [pub]
[-v]    [-H HWTYPE] [-i IF] -s HOSTNAME HWADDR [temp]
[-v]    [-H HWTYPE] [-i IF] -s HOSTNAME HWADDR [netmask MASK] pub
[-v]    [-H HWTYPE] [-i IF] -Ds HOSTNAME IFACE [netmask MASK] pub

Manipulate ARP cache

        -a              Display (all) hosts
        -d              Delete ARP entry
        -s              Set new entry
        -v              Verbose
        -n              Don't resolve names
        -i IF           Network interface
        -D              Read HWADDR from IFACE
        -A,-p AF        Protocol family
        -H HWTYPE       Hardware address type

arping

arping [-fqbDUA] [-c CNT] [-w TIMEOUT] [-I IFACE] [-s SRC_IP] DST_IP

Send ARP requests/replies

        -f              Quit on first ARP reply
        -q              Quiet
        -b              Keep broadcasting, don't go unicast
        -D              Duplicated address detection mode
        -U              Unsolicited ARP mode, update your neighbors
        -A              ARP answer mode, update your neighbors
        -c N            Stop after sending N ARP requests
        -w TIMEOUT      Time to wait for ARP reply, seconds
        -I IFACE        Interface to use (default eth0)
        -s SRC_IP       Sender IP address
        DST_IP          Target IP address

ash

ash [-/+OPTIONS] [-/+o OPT]... [-c 'SCRIPT' [ARG0 [ARGS]] / FILE [ARGS]]

Unix shell interpreter

awk

awk [OPTIONS] [AWK_PROGRAM] [FILE]...

        -v VAR=VAL      Set variable
        -F SEP          Use SEP as field separator
        -f FILE         Read program from FILE
        -e AWK_PROGRAM

base64

base64 [-d] [FILE]

Base64 encode or decode FILE to standard output         -d      Decode data

basename

basename FILE [SUFFIX]

Strip directory path and .SUFFIX from FILE

bbconfig

bbconfig

Print the config file used by busybox build

beep

beep -f FREQ -l LEN -d DELAY -r COUNT -n

        -f      Frequency in Hz
        -l      Length in ms
        -d      Delay in ms
        -r      Repetitions
        -n      Start new tone

blkid

blkid [BLOCKDEV]...

Print UUIDs of all filesystems

blockdev

blockdev OPTION BLOCKDEV

        --setro         Set ro
        --setrw         Set rw
        --getro         Get ro
        --getss         Get sector size
        --getbsz        Get block size
        --setbsz BYTES  Set block size
        --getsz         Get device size in 512-byte sectors
        --getsize64     Get device size in bytes
        --flushbufs     Flush buffers
        --rereadpt      Reread partition table

brctl

brctl COMMAND [BRIDGE [INTERFACE]]

Manage ethernet bridges

Commands:

        show                    Show a list of bridges
        addbr BRIDGE            Create BRIDGE
        delbr BRIDGE            Delete BRIDGE
        addif BRIDGE IFACE      Add IFACE to BRIDGE
        delif BRIDGE IFACE      Delete IFACE from BRIDGE
        setageing BRIDGE TIME           Set ageing time
        setfd BRIDGE TIME               Set bridge forward delay
        sethello BRIDGE TIME            Set hello time
        setmaxage BRIDGE TIME           Set max message age
        setpathcost BRIDGE COST         Set path cost
        setportprio BRIDGE PRIO         Set port priority
        setbridgeprio BRIDGE PRIO       Set bridge priority
        stp BRIDGE [1/yes/on|0/no/off]  STP on/off

bunzip2

bunzip2 [-cf] [FILE]...

Decompress FILEs (or stdin)

        -c      Write to stdout
        -f      Force

bzcat

bzcat [FILE]...

Decompress to stdout

cal

cal [-jy] [[MONTH] YEAR]

Display a calendar

        -j      Use julian dates
        -y      Display the entire year

cat

cat [FILE]...

Concatenate FILEs and print them to stdout

chgrp

chgrp [-RhLHPcvf]... GROUP FILE...

Change the group membership of each FILE to GROUP

        -R      Recurse
        -h      Affect symlinks instead of symlink targets
        -L      Traverse all symlinks to directories
        -H      Traverse symlinks on command line only
        -P      Don't traverse symlinks (default)
        -c      List changed files
        -v      Verbose
        -f      Hide errors

chmod

chmod [-Rcvf] MODE[,MODE]... FILE...

Each MODE is one or more of the letters ugoa, one of the symbols +-= and one or more of the letters rwxst

        -R      Recurse
        -c      List changed files
        -v      List all files
        -f      Hide errors

chown

chown [-RhLHPcvf]... OWNER[<.|:>[GROUP]] FILE...

Change the owner and/or group of each FILE to OWNER and/or GROUP

        -R      Recurse
        -h      Affect symlinks instead of symlink targets
        -L      Traverse all symlinks to directories
        -H      Traverse symlinks on command line only
        -P      Don't traverse symlinks (default)
        -c      List changed files
        -v      List all files
        -f      Hide errors

chpasswd

chpasswd [--md5|--encrypted]

Read user:password from stdin and update /etc/passwd

        -e,--encrypted  Supplied passwords are in encrypted form
        -m,--md5        Use MD5 encryption instead of DES

chroot

chroot NEWROOT [PROG ARGS]

Run PROG with root directory set to NEWROOT

chrt

chrt [-prfom] [PRIO] [PID | PROG ARGS]

Change scheduling priority and class for a process

        -p      Operate on PID
        -r      Set SCHED_RR class
        -f      Set SCHED_FIFO class
        -o      Set SCHED_OTHER class
        -m      Show min/max priorities

chvt

chvt N

Change the foreground virtual terminal to /dev/ttyN

cksum

cksum FILES...

Calculate the CRC32 checksums of FILES

clear

clear

Clear screen

cmp

cmp [-l] [-s] FILE1 [FILE2 [SKIP1 [SKIP2]]]

Compare FILE1 with FILE2 (or stdin)

        -l      Write the byte numbers (decimal) and values (octal)
                for all differing bytes
        -s      Quiet

comm

comm [-123] FILE1 FILE2

Compare FILE1 with FILE2

        -1      Suppress lines unique to FILE1
        -2      Suppress lines unique to FILE2
        -3      Suppress lines common to both files

conspy

conspy [-vcsndfFQ] [-x COL] [-y LINE] [CONSOLE_NO]

A text-mode VNC like program for Linux virtual consoles. To exit, quickly press ESC 3 times.

        -v      Don't send keystrokes to the console
        -c      Create missing /dev/{tty,vcsa}N
        -s      Open a SHELL session
        -n      Black & white
        -d      Dump console to stdout
        -f      Follow cursor
        -F      Assume console is on a framebuffer device
        -Q      Disable exit on ESC-ESC-ESC
        -x COL  Starting column
        -y LINE Starting line

cp

cp [OPTIONS] SOURCE... DEST

Copy SOURCE(s) to DEST

        -a      Same as -dpR
        -R,-r   Recurse
        -d,-P   Preserve symlinks (default if -R)
        -L      Follow all symlinks
        -H      Follow symlinks on command line
        -p      Preserve file attributes if possible
        -f      Overwrite
        -i      Prompt before overwrite
        -l,-s   Create (sym)links

cpio

cpio [-dmvu] [-F FILE] [-H newc] [-tio] [EXTR_FILE]...

Extract or list files from a cpio archive, or create an archive using file list on stdin

Main operation mode:

        -t      List
        -i      Extract EXTR_FILEs (or all)
        -o      Create (requires -H newc)
Options:

        -d      Make leading directories
        -m      Preserve mtime
        -v      Verbose
        -u      Overwrite
        -F FILE Input (-t,-i,-p) or output (-o) file
        -H newc Archive format

crond

crond -fbS -l N -L LOGFILE -c DIR

        -f      Foreground
        -b      Background (default)
        -S      Log to syslog (default)
        -l N    Set log level. Most verbose:0, default:8
        -L FILE Log to FILE
        -c DIR  Cron dir. Default:/var/spool/cron/crontabs

crontab

crontab [-c DIR] [-u USER] [-ler]|[FILE]

        -c      Crontab directory
        -u      User
        -l      List crontab
        -e      Edit crontab
        -r      Delete crontab
        FILE    Replace crontab by FILE ('-': stdin)

cryptpw

cryptpw [OPTIONS] [PASSWORD] [SALT]

Crypt PASSWORD using crypt(3)

        -P,--password-fd=N      Read password from fd N
        -m,--method=TYPE        Encryption method
        -S,--salt=SALT

cut

cut [OPTIONS] [FILE]...

Print selected fields from each input FILE to stdout

        -b LIST Output only bytes from LIST
        -c LIST Output only characters from LIST
        -d CHAR Use CHAR instead of tab as the field delimiter
        -s      Output only the lines containing delimiter
        -f N    Print only these fields
        -n      Ignored

date

date [OPTIONS] [+FMT] [TIME]

Display time (using +FMT), or set time

        [-s,--set] TIME Set time to TIME
        -u,--utc        Work in UTC (don't convert to local time)
        -R,--rfc-2822   Output RFC-2822 compliant date string
        -I[SPEC]        Output ISO-8601 compliant date string
                        SPEC='date' (default) for date only,
                        'hours', 'minutes', or 'seconds' for date and
                        time to the indicated precision
        -r,--reference FILE     Display last modification time of FILE
        -d,--date TIME  Display TIME, not 'now'
        -D FMT          Use FMT for -d TIME conversion

Recognized TIME formats:

        hh:mm[:ss]
        [YYYY.]MM.DD-hh:mm[:ss]
        YYYY-MM-DD hh:mm[:ss]
        [[[[[YY]YY]MM]DD]hh]mm[.ss]
        'date TIME' form accepts MMDDhhmm[[YY]YY][.ss] instead

dd

dd [if=FILE] [of=FILE] [ibs=N] [obs=N] [bs=N] [count=N] [skip=N]         [seek=N] [conv=notrunc|noerror|sync|fsync]

Copy a file with converting and formatting

        if=FILE         Read from FILE instead of stdin
        of=FILE         Write to FILE instead of stdout
        bs=N            Read and write N bytes at a time
        ibs=N           Read N bytes at a time
        obs=N           Write N bytes at a time
        count=N         Copy only N input blocks
        skip=N          Skip N input blocks
        seek=N          Skip N output blocks
        conv=notrunc    Don't truncate output file
        conv=noerror    Continue after read errors
        conv=sync       Pad blocks with zeros
        conv=fsync      Physically write data out before finishing
        conv=swab       Swap every pair of bytes

N may be suffixed by c (1), w (2), b (512), kD (1000), k (1024), MD, M, GD, G

deallocvt

deallocvt [N]

Deallocate unused virtual terminal /dev/ttyN

delgroup

delgroup [USER] GROUP

Delete group GROUP from the system or user USER from group GROUP

deluser

deluser USER

Delete USER from the system

depmod

depmod [-n] [-b BASE] [VERSION] [MODFILES]...

Generate modules.dep, alias, and symbols files

        -b BASE Use BASE/lib/modules/VERSION
        -n      Dry run: print files to stdout

df

df [-PkmhTai] [-B SIZE] [FILESYSTEM]...

Print filesystem usage statistics

        -P      POSIX output format
        -k      1024-byte blocks (default)
        -m      1M-byte blocks
        -h      Human readable (e.g. 1K 243M 2G)
        -T      Print filesystem type
        -a      Show all filesystems
        -i      Inodes
        -B SIZE Blocksize

dhcprelay

dhcprelay CLIENT_IFACE[,CLIENT_IFACE2]... SERVER_IFACE [SERVER_IP]

Relay DHCP requests between clients and server

diff

diff [-abBdiNqrTstw] [-L LABEL] [-S FILE] [-U LINES] FILE1 FILE2

Compare files line by line and output the differences between them. This implementation supports unified diffs only.

        -a      Treat all files as text
        -b      Ignore changes in the amount of whitespace
        -B      Ignore changes whose lines are all blank
        -d      Try hard to find a smaller set of changes
        -i      Ignore case differences
        -l      Ignore symbolic links
        -L      Use LABEL instead of the filename in the unified header
        -N      Treat absent files as empty
        -q      Output only whether files differ
        -r      Recurse
        -S      Start with FILE when comparing directories
        -T      Make tabs line up by prefixing a tab when necessary
        -s      Report when two files are the same
        -t      Expand tabs to spaces in output
        -U      Output LINES lines of context
        -w      Ignore all whitespace

dirname

dirname FILENAME

Strip non-directory suffix from FILENAME

dmesg

dmesg [-c] [-n LEVEL] [-s SIZE]

Print or control the kernel ring buffer

        -c              Clear ring buffer after printing
        -n LEVEL        Set console logging level
        -s SIZE         Buffer size

dnsd

dnsd [-dvs] [-c CONFFILE] [-t TTL_SEC] [-p PORT] [-i ADDR]

Small static DNS server daemon

        -c FILE Config file
        -t SEC  TTL
        -p PORT Listen on PORT
        -i ADDR Listen on ADDR
        -d      Daemonize
        -v      Verbose
        -s      Send successful replies only. Use this if you want
                to use /etc/resolv.conf with two nameserver lines:
                        nameserver DNSD_SERVER
                        nameserver NORMAL_DNS_SERVER

dos2unix

dos2unix [-ud] [FILE]

Convert FILE in-place from DOS to Unix format. When no file is given, use stdin/stdout.

        -u      dos2unix
        -d      unix2dos

dpkg

dpkg [-ilCPru] [-F OPT] PACKAGE

Install, remove and manage Debian packages

        -i,--install    Install the package
        -l,--list       List of installed packages
        --configure     Configure an unpackaged package
        -P,--purge      Purge all files of a package
        -r,--remove     Remove all but the configuration files for a package
        --unpack        Unpack a package, but don't configure it
        --force-depends Ignore dependency problems
        --force-confnew Overwrite existing config files when installing
        --force-confold Keep old config files when installing

dpkg-deb

dpkg-deb [-cefxX] FILE [argument]

Perform actions on Debian packages (.debs)

        -c      List contents of filesystem tree
        -e      Extract control files to [argument] directory
        -f      Display control field name starting with [argument]
        -x      Extract packages filesystem tree to directory
        -X      Verbose extract

du

du [-aHLdclsxhmk] [FILE]...

Summarize disk space used for each FILE and/or directory

        -a      Show file sizes too
        -L      Follow all symlinks
        -H      Follow symlinks on command line
        -d N    Limit output to directories (and files with -a) of depth < N
        -c      Show grand total
        -l      Count sizes many times if hard linked
        -s      Display only a total for each argument
        -x      Skip directories on different filesystems
        -h      Sizes in human readable format (e.g., 1K 243M 2G)
        -m      Sizes in megabytes
        -k      Sizes in kilobytes (default)

dumpkmap

dumpkmap > keymap

Print a binary keyboard translation table to stdout

dumpleases

dumpleases [-r|-a] [-f LEASEFILE]

Display DHCP leases granted by udhcpd

        -f,--file=FILE  Lease file
        -r,--remaining  Show remaining time
        -a,--absolute   Show expiration time

echo

echo [-neE] [ARG]...

Print the specified ARGs to stdout

        -n      Suppress trailing newline
        -e      Interpret backslash escapes (i.e., \t=tab)
        -E      Don't interpret backslash escapes (default)

eject

eject [-t] [-T] [DEVICE]

Eject DEVICE or default /dev/cdrom

        -s      SCSI device
        -t      Close tray
        -T      Open/close tray (toggle)

env

env [-iu] [-] [name=value]... [PROG ARGS]

Print the current environment or run PROG after setting up the specified environment

        -, -i   Start with an empty environment
        -u      Remove variable from the environment

ether-wake

ether-wake [-b] [-i IFACE] [-p aa:bb:cc:dd[:ee:ff]/a.b.c.d] MAC

Send a magic packet to wake up sleeping machines. MAC must be a station address (00:11:22:33:44:55) or a hostname with a known 'ethers' entry.

        -b              Broadcast the packet
        -i IFACE        Interface to use (default eth0)
        -p PASSWORD     Append four or six byte PASSWORD to the packet

expand

expand [-i] [-t N] [FILE]...

Convert tabs to spaces, writing to stdout

        -i,--initial    Don't convert tabs after non blanks
        -t,--tabs=N     Tabstops every N chars

expr

expr EXPRESSION

Print the value of EXPRESSION to stdout

EXPRESSION may be:

        ARG1 | ARG2     ARG1 if it is neither null nor 0, otherwise ARG2
        ARG1 & ARG2     ARG1 if neither argument is null or 0, otherwise 0
        ARG1 < ARG2     1 if ARG1 is less than ARG2, else 0. Similarly:
        ARG1 <= ARG2
        ARG1 = ARG2
        ARG1 != ARG2
        ARG1 >= ARG2
        ARG1 > ARG2
        ARG1 + ARG2     Sum of ARG1 and ARG2. Similarly:
        ARG1 - ARG2
        ARG1 * ARG2
        ARG1 / ARG2
        ARG1 % ARG2
        STRING : REGEXP         Anchored pattern match of REGEXP in STRING
        match STRING REGEXP     Same as STRING : REGEXP
        substr STRING POS LENGTH Substring of STRING, POS counted from 1
        index STRING CHARS      Index in STRING where any CHARS is found, or 0
        length STRING           Length of STRING
        quote TOKEN             Interpret TOKEN as a string, even if
                                it is a keyword like 'match' or an
                                operator like '/'
        (EXPRESSION)            Value of EXPRESSION

Beware that many operators need to be escaped or quoted for shells. Comparisons are arithmetic if both ARGs are numbers, else lexicographical. Pattern matches return the string matched between \( and \) or null; if \( and \) are not used, they return the number of characters matched or 0.

fakeidentd

fakeidentd [-fiw] [-b ADDR] [STRING]

Provide fake ident (auth) service

        -f      Run in foreground
        -i      Inetd mode
        -w      Inetd 'wait' mode
        -b ADDR Bind to specified address
        STRING  Ident answer string (default: nobody)

false

false

Return an exit code of FALSE (1)

fatattr

fatattr [-+rhsvda] FILE...

Change file attributes on FAT filesystem

        -       Clear attributes
        +       Set attributes
        r       Read only
        h       Hidden
        s       System
        v       Volume label
        d       Directory
        a       Archive

fbset

fbset [OPTIONS] [MODE]

Show and modify frame buffer settings

fbsplash

fbsplash -s IMGFILE [-c] [-d DEV] [-i INIFILE] [-f CMD]

        -s      Image
        -c      Hide cursor
        -d      Framebuffer device (default /dev/fb0)
        -i      Config file (var=value):
                        BAR_LEFT,BAR_TOP,BAR_WIDTH,BAR_HEIGHT
                        BAR_R,BAR_G,BAR_B
        -f      Control pipe (else exit after drawing image)
                        commands: 'NN' (% for progress bar) or 'exit'

fbvnc

fbvnc [VNC_SERVER] [PORT]

A linux framebuffer VNC viewer. To exit, press any mouse button and press ESC.

fdflush

fdflush DEVICE

Force floppy disk drive to detect disk change

fdformat

fdformat [-n] DEVICE

Format floppy disk

        -n      Don't verify after format

fdisk

fdisk [-ul] [-C CYLINDERS] [-H HEADS] [-S SECTORS] [-b SSZ] DISK

Change partition table

        -u              Start and End are in sectors (instead of cylinders)
        -l              Show partition table for each DISK, then exit
        -b 2048         (for certain MO disks) use 2048-byte sectors
        -C CYLINDERS    Set number of cylinders/heads/sectors
        -H HEADS
        -S SECTORS

find

find [-HL] [PATH]... [OPTIONS] [ACTIONS]

Search for files and perform actions on them. First failed action stops processing of current file. Defaults: PATH is current directory, action is '-print'

        -L,-follow      Follow symlinks
        -H              ...on command line only
        -xdev           Don't descend directories on other filesystems
        -maxdepth N     Descend at most N levels. -maxdepth 0 applies
                        actions to command line arguments only
        -mindepth N     Don't act on first N levels
        -depth          Act on directory *after* traversing it

Actions:

        ( ACTIONS )     Group actions for -o / -a
        ! ACT           Invert ACT's success/failure
        ACT1 [-a] ACT2  If ACT1 fails, stop, else do ACT2
        ACT1 -o ACT2    If ACT1 succeeds, stop, else do ACT2
                        Note: -a has higher priority than -o
        -name PATTERN   Match file name (w/o directory name) to PATTERN
        -iname PATTERN  Case insensitive -name
        -path PATTERN   Match path to PATTERN
        -ipath PATTERN  Case insensitive -path
        -regex PATTERN  Match path to regex PATTERN
        -type X         File type is X (one of: f,d,l,b,c,...)
        -perm MASK      At least one mask bit (+MASK), all bits (-MASK),
                        or exactly MASK bits are set in file's mode
        -mtime DAYS     mtime is greater than (+N), less than (-N),
                        or exactly N days in the past
        -mmin MINS      mtime is greater than (+N), less than (-N),
                        or exactly N minutes in the past
        -newer FILE     mtime is more recent than FILE's
        -inum N         File has inode number N
        -user NAME/ID   File is owned by given user
        -group NAME/ID  File is owned by given group
        -size N[bck]    File size is N (c:bytes,k:kbytes,b:512 bytes(def.))
                        +/-N: file size is bigger/smaller than N
        -links N        Number of links is greater than (+N), less than (-N),
                        or exactly N
        -prune          If current file is directory, don't descend into it
If none of the following actions is specified, -print is assumed
        -print          Print file name
        -print0         Print file name, NUL terminated
        -exec CMD ARG ; Run CMD with all instances of {} replaced by
                        file name. Fails if CMD exits with nonzero
        -delete         Delete current file/directory. Turns on -depth option

findfs

findfs LABEL=label or UUID=uuid

Find a filesystem device based on a label or UUID

flock

flock [-sxun] FD|{FILE [-c] PROG ARGS}

[Un]lock file descriptor, or lock FILE, run PROG

        -s      Shared lock
        -x      Exclusive lock (default)
        -u      Unlock FD
        -n      Fail rather than wait

fold

fold [-bs] [-w WIDTH] [FILE]...

Wrap input lines in each FILE (or stdin), writing to stdout

        -b      Count bytes rather than columns
        -s      Break at spaces
        -w      Use WIDTH columns instead of 80

free

free [-b/k/m/g]

Display the amount of free and used system memory

freeramdisk

freeramdisk DEVICE

Free all memory used by the specified ramdisk

fstrim

fstrim [OPTIONS] MOUNTPOINT

        -o,--offset=OFFSET      Offset in bytes to discard from
        -l,--length=LEN         Bytes to discard
        -m,--minimum=MIN        Minimum extent length
        -v,--verbose            Print number of discarded bytes

fsync

fsync [-d] FILE...

Write files' buffered blocks to disk

        -d      Avoid syncing metadata

ftpd

ftpd [-wvSa] [-t N] [-T N] [DIR]

Anonymous FTP server

ftpd should be used as an inetd service. ftpd's line for inetd.conf:         21 stream tcp nowait root ftpd ftpd /files/to/serve
It also can be ran from tcpsvd:

        tcpsvd -vE 0.0.0.0 21 ftpd /files/to/serve

        -w      Allow upload
        -v      Log errors to stderr. -vv: verbose log
        -S      Log errors to syslog. -SS: verbose log
        -a      Authentication check
        -t,-T   Idle and absolute timeouts
        DIR     Change root to this directory

ftpget

ftpget [OPTIONS] HOST [LOCAL_FILE] REMOTE_FILE

Download a file via FTP

        -c,--continue           Continue previous transfer
        -v,--verbose            Verbose
        -u,--username USER      Username
        -p,--password PASS      Password
        -P,--port NUM           Port

ftpput

ftpput [OPTIONS] HOST [REMOTE_FILE] LOCAL_FILE

Upload a file to a FTP server

        -v,--verbose            Verbose
        -u,--username USER      Username
        -p,--password PASS      Password
        -P,--port NUM           Port

fuser

fuser [OPTIONS] FILE or PORT/PROTO

Find processes which use FILEs or PORTs

        -m      Find processes which use same fs as FILEs
        -4,-6   Search only IPv4/IPv6 space
        -s      Don't display PIDs
        -k      Kill found processes
        -SIGNAL Signal to send (default: KILL)

getty

getty [OPTIONS] BAUD_RATE[,BAUD_RATE]... TTY [TERMTYPE]

Open TTY, prompt for login name, then invoke /bin/login

        -h              Enable hardware RTS/CTS flow control
        -L              Set CLOCAL (ignore Carrier Detect state)
        -m              Get baud rate from modem's CONNECT status message
        -n              Don't prompt for login name
        -w              Wait for CR or LF before sending /etc/issue
        -i              Don't display /etc/issue
        -f ISSUE_FILE   Display ISSUE_FILE instead of /etc/issue
        -l LOGIN        Invoke LOGIN instead of /bin/login
        -t SEC          Terminate after SEC if no login name is read
        -I INITSTR      Send INITSTR before anything else
        -H HOST         Log HOST into the utmp file as the hostname

BAUD_RATE of 0 leaves it unchanged

grep

grep [-HhnlLoqvsriwFE] [-m N] [-A/B/C N] PATTERN/-e PATTERN.../-f FILE [FILE]...

Search for PATTERN in FILEs (or stdin)

        -H      Add 'filename:' prefix
        -h      Do not add 'filename:' prefix
        -n      Add 'line_no:' prefix
        -l      Show only names of files that match
        -L      Show only names of files that don't match
        -c      Show only count of matching lines
        -o      Show only the matching part of line
        -q      Quiet. Return 0 if PATTERN is found, 1 otherwise
        -v      Select non-matching lines
        -s      Suppress open and read errors
        -r      Recurse
        -i      Ignore case
        -w      Match whole words only
        -x      Match whole lines only
        -F      PATTERN is a literal (not regexp)
        -E      PATTERN is an extended regexp
        -m N    Match up to N times per file
        -A N    Print N lines of trailing context
        -B N    Print N lines of leading context
        -C N    Same as '-A N -B N'
        -e PTRN Pattern to match
        -f FILE Read pattern from file

groups

groups [USER]

Print the group memberships of USER or for the current process

gunzip

gunzip [-cft] [FILE]...

Decompress FILEs (or stdin)

        -c      Write to stdout
        -f      Force
        -t      Test file integrity

gzip

gzip [-cfd] [FILE]...

Compress FILEs (or stdin)

        -d      Decompress
        -c      Write to stdout
        -f      Force

halt

halt [-d DELAY] [-n] [-f] [-w]

Halt the system

        -d SEC  Delay interval
        -n      Do not sync
        -f      Force (don't go through init)
        -w      Only write a wtmp record

hdparm

hdparm [OPTIONS] [DEVICE]

        -a      Get/set fs readahead
        -A      Set drive read-lookahead flag (0/1)
        -b      Get/set bus state (0 == off, 1 == on, 2 == tristate)
        -B      Set Advanced Power Management setting (1-255)
        -c      Get/set IDE 32-bit IO setting
        -C      Check IDE power mode status
        -d      Get/set using_dma flag
        -D      Enable/disable drive defect-mgmt
        -f      Flush buffer cache for device on exit
        -g      Display drive geometry
        -h      Display terse usage information
        -i      Display drive identification
        -I      Detailed/current information directly from drive
        -k      Get/set keep_settings_over_reset flag (0/1)
        -K      Set drive keep_features_over_reset flag (0/1)
        -L      Set drive doorlock (0/1) (removable harddisks only)
        -m      Get/set multiple sector count
        -n      Get/set ignore-write-errors flag (0/1)
        -p      Set PIO mode on IDE interface chipset (0,1,2,3,4,...)
        -P      Set drive prefetch count
        -Q      Get/set DMA tagged-queuing depth (if supported)
        -r      Get/set readonly flag (DANGEROUS to set)
        -S      Set standby (spindown) timeout
        -t      Perform device read timings
        -T      Perform cache read timings
        -u      Get/set unmaskirq flag (0/1)
        -v      Defaults; same as -mcudkrag for IDE drives
        -V      Display program version and exit immediately
        -W      Set drive write-caching flag (0/1) (DANGEROUS)
        -X      Set IDE xfer mode (DANGEROUS)
        -y      Put IDE drive in standby mode
        -Y      Put IDE drive to sleep
        -Z      Disable Seagate auto-powersaving mode
        -z      Reread partition table

head

head [OPTIONS] [FILE]...

Print first 10 lines of each FILE (or stdin) to stdout. With more than one FILE, precede each with a filename header.

        -n N[kbm]       Print first N lines
        -n -N[kbm]      Print all except N last lines
        -c [-]N[kbm]    Print first N bytes
        -q              Never print headers
        -v              Always print headers

N may be suffixed by k (x1024), b (x512), or m (x1024^2).

hexdump

hexdump [-bcCdefnosvxR] [FILE]...

Display FILEs (or stdin) in a user specified format

        -b              One-byte octal display
        -c              One-byte character display
        -C              Canonical hex+ASCII, 16 bytes per line
        -d              Two-byte decimal display
        -e FORMAT_STRING
        -f FORMAT_FILE
        -n LENGTH       Interpret only LENGTH bytes of input
        -o              Two-byte octal display
        -s OFFSET       Skip OFFSET bytes
        -v              Display all input data
        -x              Two-byte hexadecimal display
        -R              Reverse of 'hexdump -Cv'

hostid

hostid

Print out a unique 32-bit identifier for the machine

hostname

hostname [OPTIONS] [HOSTNAME | -F FILE]

Get or set hostname or DNS domain name

        -s      Short
        -i      Addresses for the hostname
        -d      DNS domain name
        -f      Fully qualified domain name
        -F FILE Use FILE's content as hostname

httpd

httpd [-ifv[v]] [-c CONFFILE] [-p [IP:]PORT] [-u USER[:GRP]] [-r REALM] [-h HOME] or httpd -d/-e/-m STRING

Listen for incoming HTTP requests

        -i              Inetd mode
        -f              Don't daemonize
        -v[v]           Verbose
        -p [IP:]PORT    Bind to IP:PORT (default *:80)
        -u USER[:GRP]   Set uid/gid after binding to port
        -r REALM        Authentication Realm for Basic Authentication
        -h HOME         Home directory (default .)
        -c FILE         Configuration file (default {/etc,HOME}/httpd.conf)
        -m STRING       MD5 crypt STRING
        -e STRING       HTML encode STRING
        -d STRING       URL decode STRING

hwclock

hwclock [-r|--show] [-s|--hctosys] [-w|--systohc] [-t|--systz] [-l|--localtime] [-u|--utc] [-f|--rtc FILE]

Query and set hardware clock (RTC)

        -r      Show hardware clock time
        -s      Set system time from hardware clock
        -w      Set hardware clock from system time
        -t      Set in-kernel timezone, correct system time
                if hardware clock is in local time
        -u      Assume hardware clock is kept in UTC
        -l      Assume hardware clock is kept in local time
        -f FILE Use specified device (e.g. /dev/rtc2)

id

id [OPTIONS] [USER]

Print information about USER or the current user

        -u      User ID
        -g      Group ID
        -G      Supplementary group IDs
        -n      Print names instead of numbers
        -r      Print real ID instead of effective ID

ifconfig

ifconfig [-a] interface [address]

Configure a network interface

        [add ADDRESS[/PREFIXLEN]]
        [del ADDRESS[/PREFIXLEN]]
        [[-]broadcast [ADDRESS]] [[-]pointopoint [ADDRESS]]
        [netmask ADDRESS] [dstaddr ADDRESS]
        [hw ether|infiniband ADDRESS] [metric NN] [mtu NN]
        [[-]trailers] [[-]arp] [[-]allmulti]
        [multicast] [[-]promisc] [txqueuelen NN] [[-]dynamic]
        [mem_start NN] [io_addr NN] [irq NN]
        [up|down] ...

ifenslave

ifenslave [-cdf] MASTER_IFACE SLAVE_IFACE...

Configure network interfaces for parallel routing

        -c,--change-active      Change active slave
        -d,--detach             Remove slave interface from bonding device
        -f,--force              Force, even if interface is not Ethernet

inetd

inetd [-fe] [-q N] [-R N] [CONFFILE]

Listen for network connections and launch programs

        -f      Run in foreground
        -e      Log to stderr
        -q N    Socket listen queue (default: 128)
        -R N    Pause services after N connects/min
                (default: 0 - disabled)

init

init

Init is the first process started during boot. It never exits. It (re)spawns children according to /etc/inittab.

insmod

insmod FILE [SYMBOL=VALUE]...

Load kernel module

install

install [-cdDsp] [-o USER] [-g GRP] [-m MODE] [-t DIR] [SOURCE]... DEST

Copy files and set attributes

        -c      Just copy (default)
        -d      Create directories
        -D      Create leading target directories
        -s      Strip symbol table
        -p      Preserve date
        -o USER Set ownership
        -g GRP  Set group ownership
        -m MODE Set permissions
        -t DIR  Install to DIR

ionice

ionice [-c 1-3] [-n 0-7] [-p PID] [PROG]

Change I/O priority and class

        -c      Class. 1:realtime 2:best-effort 3:idle
        -n      Priority

iostat

iostat [-c] [-d] [-t] [-z] [-k|-m] [ALL|BLOCKDEV...] [INTERVAL [COUNT]]

Report CPU and I/O statistics

        -c      Show CPU utilization
        -d      Show device utilization
        -t      Print current time
        -z      Omit devices with no activity
        -k      Use kb/s
        -m      Use Mb/s

ip

ip [OPTIONS] {address | route | link | tunnel | rule} {COMMAND}

ip [OPTIONS] OBJECT {COMMAND} where OBJECT := {address | route | link | tunnel | rule} OPTIONS := { -f[amily] { inet | inet6 | link } | -o[neline] }

ipaddr

ipaddr { {add|del} IFADDR dev STRING | {show|flush}                 [dev STRING] [to PREFIX] }

ipaddr {add|delete} IFADDR dev STRING ipaddr {show|flush} [dev STRING] [scope SCOPE-ID]         [to PREFIX] [label PATTERN]
        IFADDR := PREFIX | ADDR peer PREFIX
        [broadcast ADDR] [anycast ADDR]
        [label STRING] [scope SCOPE-ID]
        SCOPE-ID := [host | link | global | NUMBER]

ipcalc

ipcalc [OPTIONS] ADDRESS[[/]NETMASK] [NETMASK]

Calculate IP network settings from a IP address

        -b,--broadcast  Display calculated broadcast address
        -n,--network    Display calculated network address
        -m,--netmask    Display default netmask for IP
        -p,--prefix     Display the prefix for IP/NETMASK
        -h,--hostname   Display first resolved host name
        -s,--silent     Don't ever display error messages

ipcrm

ipcrm [-MQS key] [-mqs id]

Upper-case options MQS remove an object by shmkey value. Lower-case options remove an object by shmid value.

        -mM     Remove memory segment after last detach
        -qQ     Remove message queue
        -sS     Remove semaphore

ipcs

ipcs [[-smq] -i shmid] | [[-asmq] [-tcplu]]

        -i      Show specific resource
Resource specification:

        -m      Shared memory segments
        -q      Message queues
        -s      Semaphore arrays
        -a      All (default)
Output format:

        -t      Time
        -c      Creator
        -p      Pid
        -l      Limits
        -u      Summary

iplink

iplink { set DEVICE { up | down | arp { on | off } | show [DEVICE] }

iplink set DEVICE { up | down | arp | multicast { on | off } |                         dynamic { on | off } |
                        mtu MTU }
iplink show [DEVICE]

iproute

iproute { list | flush | add | del | change | append |                 replace | test } ROUTE

iproute { list | flush } SELECTOR iproute get ADDRESS [from ADDRESS iif STRING]         [oif STRING] [tos TOS]
iproute { add | del | change | append | replace | test } ROUTE         SELECTOR := [root PREFIX] [match PREFIX] [proto RTPROTO]
        ROUTE := [TYPE] PREFIX [tos TOS] [proto RTPROTO] [metric METRIC]

iprule

iprule {[list | add | del] RULE}

iprule [list | add | del] SELECTOR ACTION         SELECTOR := [from PREFIX] [to PREFIX] [tos TOS] [fwmark FWMARK]
                        [dev STRING] [pref NUMBER]
        ACTION := [table TABLE_ID] [nat ADDRESS]
                        [prohibit | reject | unreachable]
                        [realms [SRCREALM/]DSTREALM]
        TABLE_ID := [local | main | default | NUMBER]

iptunnel

iptunnel { add | change | del | show } [NAME]         [mode { ipip | gre | sit }]
        [remote ADDR] [local ADDR] [ttl TTL]

iptunnel { add | change | del | show } [NAME]         [mode { ipip | gre | sit }] [remote ADDR] [local ADDR]
        [[i|o]seq] [[i|o]key KEY] [[i|o]csum]
        [ttl TTL] [tos TOS] [[no]pmtudisc] [dev PHYS_DEV]

kbd_mode

kbd_mode [-a|k|s|u] [-C TTY]

Report or set the keyboard mode

        -a      Default (ASCII)
        -k      Medium-raw (keyboard)
        -s      Raw (scancode)
        -u      Unicode (utf-8)
        -C TTY  Affect TTY instead of /dev/tty

kill

kill [-l] [-SIG] PID...

Send a signal (default: TERM) to given PIDs

        -l      List all signal names and numbers

killall

killall [-l] [-q] [-SIG] PROCESS_NAME...

Send a signal (default: TERM) to given processes

        -l      List all signal names and numbers
        -q      Don't complain if no processes were killed

killall5

killall5 [-l] [-SIG] [-o PID]...

Send a signal (default: TERM) to all processes outside current session

        -l      List all signal names and numbers
        -o PID  Don't signal this PID

klogd

klogd [-c N] [-n]

Kernel logger

        -c N    Print to console messages more urgent than prio N (1-8)
        -n      Run in foreground

last

last

Show listing of the last users that logged into the system

less

less [-EIMmNh~] [FILE]...

View FILE (or stdin) one screenful at a time

        -E      Quit once the end of a file is reached
        -I      Ignore case in all searches
        -M,-m   Display status line with line numbers
                and percentage through the file
        -N      Prefix line number to each line
        -~      Suppress ~s displayed past EOF

ln

ln [OPTIONS] TARGET... LINK|DIR

Create a link LINK or DIR/TARGET to the specified TARGET(s)

        -s      Make symlinks instead of hardlinks
        -f      Remove existing destinations
        -n      Don't dereference symlinks - treat like normal file
        -b      Make a backup of the target (if exists) before link operation
        -S suf  Use suffix instead of ~ when making backup files
        -T      2nd arg must be a DIR
        -v      Verbose

loadkmap

loadkmap < keymap

Load a binary keyboard translation table from stdin

logger

logger [OPTIONS] [MESSAGE]

Write MESSAGE (or stdin) to syslog

        -s      Log to stderr as well as the system log
        -t TAG  Log using the specified tag (defaults to user name)
        -p PRIO Priority (numeric or facility.level pair)

login

login [-p] [-h HOST] [[-f] USER]

Begin a new session on the system

        -f      Don't authenticate (user already authenticated)
        -h      Name of the remote host
        -p      Preserve environment

logname

logname

Print the name of the current user

losetup

losetup [-r] [-o OFS] {-f|LOOPDEV} FILE - associate loop devices         losetup -d LOOPDEV - disassociate
        losetup -a - show status
        losetup -f - show next free loop device

        -o OFS  Start OFS bytes into FILE
        -r      Read-only
        -f      Show/use next free loop device

lpd

lpd SPOOLDIR [HELPER [ARGS]]

SPOOLDIR must contain (symlinks to) device nodes or directories with names matching print queue names. In the first case, jobs are sent directly to the device. Otherwise each job is stored in queue directory and HELPER program is called. Name of file to print is passed in $DATAFILE variable. Example:

        tcpsvd -E 0 515 softlimit -m 999999 lpd /var/spool ./print

lpq

lpq [-P queue[@host[:port]]] [-U USERNAME] [-d JOBID]... [-fs]

        -P      lp service to connect to (else uses $PRINTER)
        -d      Delete jobs
        -f      Force any waiting job to be printed
        -s      Short display

lpr

lpr -P queue[@host[:port]] -U USERNAME -J TITLE -Vmh [FILE]...

        -P      lp service to connect to (else uses $PRINTER)
        -m      Send mail on completion
        -h      Print banner page too
        -V      Verbose

ls

ls [-1AaCxdLHRFplinsehrSXvctu] [-w WIDTH] [FILE]...

List directory contents

        -1      One column output
        -a      Include entries which start with .
        -A      Like -a, but exclude . and ..
        -C      List by columns
        -x      List by lines
        -d      List directory entries instead of contents
        -L      Follow symlinks
        -H      Follow symlinks on command line
        -R      Recurse
        -p      Append / to dir entries
        -F      Append indicator (one of */=@|) to entries
        -l      Long listing format
        -i      List inode numbers
        -n      List numeric UIDs and GIDs instead of names
        -s      List allocated blocks
        -e      List full date and time
        -h      List sizes in human readable format (1K 243M 2G)
        -r      Sort in reverse order
        -S      Sort by size
        -X      Sort by extension
        -v      Sort by version
        -c      With -l: sort by ctime
        -t      With -l: sort by mtime
        -u      With -l: sort by atime
        -w N    Assume the terminal is N columns wide
        --color[={always,never,auto}]   Control coloring

lsmod

lsmod

List the currently loaded kernel modules

lsof

lsof

Show all open files

lspci

lspci [-mk]

List all PCI devices

        -m      Parsable output
        -k      Show driver

lzcat

lzcat [FILE]...

Decompress to stdout

md5sum

md5sum [-c[sw]] [FILE]...

Print or check MD5 checksums

        -c      Check sums against list in FILEs
        -s      Don't output anything, status code shows success
        -w      Warn about improperly formatted checksum lines

mesg

mesg [y|n]

Control write access to your terminal         y       Allow write access to your terminal
        n       Disallow write access to your terminal

microcom

microcom [-d DELAY] [-t TIMEOUT] [-s SPEED] [-X] TTY

Copy bytes for stdin to TTY and from TTY to stdout

        -d      Wait up to DELAY ms for TTY output before sending every
                next byte to it
        -t      Exit if both stdin and TTY are silent for TIMEOUT ms
        -s      Set serial line to SPEED
        -X      Disable special meaning of NUL and Ctrl-X from stdin

mkdir

mkdir [OPTIONS] DIRECTORY...

Create DIRECTORY

        -m MODE Mode
        -p      No error if exists; make parent directories as needed

mkdosfs

mkdosfs [-v] [-n LABEL] BLOCKDEV [KBYTES]

Make a FAT32 filesystem

        -v      Verbose
        -n LBL  Volume label

mkfifo

mkfifo [-m MODE] NAME

Create named pipe

        -m MODE Mode (default a=rw)

mkfs.vfat

mkfs.vfat [-v] [-n LABEL] BLOCKDEV [KBYTES]

Make a FAT32 filesystem

        -v      Verbose
        -n LBL  Volume label

mknod

mknod [-m MODE] NAME TYPE MAJOR MINOR

Create a special file (block, character, or pipe)

        -m MODE Creation mode (default a=rw)
TYPE:
        b       Block device
        c or u  Character device
        p       Named pipe (MAJOR and MINOR are ignored)

mkpasswd

mkpasswd [OPTIONS] [PASSWORD] [SALT]

Crypt PASSWORD using crypt(3)

        -P,--password-fd=N      Read password from fd N
        -m,--method=TYPE        Encryption method
        -S,--salt=SALT

mkswap

mkswap [-L LBL] BLOCKDEV [KBYTES]

Prepare BLOCKDEV to be used as swap partition

        -L LBL  Label

mktemp

mktemp [-dt] [-p DIR] [TEMPLATE]

Create a temporary file with name based on TEMPLATE and print its name. TEMPLATE must end with XXXXXX (e.g. [/dir/]nameXXXXXX). Without TEMPLATE, -t tmp.XXXXXX is assumed.

        -d      Make directory, not file
        -q      Fail silently on errors
        -t      Prepend base directory name to TEMPLATE
        -p DIR  Use DIR as a base directory (implies -t)
        -u      Do not create anything; print a name

Base directory is: -p DIR, else $TMPDIR, else /tmp

modinfo

modinfo [-adlp0] [-F keyword] MODULE

        -a              Shortcut for '-F author'
        -d              Shortcut for '-F description'
        -l              Shortcut for '-F license'
        -p              Shortcut for '-F parm'
        -F keyword      Keyword to look for
        -0              Separate output with NULs

modprobe

modprobe [-alrqvsDb] MODULE [SYMBOL=VALUE]...

        -a      Load multiple MODULEs
        -l      List (MODULE is a pattern)
        -r      Remove MODULE (stacks) or do autoclean
        -q      Quiet
        -v      Verbose
        -s      Log to syslog
        -D      Show dependencies
        -b      Apply blacklist to module names too

more

more [FILE]...

View FILE (or stdin) one screenful at a time

mount

mount [OPTIONS] [-o OPTS] DEVICE NODE

Mount a filesystem. Filesystem autodetection requires /proc.

        -a              Mount all filesystems in fstab
        -i              Don't run mount helper
        -r              Read-only mount
        -w              Read-write mount (default)
        -t FSTYPE[,...] Filesystem type(s)
        -O OPT          Mount only filesystems with option OPT (-a only)
-o OPT:
        loop            Ignored (loop devices are autodetected)
        [a]sync         Writes are [a]synchronous
        [no]atime       Disable/enable updates to inode access times
        [no]diratime    Disable/enable atime updates to directories
        [no]relatime    Disable/enable atime updates relative to modification time
        [no]dev         (Dis)allow use of special device files
        [no]exec        (Dis)allow use of executable files
        [no]suid        (Dis)allow set-user-id-root programs
        [r]shared       Convert [recursively] to a shared subtree
        [r]slave        Convert [recursively] to a slave subtree
        [r]private      Convert [recursively] to a private subtree
        [un]bindable    Make mount point [un]able to be bind mounted
        [r]bind         Bind a file or directory [recursively] to another location
        move            Relocate an existing mount point
        remount         Remount a mounted filesystem, changing flags
        ro/rw           Same as -r/-w

There are filesystem-specific -o flags.

mountpoint

mountpoint [-q] <[-dn] DIR | -x DEVICE>

Check if the directory is a mountpoint

        -q      Quiet
        -d      Print major/minor device number of the filesystem
        -n      Print device name of the filesystem
        -x      Print major/minor device number of the blockdevice

mpstat

mpstat [-A] [-I SUM|CPU|ALL|SCPU] [-u] [-P num|ALL] [INTERVAL [COUNT]]

Per-processor statistics

        -A                      Same as -I ALL -u -P ALL
        -I SUM|CPU|ALL|SCPU     Report interrupt statistics
        -P num|ALL              Processor to monitor
        -u                      Report CPU utilization

mt

mt [-f device] opcode value

Control magnetic tape drive operation

Available Opcodes:

bsf bsfm bsr bss datacompression drvbuffer eof eom erase fsf fsfm fsr fss load lock mkpart nop offline ras1 ras2 ras3 reset retension rewind rewoffline seek setblk setdensity setpart tell unload unlock weof wset

mv

mv [-fin] SOURCE DEST or: mv [-fin] SOURCE... DIRECTORY

Rename SOURCE to DEST, or move SOURCE(s) to DIRECTORY

        -f      Don't prompt before overwriting
        -i      Interactive, prompt before overwrite
        -n      Don't overwrite an existing file

nameif

nameif [-s] [-c FILE] [IFNAME HWADDR]...

Rename network interface while it in the down state. The device with address HWADDR is renamed to IFACE.

        -c FILE Configuration file (default: /etc/mactab)
        -s      Log to syslog

nbd-client

nbd-client HOST PORT BLOCKDEV

Connect to HOST and provide a network block device on BLOCKDEV

nc

nc [OPTIONS] HOST PORT - connect nc [OPTIONS] -l -p PORT [HOST] [PORT] - listen

        -e PROG Run PROG after connect (must be last)
        -l      Listen mode, for inbound connects
        -lk     With -e, provides persistent server
        -p PORT Local port
        -s ADDR Local address
        -w SEC  Timeout for connects and final net reads
        -i SEC  Delay interval for lines sent
        -n      Don't do DNS resolution
        -u      UDP mode
        -v      Verbose
        -o FILE Hex dump traffic
        -z      Zero-I/O mode (scanning)

netstat

netstat [-ral] [-tuwx] [-enWp]

Display networking information

        -r      Routing table
        -a      All sockets
        -l      Listening sockets
                Else: connected sockets
        -t      TCP sockets
        -u      UDP sockets
        -w      Raw sockets
        -x      Unix sockets
                Else: all socket types
        -e      Other/more information
        -n      Don't resolve names
        -W      Wide display
        -p      Show PID/program name for sockets

nice

nice [-n ADJUST] [PROG ARGS]

Change scheduling priority, run PROG

        -n ADJUST       Adjust priority by ADJUST

nmeter

nmeter [-d MSEC] FORMAT_STRING

Monitor system in real time

 -d MSEC        Milliseconds between updates (default:1000)

Format specifiers:

 %Nc or %[cN]   CPU. N - bar size (default:10)
                (displays: S:system U:user N:niced D:iowait I:irq i:softirq)
 %[nINTERFACE]  Network INTERFACE
 %m             Allocated memory
 %[mf]          Free memory
 %[mt]          Total memory
 %s             Allocated swap
 %f             Number of used file descriptors
 %Ni            Total/specific IRQ rate
 %x             Context switch rate
 %p             Forks
 %[pn]          # of processes
 %b             Block io
 %Nt            Time (with N decimal points)
 %r             Print <cr> instead of <lf> at EOL

nohup

nohup PROG ARGS

Run PROG immune to hangups, with output to a non-tty

nslookup

nslookup [HOST] [SERVER]

Query the nameserver for the IP address of the given HOST optionally using a specified DNS server

ntpd

ntpd [-dnqNwl -I IFACE] [-S PROG] [-p PEER]...

NTP client/server

        -d      Verbose
        -n      Do not daemonize
        -q      Quit after clock is set
        -N      Run at high priority
        -w      Do not set time (only query peers), implies -n
        -l      Run as server on port 123
        -I IFACE Bind server to IFACE, implies -l
        -S PROG Run PROG after stepping time, stratum change, and every 11 mins
        -p PEER Obtain time from PEER (may be repeated)
                If -p is not given, read /etc/ntp.conf

od

od [-abcdfhilovxs] [-t TYPE] [-A RADIX] [-N SIZE] [-j SKIP] [-S MINSTR] [-w WIDTH] [FILE]...

Print FILEs (or stdin) unambiguously, as octal bytes by default

openvt

openvt [-c N] [-sw] [PROG ARGS]

Start PROG on a new virtual terminal

        -c N    Use specified VT
        -s      Switch to the VT
        -w      Wait for PROG to exit

passwd

passwd [OPTIONS] [USER]

Change USER's password (default: current user)

        -a ALG  Encryption method
        -d      Set password to ''
        -l      Lock (disable) account
        -u      Unlock (enable) account

patch

patch [OPTIONS] [ORIGFILE [PATCHFILE]]

        -p,--strip N            Strip N leading components from file names
        -i,--input DIFF         Read DIFF instead of stdin
        -R,--reverse            Reverse patch
        -N,--forward            Ignore already applied patches
        -E,--remove-empty-files Remove output files if they become empty

pgrep

pgrep [-flnovx] [-s SID|-P PPID|PATTERN]

Display process(es) selected by regex PATTERN

        -l      Show command name too
        -f      Match against entire command line
        -n      Show the newest process only
        -o      Show the oldest process only
        -v      Negate the match
        -x      Match whole name (not substring)
        -s      Match session ID (0 for current)
        -P      Match parent process ID

pidof

pidof [OPTIONS] [NAME]...

List PIDs of all processes with names that match NAMEs

        -s      Show only one PID
        -o PID  Omit given pid
                Use %PPID to omit pid of pidof's parent

ping

ping [OPTIONS] HOST

Send ICMP ECHO_REQUEST packets to network hosts

        -4,-6           Force IP or IPv6 name resolution
        -c CNT          Send only CNT pings
        -s SIZE         Send SIZE data bytes in packets (default:56)
        -t TTL          Set TTL
        -I IFACE/IP     Use interface or IP address as source
        -W SEC          Seconds to wait for the first response (default:10)
                        (after all -c CNT packets are sent)
        -w SEC          Seconds until ping exits (default:infinite)
                        (can exit earlier with -c CNT)
        -q              Quiet, only display output at start
                        and when finished
        -p              Pattern to use for payload

ping6

ping6 [OPTIONS] HOST

Send ICMP ECHO_REQUEST packets to network hosts

        -c CNT          Send only CNT pings
        -s SIZE         Send SIZE data bytes in packets (default:56)
        -I IFACE/IP     Use interface or IP address as source
        -q              Quiet, only display output at start
                        and when finished
        -p              Pattern to use for payload

pivot_root

pivot_root NEW_ROOT PUT_OLD

Move the current root file system to PUT_OLD and make NEW_ROOT the new root file system

pkill

pkill [-l|-SIGNAL] [-fnovx] [-s SID|-P PPID|PATTERN]

Send a signal to process(es) selected by regex PATTERN

        -l      List all signals
        -f      Match against entire command line
        -n      Signal the newest process only
        -o      Signal the oldest process only
        -v      Negate the match
        -x      Match whole name (not substring)
        -s      Match session ID (0 for current)
        -P      Match parent process ID

pmap

pmap [-xq] PID

Display detailed process memory usage

        -x      Show details
        -q      Quiet

poweroff

poweroff [-d DELAY] [-n] [-f]

Halt and shut off power

        -d SEC  Delay interval
        -n      Do not sync
        -f      Force (don't go through init)

powertop

powertop

Analyze power consumption on Intel-based laptops

printenv

printenv [VARIABLE]...

Print environment VARIABLEs. If no VARIABLE specified, print all.

printf

printf FORMAT [ARG]...

Format and print ARG(s) according to FORMAT (a-la C printf)

ps

ps [-o COL1,COL2=HEADER] [-T]

Show list of processes

        -o COL1,COL2=HEADER     Select columns for display
        -T                      Show threads

pscan

pscan [-cb] [-p MIN_PORT] [-P MAX_PORT] [-t TIMEOUT] [-T MIN_RTT] HOST

Scan a host, print all open ports

        -c      Show closed ports too
        -b      Show blocked ports too
        -p      Scan from this port (default 1)
        -P      Scan up to this port (default 1024)
        -t      Timeout (default 5000 ms)
        -T      Minimum rtt (default 5 ms, increase for congested hosts)

pstree

pstree [-p] [PID|USER]

Display process tree, optionally start from USER or PID

        -p      Show pids

pwd

pwd

Print the full filename of the current working directory

raidautorun

raidautorun DEVICE

Tell the kernel to automatically search and start RAID arrays

rdate

rdate [-sp] HOST

Get and possibly set the system date/time from a remote HOST

        -s      Set the system date/time (default)
        -p      Print the date/time

rdev

rdev

Print the device node associated with the filesystem mounted at '/'

readlink

readlink [-fnv] FILE

Display the value of a symlink

        -f      Canonicalize by following all symlinks
        -n      Don't add newline
        -v      Verbose

readprofile

readprofile [OPTIONS]

        -m mapfile      (Default: /boot/System.map)
        -p profile      (Default: /proc/profile)
        -M NUM          Set the profiling multiplier to NUM
        -i              Print only info about the sampling step
        -v              Verbose
        -a              Print all symbols, even if count is 0
        -b              Print individual histogram-bin counts
        -s              Print individual counters within functions
        -r              Reset all the counters (root only)
        -n              Disable byte order auto-detection

realpath

realpath FILE...

Return the absolute pathnames of given FILE

reboot

reboot [-d DELAY] [-n] [-f]

Reboot the system

        -d SEC  Delay interval
        -n      Do not sync
        -f      Force (don't go through init)

renice

renice {{-n INCREMENT} | PRIORITY} [[-p | -g | -u] ID...]

Change scheduling priority for a running process

        -n      Adjust current nice value (smaller is faster)
        -p      Process id(s) (default)
        -g      Process group id(s)
        -u      Process user name(s) and/or id(s)

reset

reset

Reset the screen

rev

rev [FILE]...

Reverse lines of FILE

rm

rm [-irf] FILE...

Remove (unlink) FILEs

        -i      Always prompt before removing
        -f      Never prompt
        -R,-r   Recurse

rmdir

rmdir [OPTIONS] DIRECTORY...

Remove DIRECTORY if it is empty

        -p|--parents    Include parents
        --ignore-fail-on-non-empty

rmmod

rmmod [-wfa] [MODULE]...

Unload kernel modules

        -w      Wait until the module is no longer used
        -f      Force unload
        -a      Remove all unused modules (recursively)

route

route [{add|del|delete}]

Edit kernel routing tables

        -n      Don't resolve names
        -e      Display other/more information
        -A inet{6}      Select address family

rpm

rpm -i PACKAGE.rpm; rpm -qp[ildc] PACKAGE.rpm

Manipulate RPM packages

Commands:

        -i      Install package
        -qp     Query package
        -qpi    Show information
        -qpl    List contents
        -qpd    List documents
        -qpc    List config files

rpm2cpio

rpm2cpio package.rpm

Output a cpio archive of the rpm file

rtcwake

rtcwake [-a | -l | -u] [-d DEV] [-m MODE] [-s SEC | -t TIME]

Enter a system sleep state until specified wakeup time

        -a,--auto       Read clock mode from adjtime
        -l,--local      Clock is set to local time
        -u,--utc        Clock is set to UTC time
        -d,--device=DEV Specify the RTC device
        -m,--mode=MODE  Set the sleep state (default: standby)
        -s,--seconds=SEC Set the timeout in SEC seconds from now
        -t,--time=TIME  Set the timeout to TIME seconds from epoch

script

script [-afqt] [-c PROG] [OUTFILE]

        -a      Append output
        -c PROG Run PROG, not shell
        -f      Flush output after each write
        -q      Quiet
        -t      Send timing to stderr

scriptreplay

scriptreplay timingfile [typescript [divisor]]

Play back typescripts, using timing information

sed

sed [-inrE] [-f FILE]... [-e CMD]... [FILE]... or: sed [-inrE] CMD [FILE]...

        -e CMD  Add CMD to sed commands to be executed
        -f FILE Add FILE contents to sed commands to be executed
        -i[SFX] Edit files in-place (otherwise sends to stdout)
                Optionally back files up, appending SFX
        -n      Suppress automatic printing of pattern space
        -r,-E   Use extended regex syntax

If no -e or -f, the first non-option argument is the sed command string. Remaining arguments are input files (stdin if none).

sendmail

sendmail [OPTIONS] [RECIPIENT_EMAIL]...

Read email from stdin and send it

Standard options:

        -t              Read additional recipients from message body
        -f SENDER       For use in MAIL FROM:<sender>. Can be empty string
                        Default: -auUSER, or username of current UID
        -o OPTIONS      Various options. -oi implied, others are ignored
        -i              -oi synonym. implied and ignored

Busybox specific options:

        -v              Verbose
        -w SECS         Network timeout
        -H 'PROG ARGS'  Run connection helper
                        Examples:
                        -H 'exec openssl s_client -quiet -tls1 -starttls smtp
                                -connect smtp.gmail.com:25' <email.txt
                                [4<username_and_passwd.txt | -auUSER -apPASS]
                        -H 'exec openssl s_client -quiet -tls1
                                -connect smtp.gmail.com:465' <email.txt
                                [4<username_and_passwd.txt | -auUSER -apPASS]
        -S HOST[:PORT]  Server
        -auUSER         Username for AUTH LOGIN
        -apPASS         Password for AUTH LOGIN

Other options are silently ignored; -oi -t is implied

seq

seq [-w] [-s SEP] [FIRST [INC]] LAST

Print numbers from FIRST to LAST, in steps of INC. FIRST, INC default to 1.

        -w      Pad to last with leading zeros
        -s SEP  String separator

setarch

setarch personality PROG ARGS

Personality may be:

        linux32         Set 32bit uname emulation
        linux64         Set 64bit uname emulation

setconsole

setconsole [-r] [DEVICE]

Redirect system console output to DEVICE (default: /dev/tty)

        -r      Reset output to /dev/console

setkeycodes

setkeycodes SCANCODE KEYCODE...

Set entries into the kernel's scancode-to-keycode map, allowing unusual keyboards to generate usable keycodes.

SCANCODE may be either xx or e0xx (hexadecimal), and KEYCODE is given in decimal.

setlogcons

setlogcons [N]

Redirect the kernel output to console N. Default:0 (current console)

setserial

setserial [-gabGvzV] DEVICE [PARAMETER [ARG]]...

Request or set Linux serial port information

        -g      Interpret parameters as list of devices for reporting
        -a      Print all available information
        -b      Print summary information
        -G      Print in form which can be fed back
                to setserial as command line parameters
        -z      Zero out serial flags before setting
        -v      Verbose

Parameters: (* = takes an argument, ^ = can be turned off by preceding ^)         *port, *irq, *divisor, *uart, *baud_base, *close_delay, *closing_wait,
        ^fourport, ^auto_irq, ^skip_test, ^sak, ^session_lockout, ^pgrp_lockout,
        ^callout_nohup, ^split_termios, ^hup_notify, ^low_latency, autoconfig,
        spd_normal, spd_hi, spd_vhi, spd_shi, spd_warp, spd_cust

UART types:

        unknown, 8250, 16450, 16550, 16550A, Cirrus, 16650, 16650V2, 16750,
        16950, 16954, 16654, 16850, RSA, NS16550A, XSCALE, RM9000, OCTEON, AR7,
        U6_16550A

setsid

setsid PROG ARGS

Run PROG in a new session. PROG will have no controlling terminal and will not be affected by keyboard signals (Ctrl-C etc). See setsid(2) for details.

sh

sh [-/+OPTIONS] [-/+o OPT]... [-c 'SCRIPT' [ARG0 [ARGS]] / FILE [ARGS]]

Unix shell interpreter

sha1sum

sha1sum [-c[sw]] [FILE]...

Print or check SHA1 checksums

        -c      Check sums against list in FILEs
        -s      Don't output anything, status code shows success
        -w      Warn about improperly formatted checksum lines

sha256sum

sha256sum [-c[sw]] [FILE]...

Print or check SHA256 checksums

        -c      Check sums against list in FILEs
        -s      Don't output anything, status code shows success
        -w      Warn about improperly formatted checksum lines

sha3sum

sha3sum [-c[sw]] [FILE]...

Print or check SHA3-512 checksums

        -c      Check sums against list in FILEs
        -s      Don't output anything, status code shows success
        -w      Warn about improperly formatted checksum lines

sha512sum

sha512sum [-c[sw]] [FILE]...

Print or check SHA512 checksums

        -c      Check sums against list in FILEs
        -s      Don't output anything, status code shows success
        -w      Warn about improperly formatted checksum lines

shutdown

shutdown [-rhHP]

Bring the system down

        -r      Do reboot
        -h      Do poweroff
        -H      Do halt
        -P      Do poweroff

sleep

sleep [N]...

Pause for a time equal to the total of the args given, where each arg can have an optional suffix of (s)econds, (m)inutes, (h)ours, or (d)ays

smemcap

smemcap >SMEMDATA.TAR

Collect memory usage data in /proc and write it to stdout

sort

sort [-nrugMcszbdfimSTokt] [-o FILE] [-k start[.offset][opts][,end[.offset][opts]] [-t CHAR] [FILE]...

Sort lines of text

        -b      Ignore leading blanks
        -c      Check whether input is sorted
        -d      Dictionary order (blank or alphanumeric only)
        -f      Ignore case
        -g      General numerical sort
        -i      Ignore unprintable characters
        -k      Sort key
        -M      Sort month
        -n      Sort numbers
        -o      Output to file
        -k      Sort by key
        -t CHAR Key separator
        -r      Reverse sort order
        -s      Stable (don't sort ties alphabetically)
        -u      Suppress duplicate lines
        -z      Lines are terminated by NUL, not newline
        -mST    Ignored for GNU compatibility

split

split [OPTIONS] [INPUT [PREFIX]]

        -b N[k|m]       Split by N (kilo|mega)bytes
        -l N            Split by N lines
        -a N            Use N letters as suffix

stat

stat [OPTIONS] FILE...

Display file (default) or filesystem status

        -c fmt  Use the specified format
        -f      Display filesystem status
        -L      Follow links
        -t      Display info in terse form
        -m      Display block list

Valid format sequences for files:

 %a     Access rights in octal
 %A     Access rights in human readable form
 %b     Number of blocks allocated (see %B)
 %B     The size in bytes of each block reported by %b
 %d     Device number in decimal
 %D     Device number in hex
 %f     Raw mode in hex
 %F     File type
 %g     Group ID of owner
 %G     Group name of owner
 %h     Number of hard links
 %i     Inode number
 %n     File name
 %N     File name, with -> TARGET if symlink
 %o     I/O block size
 %s     Total size, in bytes
 %t     Major device type in hex
 %T     Minor device type in hex
 %u     User ID of owner
 %U     User name of owner
 %x     Time of last access
 %X     Time of last access as seconds since Epoch
 %y     Time of last modification
 %Y     Time of last modification as seconds since Epoch
 %z     Time of last change
 %Z     Time of last change as seconds since Epoch

Valid format sequences for file systems:

 %a     Free blocks available to non-superuser
 %b     Total data blocks in file system
 %c     Total file nodes in file system
 %d     Free file nodes in file system
 %f     Free blocks in file system
 %i     File System ID in hex
 %l     Maximum length of filenames
 %n     File name
 %s     Block size (for faster transfer)
 %S     Fundamental block size (for block counts)
 %t     Type in hex
 %T     Type in human readable form

strings

strings [-afo] [-n LEN] [FILE]...

Display printable strings in a binary file

        -a      Scan whole file (default)
        -f      Precede strings with filenames
        -n LEN  At least LEN characters form a string (default 4)
        -o      Precede strings with decimal offsets

stty

stty [-a|g] [-F DEVICE] [SETTING]...

Without arguments, prints baud rate, line discipline, and deviations from stty sane

        -F DEVICE       Open device instead of stdin
        -a              Print all current settings in human-readable form
        -g              Print in stty-readable form
        [SETTING]       See manpage

su

su [OPTIONS] [-] [USER]

Run shell under USER (by default, root)

        -,-l    Clear environment, run shell as login shell
        -p,-m   Do not set new $HOME, $SHELL, $USER, $LOGNAME
        -c CMD  Command to pass to 'sh -c'
        -s SH   Shell to use instead of user's default

sulogin

sulogin [-t N] [TTY]

Single user login

        -t N    Timeout

sum

sum [-rs] [FILE]...

Checksum and count the blocks in a file

        -r      Use BSD sum algorithm (1K blocks)
        -s      Use System V sum algorithm (512byte blocks)

swapoff

swapoff [-a] [DEVICE]

Stop swapping on DEVICE

        -a      Stop swapping on all swap devices

swapon

swapon [-a] [-d[POL]] [-p PRI] [DEVICE]

Start swapping on DEVICE

        -a      Start swapping on all swap devices
        -d[POL] Discard blocks at swapon (POL=once),
                as freed (POL=pages), or both (POL omitted)
        -p PRI  Set swap device priority

switch_root

switch_root [-c /dev/console] NEW_ROOT NEW_INIT [ARGS]

Free initramfs and switch to another root fs:

chroot to NEW_ROOT, delete all in /, move NEW_ROOT to /, execute NEW_INIT. PID must be 1. NEW_ROOT must be a mountpoint.

        -c DEV  Reopen stdio to DEV after switch

sync

sync

Write all buffered blocks to disk

sysctl

sysctl [OPTIONS] [KEY[=VALUE]]...

Show/set kernel parameters

        -e      Don't warn about unknown keys
        -n      Don't show key names
        -a      Show all values
        -w      Set values
        -p FILE Set values from FILE (default /etc/sysctl.conf)
        -q      Set values silently

syslogd

syslogd [OPTIONS]

System logging utility

        -n              Run in foreground
        -R HOST[:PORT]  Log to HOST:PORT (default PORT:514)
        -L              Log locally and via network (default is network only if -R)
        -K              Log to kernel printk buffer (use dmesg to read it)
        -O FILE         Log to FILE (default:/var/log/messages, stdout if -)
        -s SIZE         Max size (KB) before rotation (default:200KB, 0=off)
        -b N            N rotated logs to keep (default:1, max=99, 0=purge)
        -l N            Log only messages more urgent than prio N (1-8)
        -S              Smaller output
        -D              Drop duplicates
        -f FILE         Use FILE as config (default:/etc/syslog.conf)

tac

tac [FILE]...

Concatenate FILEs and print them in reverse

tail

tail [OPTIONS] [FILE]...

Print last 10 lines of each FILE (or stdin) to stdout. With more than one FILE, precede each with a filename header.

        -f              Print data as file grows
        -c [+]N[kbm]    Print last N bytes
        -n N[kbm]       Print last N lines
        -n +N[kbm]      Start on Nth line and print the rest
        -q              Never print headers
        -s SECONDS      Wait SECONDS between reads with -f
        -v              Always print headers
        -F              Same as -f, but keep retrying

N may be suffixed by k (x1024), b (x512), or m (x1024^2).

tar

tar -[cxtZzJjahmvO] [-X FILE] [-T FILE] [-f TARFILE] [-C DIR] [FILE]...

Create, extract, or list files from a tar file

Operation:

        c       Create
        x       Extract
        t       List
        f       Name of TARFILE ('-' for stdin/out)
        C       Change to DIR before operation
        v       Verbose
        Z       (De)compress using compress
        z       (De)compress using gzip
        J       (De)compress using xz
        j       (De)compress using bzip2
        a       (De)compress using lzma
        O       Extract to stdout
        h       Follow symlinks
        m       Don't restore mtime
        exclude File to exclude
        X       File with names to exclude
        T       File with names to include

taskset

taskset [-p] [MASK] [PID | PROG ARGS]

Set or get CPU affinity

        -p      Operate on an existing PID

tee

tee [-ai] [FILE]...

Copy stdin to each FILE, and also to stdout

        -a      Append to the given FILEs, don't overwrite
        -i      Ignore interrupt signals (SIGINT)

telnet

telnet [-a] [-l USER] HOST [PORT]

Connect to telnet server

        -a      Automatic login with $USER variable
        -l USER Automatic login as USER

test

test EXPRESSION ]

Check file types, compare values etc. Return a 0/1 exit code depending on logical value of EXPRESSION

tftp

tftp [OPTIONS] HOST [PORT]

Transfer a file from/to tftp server

        -l FILE Local FILE
        -r FILE Remote FILE
        -g      Get file
        -p      Put file
        -b SIZE Transfer blocks of SIZE octets

tftpd

tftpd [-cr] [-u USER] [DIR]

Transfer a file on tftp client's request

tftpd should be used as an inetd service. tftpd's line for inetd.conf:         69 dgram udp nowait root tftpd tftpd -l /files/to/serve
It also can be ran from udpsvd:

        udpsvd -vE 0.0.0.0 69 tftpd /files/to/serve

        -r      Prohibit upload
        -c      Allow file creation via upload
        -u      Access files as USER
        -l      Log to syslog (inetd mode requires this)

time

time [-v] PROG ARGS

Run PROG, display resource usage when it exits

        -v      Verbose

timeout

timeout [-t SECS] [-s SIG] PROG ARGS

Runs PROG. Sends SIG to it if it is not gone in SECS seconds. Defaults: SECS: 10, SIG: TERM.

top

top [-b] [-nCOUNT] [-dSECONDS] [-m]

Provide a view of process activity in real time. Read the status of all processes from /proc each SECONDS and display a screenful of them. Keys:

        N/M/P/T: show CPU usage, sort by pid/mem/cpu/time
        S: show memory
        R: reverse sort
        H: toggle threads, 1: toggle SMP
        Q,^C: exit

Options:

        -b      Batch mode
        -n N    Exit after N iterations
        -d N    Delay between updates
        -m      Same as 's' key

touch

touch [-c] [-d DATE] [-t DATE] [-r FILE] FILE...

Update the last-modified date on the given FILE[s]

        -c      Don't create files
        -h      Don't follow links
        -d DT   Date/time to use
        -t DT   Date/time to use
        -r FILE Use FILE's date/time

tr

tr [-cds] STRING1 [STRING2]

Translate, squeeze, or delete characters from stdin, writing to stdout

        -c      Take complement of STRING1
        -d      Delete input characters coded STRING1
        -s      Squeeze multiple output characters of STRING2 into one character

traceroute

traceroute [-46FIldnrv] [-f 1ST_TTL] [-m MAXTTL] [-p PORT] [-q PROBES]         [-s SRC_IP] [-t TOS] [-w WAIT_SEC] [-g GATEWAY] [-i IFACE]
        [-z PAUSE_MSEC] HOST [BYTES]

Trace the route to HOST

        -4,-6   Force IP or IPv6 name resolution
        -F      Set the don't fragment bit
        -I      Use ICMP ECHO instead of UDP datagrams
        -l      Display the TTL value of the returned packet
        -d      Set SO_DEBUG options to socket
        -n      Print numeric addresses
        -r      Bypass routing tables, send directly to HOST
        -v      Verbose
        -m      Max time-to-live (max number of hops)
        -p      Base UDP port number used in probes
                (default 33434)
        -q      Number of probes per TTL (default 3)
        -s      IP address to use as the source address
        -t      Type-of-service in probe packets (default 0)
        -w      Time in seconds to wait for a response (default 3)
        -g      Loose source route gateway (8 max)

traceroute6

traceroute6 [-dnrv] [-m MAXTTL] [-p PORT] [-q PROBES]         [-s SRC_IP] [-t TOS] [-w WAIT_SEC] [-i IFACE]
        HOST [BYTES]

Trace the route to HOST

        -d      Set SO_DEBUG options to socket
        -n      Print numeric addresses
        -r      Bypass routing tables, send directly to HOST
        -v      Verbose
        -m      Max time-to-live (max number of hops)
        -p      Base UDP port number used in probes
                (default is 33434)
        -q      Number of probes per TTL (default 3)
        -s      IP address to use as the source address
        -t      Type-of-service in probe packets (default 0)
        -w      Time in seconds to wait for a response (default 3)

true

true

Return an exit code of TRUE (0)

tty

tty

Print file name of stdin's terminal

        -s      Print nothing, only return exit status

ttysize

ttysize [w] [h]

Print dimension(s) of stdin's terminal, on error return 80x25

tunctl

tunctl [-f device] ([-t name] | -d name) [-u owner] [-g group] [-b]

Create or delete tun interfaces

        -f name         tun device (/dev/net/tun)
        -t name         Create iface 'name'
        -d name         Delete iface 'name'
        -u owner        Set iface owner
        -g group        Set iface group
        -b              Brief output

ubiattach

ubiattach -m MTD_NUM [-d UBI_NUM] UBI_CTRL_DEV

Attach MTD device to UBI

        -m MTD_NUM      MTD device number to attach
        -d UBI_NUM      UBI device number to assign

ubidetach

ubidetach -d UBI_NUM UBI_CTRL_DEV

Detach MTD device from UBI

        -d UBI_NUM      UBI device number

udhcpc

udhcpc [-fbqRB] [-a[MSEC]] [-t N] [-T SEC] [-A SEC/-n]         [-i IFACE] [-s PROG] [-p PIDFILE]
        [-oC] [-r IP] [-V VENDOR] [-F NAME] [-x OPT:VAL]... [-O OPT]...

        -i,--interface IFACE    Interface to use (default eth0)
        -s,--script PROG        Run PROG at DHCP events (default /usr/share/udhcpc/default.script)
        -p,--pidfile FILE       Create pidfile
        -B,--broadcast          Request broadcast replies
        -t,--retries N          Send up to N discover packets (default 3)
        -T,--timeout SEC        Pause between packets (default 3)
        -A,--tryagain SEC       Wait if lease is not obtained (default 20)
        -n,--now                Exit if lease is not obtained
        -q,--quit               Exit after obtaining lease
        -R,--release            Release IP on exit
        -f,--foreground         Run in foreground
        -b,--background         Background if lease is not obtained
        -S,--syslog             Log to syslog too
        -a[MSEC],--arping[=MSEC] Validate offered address with ARP ping
        -r,--request IP         Request this IP address
        -o,--no-default-options Don't request any options (unless -O is given)
        -O,--request-option OPT Request option OPT from server (cumulative)
        -x OPT:VAL              Include option OPT in sent packets (cumulative)
                                Examples of string, numeric, and hex byte opts:
                                -x hostname:bbox - option 12
                                -x lease:3600 - option 51 (lease time)
                                -x 0x3d:0100BEEFC0FFEE - option 61 (client id)
        -F,--fqdn NAME          Ask server to update DNS mapping for NAME
        -V,--vendorclass VENDOR Vendor identifier (default 'udhcp VERSION')
        -C,--clientid-none      Don't send MAC as client identifier
Signals:

        USR1    Renew lease
        USR2    Release lease

udhcpc6

udhcpc6 [-fbnqoR] [-i IFACE] [-r IP] [-s PROG] [-p PIDFILE]         [-x OPT:VAL]... [-O OPT]...

        -i,--interface IFACE    Interface to use (default eth0)
        -p,--pidfile FILE       Create pidfile
        -s,--script PROG        Run PROG at DHCP events (default /usr/share/udhcpc/default.script)
        -B,--broadcast          Request broadcast replies
        -t,--retries N          Send up to N discover packets
        -T,--timeout N          Pause between packets (default 3 seconds)
        -A,--tryagain N         Wait N seconds after failure (default 20)
        -f,--foreground         Run in foreground
        -b,--background         Background if lease is not obtained
        -n,--now                Exit if lease is not obtained
        -q,--quit               Exit after obtaining lease
        -R,--release            Release IP on exit
        -S,--syslog             Log to syslog too
        -O,--request-option OPT Request option OPT from server (cumulative)
        -o,--no-default-options Don't request any options (unless -O is given)
        -r,--request IP         Request this IP address
        -x OPT:VAL              Include option OPT in sent packets (cumulative)
                                Examples of string, numeric, and hex byte opts:
                                -x hostname:bbox - option 12
                                -x lease:3600 - option 51 (lease time)
                                -x 0x3d:0100BEEFC0FFEE - option 61 (client id)
Signals:

        USR1    Renew lease
        USR2    Release lease

udhcpd

udhcpd [-fS] [-I ADDR] [CONFFILE]

DHCP server

        -f      Run in foreground
        -S      Log to syslog too
        -I ADDR Local address
        -a MSEC Timeout for ARP ping (default 2000)

umount

umount [OPTIONS] FILESYSTEM|DIRECTORY

Unmount file systems

        -a      Unmount all file systems
        -r      Try to remount devices as read-only if mount is busy
        -l      Lazy umount (detach filesystem)
        -f      Force umount (i.e., unreachable NFS server)
        -D      Don't free loop device even if it has been used

uname

uname [-amnrspvio]

Print system information

        -a      Print all
        -m      The machine (hardware) type
        -n      Hostname
        -r      Kernel release
        -s      Kernel name (default)
        -p      Processor type
        -v      Kernel version
        -i      The hardware platform
        -o      OS name

uncompress

uncompress [-cf] [FILE]...

Decompress .Z file[s]

        -c      Write to stdout
        -f      Overwrite

unexpand

unexpand [-fa][-t N] [FILE]...

Convert spaces to tabs, writing to stdout

        -a,--all        Convert all blanks
        -f,--first-only Convert only leading blanks
        -t,--tabs=N     Tabstops every N chars

uniq

uniq [-cdu][-f,s,w N] [INPUT [OUTPUT]]

Discard duplicate lines

        -c      Prefix lines by the number of occurrences
        -d      Only print duplicate lines
        -u      Only print unique lines
        -f N    Skip first N fields
        -s N    Skip first N chars (after any skipped fields)
        -w N    Compare N characters in line

unix2dos

unix2dos [-ud] [FILE]

Convert FILE in-place from Unix to DOS format. When no file is given, use stdin/stdout.

        -u      dos2unix
        -d      unix2dos

unlzma

unlzma [-cf] [FILE]...

Decompress FILE (or stdin)

        -c      Write to stdout
        -f      Force

unxz

unxz [-cf] [FILE]...

Decompress FILE (or stdin)

        -c      Write to stdout
        -f      Force

unzip

unzip [-lnopq] FILE[.zip] [FILE]... [-x FILE...] [-d DIR]

Extract FILEs from ZIP archive

        -l      List contents (with -q for short form)
        -n      Never overwrite files (default: ask)
        -o      Overwrite
        -p      Print to stdout
        -q      Quiet
        -x FILE Exclude FILEs
        -d DIR  Extract into DIR

uptime

uptime

Display the time since the last boot

users

users

Print the users currently logged on

usleep

usleep N

Pause for N microseconds

uudecode

uudecode [-o OUTFILE] [INFILE]

Uudecode a file Finds OUTFILE in uuencoded source unless -o is given

uuencode

uuencode [-m] [FILE] STORED_FILENAME

Uuencode FILE (or stdin) to stdout

        -m      Use base64 encoding per RFC1521

vconfig

vconfig COMMAND [OPTIONS]

Create and remove virtual ethernet devices

        add             IFACE VLAN_ID
        rem             VLAN_NAME
        set_flag        IFACE 0|1 VLAN_QOS
        set_egress_map  VLAN_NAME SKB_PRIO VLAN_QOS
        set_ingress_map VLAN_NAME SKB_PRIO VLAN_QOS
        set_name_type   NAME_TYPE

vi

vi [OPTIONS] [FILE]...

Edit FILE

        -c CMD  Initial command to run ($EXINIT also available)
        -R      Read-only
        -H      List available features

vlock

vlock [-a]

Lock a virtual terminal. A password is required to unlock.

        -a      Lock all VTs

volname

volname [DEVICE]

Show CD volume name of the DEVICE (default /dev/cdrom)

wall

wall [FILE]

Write content of FILE or stdin to all logged-in users

watch

watch [-n SEC] [-t] PROG ARGS

Run PROG periodically

        -n      Loop period in seconds (default 2)
        -t      Don't print header

watchdog

watchdog [-t N[ms]] [-T N[ms]] [-F] DEV

Periodically write to watchdog device DEV

        -T N    Reboot after N seconds if not reset (default 60)
        -t N    Reset every N seconds (default 30)
        -F      Run in foreground

Use 500ms to specify period in milliseconds

wc

wc [-cmlwL] [FILE]...

Count lines, words, and bytes for each FILE (or stdin)

        -c      Count bytes
        -m      Count characters
        -l      Count newlines
        -w      Count words
        -L      Print longest line length

wget

wget [-c|--continue] [-s|--spider] [-q|--quiet] [-O|--output-document FILE]         [--header 'header: value'] [-Y|--proxy on/off] [-P DIR]
        [-U|--user-agent AGENT] [-T SEC] URL...

Retrieve files via HTTP or FTP

        -s      Spider mode - only check file existence
        -c      Continue retrieval of aborted transfer
        -q      Quiet
        -P DIR  Save to DIR (default .)
        -T SEC  Network read timeout is SEC seconds
        -O FILE Save to FILE ('-' for stdout)
        -U STR  Use STR for User-Agent header
        -Y      Use proxy ('on' or 'off')

which

which [COMMAND]...

Locate a COMMAND

who

who [-a]

Show who is logged on

        -a      Show all
        -H      Print column headers

whoami

whoami

Print the user name associated with the current effective user id

whois

whois [-h SERVER] [-p PORT] NAME...

Query WHOIS info about NAME

        -h,-p   Server to query

xargs

xargs [OPTIONS] [PROG ARGS]

Run PROG on every item given by stdin

        -p      Ask user whether to run each command
        -r      Don't run command if input is empty
        -0      Input is separated by NUL characters
        -t      Print the command on stderr before execution
        -e[STR] STR stops input processing
        -n N    Pass no more than N args to PROG
        -s N    Pass command line of no more than N bytes
        -I STR  Replace STR within PROG ARGS with input line
        -x      Exit if size is exceeded

xzcat

xzcat [FILE]...

Decompress to stdout

yes

yes [STRING]

Repeatedly output a line with STRING, or 'y'

zcat

zcat [FILE]...

Decompress to stdout

zcip

zcip [OPTIONS] IFACE SCRIPT

Manage a ZeroConf IPv4 link-local address

        -f              Run in foreground
        -q              Quit after obtaining address
        -r 169.254.x.x  Request this address first
        -l x.x.0.0      Use this range instead of 169.254
        -v              Verbose

$LOGGING=none                Suppress logging
$LOGGING=syslog         Log to syslog

With no -q, runs continuously monitoring for ARP conflicts, exits only on I/O errors (link down etc)

LIBC NSS

If you enable CONFIG_USE_BB_PWD_GRP, BusyBox will use internal functions to directly access the /etc/passwd, /etc/group, and /etc/shadow files without using NSS. This may allow you to run your system without the need for installing any of the NSS configuration files and libraries.

When used with glibc, the BusyBox 'networking' applets will similarly require that you install at least some of the glibc NSS stuff (in particular, /etc/nsswitch.conf, /lib/libnss_dns*, /lib/libnss_files*, and /lib/libresolv*).

Shameless Plug: As an alternative, one could use a C library such as uClibc. In addition to making your system significantly smaller, uClibc does not require the use of any NSS support files or libraries.

MAINTAINER

AUTHORS

Emanuele Aina <emanuele.aina@tiscali.it>
    run-parts

Erik Andersen <andersen@codepoet.org>

    Tons of new stuff, major rewrite of most of the
    core apps, tons of new apps as noted in header files.
    Lots of tedious effort writing these boring docs that
    nobody is going to actually read.

Laurence Anderson <l.d.anderson@warwick.ac.uk>

    rpm2cpio, unzip, get_header_cpio, read_gz interface, rpm

Jeff Angielski <jeff@theptrgroup.com>

    ftpput, ftpget

Edward Betts <edward@debian.org>

    expr, hostid, logname, whoami

John Beppu <beppu@codepoet.org>

    du, nslookup, sort

Brian Candler <B.Candler@pobox.com>

    tiny-ls(ls)

Randolph Chung <tausq@debian.org>

    fbset, ping, hostname

Dave Cinege <dcinege@psychosis.com>

    more(v2), makedevs, dutmp, modularization, auto links file,
    various fixes, Linux Router Project maintenance

Jordan Crouse <jordan@cosmicpenguin.net>

    ipcalc

Magnus Damm <damm@opensource.se>

    tftp client insmod powerpc support

Larry Doolittle <ldoolitt@recycle.lbl.gov>

    pristine source directory compilation, lots of patches and fixes.

Glenn Engel <glenne@engel.org>

    httpd

Gennady Feldman <gfeldman@gena01.com>

    Sysklogd (single threaded syslogd, IPC Circular buffer support,
    logread), various fixes.

Karl M. Hegbloom <karlheg@debian.org>

    cp_mv.c, the test suite, various fixes to utility.c, &c.

Daniel Jacobowitz <dan@debian.org>

    mktemp.c

Matt Kraai <kraai@alumni.cmu.edu>

    documentation, bugfixes, test suite

Stephan Linz <linz@li-pro.net>

    ipcalc, Red Hat equivalence

John Lombardo <john@deltanet.com>

    tr

Glenn McGrath <bug1@iinet.net.au>

    Common unarchiving code and unarchiving applets, ifupdown, ftpgetput,
    nameif, sed, patch, fold, install, uudecode.
    Various bugfixes, review and apply numerous patches.

Manuel Novoa III <mjn3@codepoet.org>

    cat, head, mkfifo, mknod, rmdir, sleep, tee, tty, uniq, usleep, wc, yes,
    mesg, vconfig, make_directory, parse_mode, dirname, mode_string,
    get_last_path_component, simplify_path, and a number trivial libbb routines

    also bug fixes, partial rewrites, and size optimizations in
    ash, basename, cal, cmp, cp, df, du, echo, env, ln, logname, md5sum, mkdir,
    mv, realpath, rm, sort, tail, touch, uname, watch, arith, human_readable,
    interface, dutmp, ifconfig, route

Vladimir Oleynik <dzo@simtreas.ru>

    cmdedit; xargs(current), httpd(current);
    ports: ash, crond, fdisk, inetd, stty, traceroute, top;
    locale, various fixes
    and irreconcilable critic of everything not perfect.

Bruce Perens <bruce@pixar.com>

    Original author of BusyBox in 1995, 1996. Some of his code can
    still be found hiding here and there...

Tim Riker <Tim@Rikers.org>

    bug fixes, member of fan club

Kent Robotti <robotti@metconnect.com>

    reset, tons and tons of bug reports and patches.

Chip Rosenthal <chip@unicom.com>, <crosenth@covad.com>

    wget - Contributed by permission of Covad Communications

Pavel Roskin <proski@gnu.org>

    Lots of bugs fixes and patches.

Gyepi Sam <gyepi@praxis-sw.com>

    Remote logging feature for syslogd

Linus Torvalds <torvalds@transmeta.com>

    mkswap, fsck.minix, mkfs.minix

Mark Whitley <markw@codepoet.org>

    grep, sed, cut, xargs(previous),
    style-guide, new-applet-HOWTO, bug fixes, etc.

Charles P. Wright <cpwright@villagenet.com>

    gzip, mini-netcat(nc)

Enrique Zanardi <ezanardi@ull.es>

    tarcat (since removed), loadkmap, various fixes, Debian maintenance

Tito Ragusa <farmatito@tiscali.it>

    devfsd and size optimizations in strings, openvt and deallocvt.

Paul Fox <pgf@foxharp.boston.ma.us>

    vi editing mode for ash, various other patches/fixes

Roberto A. Foglietta <me@roberto.foglietta.name>

    port: dnsd

Bernhard Reutner-Fischer <rep.dot.nop@gmail.com>

    misc

Mike Frysinger <vapier@gentoo.org>

    initial e2fsprogs, printenv, setarch, sum, misc

Jie Zhang <jie.zhang@analog.com>

    fixed two bugs in msh and hush (exitcode of killed processes)

Index

NAME

SYNTAX

DESCRIPTION

USAGE

COMMON OPTIONS

COMMANDS

COMMAND DESCRIPTIONS

LIBC NSS

MAINTAINER

AUTHORS