busybox

Langue: en

Version: 2010-05-05 (fedora - 01/12/10)

Section: 1 (Commandes utilisateur)

NAME

BusyBox - The Swiss Army Knife of Embedded Linux

SYNTAX

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

DESCRIPTION

BusyBox combines tiny versions of many common UNIX utilities into a single small executable. It provides minimalist replacements for most of the utilities you usually find in GNU coreutils, util-linux, etc. The utilities in BusyBox generally have fewer options than their full-featured GNU cousins; however, the options that are included provide the expected functionality and behave very much like their GNU counterparts.

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

BusyBox is a multi-call binary. A multi-call binary is an executable program that performs the same job as more than one utility program. That means there is just a single BusyBox binary, but that single binary acts like a large number of utilities. This allows BusyBox to be smaller since all the built-in utility programs (we call them applets) can share code for many common operations.

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

Most BusyBox applets support the --help argument to provide a terse runtime description of their behavior. If the CONFIG_FEATURE_VERBOSE_USAGE option has been enabled, more detailed usage information will also be available.

COMMANDS

Currently available applets include:
         [, [[, acpid, addgroup, adduser, adjtimex, ar, arp, arping, ash,
         awk, basename, beep, blkid, brctl, bunzip2, bzcat, bzip2, cal, cat,
         catv, chat, chattr, chgrp, chmod, chown, chpasswd, chpst, chroot,
         chrt, chvt, cksum, clear, cmp, comm, cp, cpio, crond, crontab,
         cryptpw, cttyhack, cut, date, dc, dd, deallocvt, delgroup, deluser,
         depmod, devmem, df, dhcprelay, diff, dirname, dmesg, dnsd,
         dnsdomainname, dos2unix, du, dumpkmap, dumpleases, echo, ed, egrep,
         eject, env, envdir, envuidgid, ether-wake, expand, expr, fakeidentd,
         false, fbset, fbsplash, fdflush, fdformat, fdisk, fgrep, find,
         findfs, fold, free, freeramdisk, fsck, fsck.minix, fsync, ftpd,
         ftpget, ftpput, fuser, getopt, getty, grep, gunzip, gzip, halt, hd,
         hdparm, head, hexdump, hostid, hostname, httpd, hush, hwclock, id,
         ifconfig, ifdown, ifenslave, ifplugd, ifup, inetd, init, insmod,
         install, ionice, ip, ipaddr, ipcalc, ipcrm, ipcs, iplink, iproute,
         iprule, iptunnel, kbd_mode, kill, killall, killall5, klogd, last,
         length, less, linux32, linux64, linuxrc, ln, loadfont, loadkmap,
         logger, login, logname, logread, losetup, lpd, lpq, lpr, ls, lsattr,
         lsmod, lzmacat, makedevs, makemime, man, md5sum, mdev, mesg,
         microcom, mkdir, mkdosfs, mkfifo, mkfs.minix, mkfs.vfat, mknod,
         mkpasswd, mkswap, mktemp, modprobe, more, mount, mountpoint, msh,
         mt, mv, nameif, nc, netstat, nice, nmeter, nohup, nslookup, od,
         openvt, passwd, patch, pgrep, pidof, ping, ping6, pipe_progress,
         pivot_root, pkill, popmaildir, poweroff, printenv, printf, ps,
         pscan, pwd, raidautorun, rdate, rdev, readahead, readlink,
         readprofile, realpath, reboot, reformime, renice, reset, resize, rm,
         rmdir, rmmod, route, rpm, rpm2cpio, rtcwake, run-parts, runlevel,
         runsv, runsvdir, rx, script, scriptreplay, sed, sendmail, seq,
         setarch, setconsole, setfont, setkeycodes, setlogcons, setsid,
         setuidgid, sh, sha1sum, sha256sum, sha512sum, showkey, slattach,
         sleep, softlimit, sort, split, start-stop-daemon, stat, strings,
         stty, su, sulogin, sum, sv, svlogd, swapoff, swapon, switch_root,
         sync, sysctl, syslogd, tac, tail, tar, tcpsvd, tee, telnet, telnetd,
         test, tftp, tftpd, time, timeout, top, touch, tr, traceroute, true,
         tty, ttysize, tunctl, udhcpc, udhcpd, udpsvd, umount, uname,
         uncompress, unexpand, uniq, unix2dos, unlzma, unzip, uptime, usleep,
         uudecode, uuencode, vconfig, vi, vlock, volname, watch, watchdog,
         wc, wget, which, who, whoami, xargs, yes, zcat, zcip
 
 

COMMAND DESCRIPTIONS

acpid
acpid [-d] [-c CONFDIR] [-l LOGFILE] [-e PROC_EVENT_FILE] [EVDEV_EVENT_FILE...]

Listen to ACPI events and spawn specific helpers on event arrival

Options:

         -d      Do not daemonize and log to stderr
         -c DIR  Config directory [/etc/acpi]
         -e FILE /proc event file [/proc/acpi/event]
         -l FILE Log file [/var/log/acpid]
 
 

Accept and ignore compatibility options -g -m -s -S -v

addgroup
addgroup [-g GID] [user_name] group_name

Add a group or add a user to a group

Options:

         -g GID  Group id
         -S      Create a system group
 
 
adduser
adduser [OPTIONS] user_name

Add a user

Options:

         -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              Do not assign a password
         -H              Do not create home directory
         -u UID          User id
 
 
adjtimex
adjtimex [-q] [-o offset] [-f frequency] [-p timeconstant] [-t tick]

Read and optionally set system timebase parameters. See adjtimex(2).

Options:

         -q              Quiet
         -o offset       Time offset, microseconds
         -f frequency    Frequency adjust, integer kernel units (65536 is 1ppm)
                         (positive values make clock run faster)
         -t tick         Microseconds per tick, usually 10000
         -p timeconstant
 
 
ar
ar [-o] [-v] [-p] [-t] [-x] ARCHIVE FILES

Extract or list FILES from an ar archive

Options:

         -o      Preserve original dates
         -p      Extract to stdout
         -t      List
         -x      Extract
         -v      Verbose
 
 
arp
arp [-vn]   [-H type] [-i if] -a [hostname]
[-v]             [-i if] -d hostname [pub]
[-v]    [-H type] [-i if] -s hostname hw_addr [temp]
[-v]    [-H type] [-i if] -s hostname hw_addr [netmask nm] pub
[-v]    [-H type] [-i if] -Ds hostname ifa [netmask nm] pub

Manipulate ARP cache

Options:

         -a              Display (all) hosts
         -s              Set new ARP entry
         -d              Delete a specified entry
         -v              Verbose
         -n              Don't resolve names
         -i IF           Network interface
         -D              Read <hwaddr> from given device
         -A, -p AF       Protocol family
         -H HWTYPE       Hardware address type
 
 
arping
arping [-fqbDUA] [-c count] [-w timeout] [-I dev] [-s sender] target

Send ARP requests/replies

Options:

         -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, in seconds
         -I dev          Interface to use (default eth0)
         -s sender       Sender IP address
         target          Target IP address
 
 
awk
awk [OPTIONS] [AWK_PROGRAM] [FILE]...

Options:

         -v VAR=VAL      Set variable
         -F SEP          Use SEP as field separator
         -f FILE         Read program from file
 
 
basename
basename FILE [SUFFIX]

Strip directory path and suffixes from FILE. If specified, also remove any trailing SUFFIX.

beep
beep -f freq -l length -d delay -r repetitions -n

Options:

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

Print UUIDs of all filesystems

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|0]                STP on/off
 
 
bunzip2
bunzip2 [OPTIONS] [FILE]

Uncompress FILE (or standard input if FILE is '-' or omitted)

Options:

         -c      Write to standard output
         -f      Force
 
 
bzcat
bzcat FILE

Uncompress to stdout

bzip2
bzip2 [OPTIONS] [FILE]...

Compress FILE(s) with bzip2 algorithm. When FILE is '-' or unspecified, reads standard input. Implies -c.

Options:

         -c      Write to standard output
         -d      Decompress
         -f      Force
         -1..-9  Compression level
 
 
cal
cal [-jy] [[month] year]

Display a calendar

Options:

         -j      Use julian dates
         -y      Display the entire year
 
 
cat
cat [-u] [FILE]...

Concatenate FILE(s) and print them to stdout

Options:

         -u      Use unbuffered i/o (ignored)
 
 
catv
catv [-etv] [FILE]...

Display nonprinting characters as ^x or M-x

Options:

         -e      End each line with $
         -t      Show tabs as ^I
         -v      Don't use ^x or M-x escapes
 
 
chat
chat EXPECT [SEND [EXPECT [SEND...]]]

Useful for interacting with a modem connected to stdin/stdout. A script consists of one or more ``expect-send'' pairs of strings, each pair is a pair of arguments. Example: chat '' ATZ OK ATD123456 CONNECT '' ogin: pppuser word: ppppass '~'

chattr
chattr [-R] [-+=AacDdijsStTu] [-v version] files...

Change file attributes on an ext2 fs

Modifiers:

         -       Remove attributes
         +       Add attributes
         =       Set attributes
 Attributes:
 
         A       Don't track atime
         a       Append mode only
         c       Enable compress
         D       Write dir contents synchronously
         d       Do not backup with dump
         i       Cannot be modified (immutable)
         j       Write all data to journal first
         s       Zero disk storage when deleted
         S       Write file contents synchronously
         t       Disable tail-merging of partial blocks with other files
         u       Allow file to be undeleted
 Options:
 
         -R      Recursively list subdirectories
         -v      Set the file's version/generation number
 
 
chgrp
chgrp [-RhLHPcvf]... GROUP FILE...

Change the group membership of each FILE to GROUP

Options:

         -R      Recurse directories
         -h      Affect symlinks instead of symlink targets
         -L      Traverse all symlinks to directories
         -H      Traverse symlinks on command line only
         -P      Do not 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

Options:

         -R      Recurse directories
         -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

Options:

         -R      Recurse directories
         -h      Affect symlinks instead of symlink targets
         -L      Traverse all symlinks to directories
         -H      Traverse symlinks on command line only
         -P      Do not traverse symlinks (default)
         -c      List changed files
         -v      List all files
         -f      Hide errors
 
 
chpasswd
chpasswd [--md5|--encrypted]

Read user:password information from stdin and update /etc/passwd accordingly.

Options:

         -e,--encrypted  Supplied passwords are in encrypted form
         -m,--md5        Use MD5 encryption instead of DES
 
 
chpst
chpst [-vP012] [-u USER[:GRP]] [-U USER[:GRP]] [-e DIR]         [-/ DIR] [-n NICE] [-m BYTES] [-d BYTES] [-o N]
        [-p N] [-f BYTES] [-c BYTES] PROG ARGS

Change the process state and run PROG

Options:

         -u USER[:GRP]   Set uid and gid
         -U USER[:GRP]   Set $UID and $GID in environment
         -e DIR          Set environment variables as specified by files
                         in DIR: file=1st_line_of_file
         -/ DIR          Chroot to DIR
         -n NICE         Add NICE to nice value
         -m BYTES        Same as -d BYTES -s BYTES -l BYTES
         -d BYTES        Limit data segment
         -o N            Limit number of open files per process
         -p N            Limit number of processes per uid
         -f BYTES        Limit output file sizes
         -c BYTES        Limit core file size
         -v              Verbose
         -P              Create new process group
         -0              Close standard input
         -1              Close standard output
         -2              Close standard error
 
 
chroot
chroot NEWROOT [PROG [ARGS]]

Run PROG with root directory set to NEWROOT

chrt
chrt [OPTIONS] [PRIO] [PID | PROG [ARGS]]

Manipulate real-time attributes of a process

Options:

         -p      Operate on pid
         -r      Set scheduling policy to SCHED_RR
         -f      Set scheduling policy to SCHED_FIFO
         -o      Set scheduling policy to SCHED_OTHER
         -m      Show min and 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]]]

Compares FILE1 vs stdin if FILE2 is not specified

Options:

         -l      Write the byte numbers (decimal) and values (octal)
                 for all differing bytes
         -s      Quiet
 
 
comm
comm [-123] FILE1 FILE2

Compare FILE1 to FILE2, or to stdin if - is specified

Options:

         -1      Suppress lines unique to FILE1
         -2      Suppress lines unique to FILE2
         -3      Suppress lines common to both files
 
 
cp
cp [OPTIONS] SOURCE DEST

Copy SOURCE to DEST, or multiple SOURCE(s) to DIRECTORY

Options:

         -a      Same as -dpR
         -d,-P   Preserve links
         -H,-L   Dereference all symlinks (default)
         -p      Preserve file attributes if possible
         -f      Force overwrite
         -i      Prompt before overwrite
         -R,-r   Recurse directories
         -l,-s   Create (sym)links
 
 
cpio
cpio -[tiopdmvu] [-F FILE] [-H newc]

Extract or list files from a cpio archive, or create a cpio archive Main operation mode:

         -t      List
         -i      Extract
         -o      Create
         -p      Passthrough
 Options:
 
         -d      Make leading directories
         -m      Preserve mtime
         -v      Verbose
         -u      Overwrite
         -F      Input file
         -H      Define format
 
 
crond
crond -fbS -l N -d N -L LOGFILE -c DIR
         -f      Foreground
         -b      Background (default)
         -S      Log to syslog (default)
         -l      Set log level. 0 is the most verbose, default 8
         -d      Set log level, log to stderr
         -L      Log to file
         -c      Working dir
 
 
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 the PASSWORD using crypt(3)

Options:

         -P,--password-fd=NUM    Read password from fd NUM
         -m,--method=TYPE        Encryption method TYPE
         -S,--salt=SALT
 
 
cut
cut [OPTIONS] [FILE]...

Print selected fields from each input FILE to standard output

Options:

         -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

Options:

         [-s] TIME       Set time to TIME
         -u              Work in UTC (don't convert to local time)
         -R              Output RFC-822 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 FILE         Display last modification time of FILE
         -d 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]
 
 
dc
dc expression...

Tiny RPN calculator. Operations: +, add, -, sub, *, mul, /, div, %, mod, **, exp, and, or, not, eor, p - print top of the stack (without altering the stack), f - print entire stack, o - pop the value and set output radix (value must be 10 or 16). Examples: 'dc 2 2 add' -> 4, 'dc 8 8 * 2 2 + /' -> 16.

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

Options:

         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
 
 

Numbers may be suffixed by c (x1), w (x2), b (x512), kD (x1000), k (x1024), MD (x1000000), M (x1048576), GD (x1000000000) or G (x1073741824)

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

devmem
devmem ADDRESS [WIDTH [VALUE]]

Read/write from physical address

         ADDRESS Address to act upon
         WIDTH   Width (8/16/...)
         VALUE   Data to be written
 
 
df
df [-Pkmhai] [-B SIZE] [FILESYSTEM...]

Print filesystem usage statistics

Options:

         -P      POSIX output format
         -k      1024-byte blocks (default)
         -m      1M-byte blocks
         -h      Human readable (e.g. 1K 243M 2G)
         -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 [-abdiNqrTstw] [-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.

Options:

         -a      Treat all files as text
         -b      Ignore changes in the amount of whitespace
         -d      Try hard to find a smaller set of changes
         -i      Ignore case differences
         -L      Use LABEL instead of the filename in the unified header
         -N      Treat absent files as empty
         -q      Output only whether files differ
         -r      Recursively compare subdirectories
         -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

Options:

         -c              Clear ring buffer after printing
         -n LEVEL        Set console logging level
         -s SIZE         Buffer size
 
 
dnsd
dnsd [-c config] [-t seconds] [-p port] [-i iface-ip] [-d]

Small static DNS server daemon

Options:

         -c      Config filename
         -t      TTL in seconds
         -p      Listening port
         -i      Listening ip (default all)
         -d      Daemonize
 
 
dos2unix
dos2unix [OPTION] [FILE]

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

Options:

         -u      dos2unix
         -d      unix2dos
 
 
du
du [-aHLdclsxhmk] [FILE]...

Summarize disk space used for each FILE and/or directory. Disk space is printed in units of 1024 bytes.

Options:

         -a      Show file sizes too
         -H      Follow symlinks on command line
         -L      Follow all symlinks
         -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 standard output

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

Display DHCP leases granted by udhcpd

Options:

         -f,--file=FILE  Leases file to load
         -r,--remaining  Interpret lease times as time remaining
         -a,--absolute   Interpret lease times as expire time
 
 
echo
echo [-neE] [ARG...]

Print the specified ARGs to stdout

Options:

         -n      Suppress trailing newline
         -e      Interpret backslash-escaped characters (i.e., \t=tab)
         -E      Disable interpretation of backslash-escaped characters
 
 
ed
ed
eject
eject [-t] [-T] [DEVICE]

Eject specified DEVICE (or default /dev/cdrom)

Options:

         -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

Options:

         -, -i   Start with an empty environment
         -u      Remove variable from the environment
 
 
envdir
envdir dir prog args

Set various environment variables as specified by files in the directory dir and run PROG

envuidgid
envuidgid account prog args

Set $UID to account's uid and $GID to account's gid and run PROG

ether-wake
ether-wake [-b] [-i iface] [-p aa:bb:cc:dd[:ee:ff]] 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.

Options:

         -b              Send wake-up packet to the broadcast address
         -i iface        Interface to use (default eth0)
         -p pass         Append four or six byte password PW to the packet
 
 
expand
expand [-i] [-t NUM] [FILE|-]

Convert tabs to spaces, writing to standard output.

Options:

         -i,--initial    Do not convert tabs after non blanks
         -t,--tabs=N     Tabstops every N chars
 
 
expr
expr EXPRESSION

Print the value of EXPRESSION to standard output.

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

Options:

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

Return an exit code of FALSE (1)

fbset
fbset [OPTIONS] [MODE]

Show and modify frame buffer settings

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

Options:

         -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'
 
 
fdflush
fdflush DEVICE

Force floppy disk drive to detect disk change

fdformat
fdformat [-n] DEVICE

Format floppy disk

Options:

         -n      Don't verify after format
 
 
fdisk
fdisk [-ul] [-C CYLINDERS] [-H HEADS] [-S SECTORS] [-b SSZ] DISK

Change partition table

Options:

         -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 [PATH...] [EXPRESSION]

Search for files. The default PATH is the current directory, default EXPRESSION is '-print'

EXPRESSION may consist of:

         -follow         Dereference symlinks
         -xdev           Don't descend directories on other filesystems
         -maxdepth N     Descend at most N levels. -maxdepth 0 applies
                         tests/actions to command line arguments only
         -mindepth N     Do not act on first N levels
         -name PATTERN   File name (w/o directory name) matches PATTERN
         -iname PATTERN  Case insensitive -name
         -path PATTERN   Path matches PATTERN
         -regex PATTERN  Path matches regex PATTERN
         -type X         File type is X (X is one of: f,d,l,b,c,...)
         -perm NNN       Permissions match any of (+NNN), all of (-NNN),
                         or exactly (NNN)
         -mtime DAYS     Modified time is greater than (+N), less than (-N),
                         or exactly (N) days
         -mmin MINS      Modified time is greater than (+N), less than (-N),
                         or exactly (N) minutes
         -newer FILE     Modified time is more recent than FILE's
         -inum N         File has inode number N
         -user NAME      File is owned by user NAME (numeric user ID allowed)
         -group NAME     File belongs to group NAME (numeric group ID allowed)
         -depth          Process directory name after traversing it
         -size N[bck]    File size is N (c:bytes,k:kbytes,b:512 bytes(def.)).
                         +/-N: file size is bigger/smaller than N
         -print          Print (default and assumed)
         -print0         Delimit output with null characters rather than
                         newlines
         -exec CMD ARG ; Run CMD with all instances of {} replaced by the
                         matching files
         -prune          Stop traversing current subtree
         -delete         Delete files, turns on -depth option
         (EXPR)          Group an expression
 
 
findfs
findfs LABEL=label or UUID=uuid

Find a filesystem device based on a label or UUID

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

Wrap input lines in each FILE (standard input by default), writing to standard output

Options:

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

Display the amount of free and used system memory

freeramdisk
freeramdisk DEVICE

Free all memory used by the specified ramdisk

fsck
fsck [-ANPRTV] [-C fd] [-t fstype] [fs-options] [filesys...]

Check and repair filesystems

Options:

         -A      Walk /etc/fstab and check all filesystems
         -N      Don't execute, just show what would be done
         -P      With -A, check filesystems in parallel
         -R      With -A, skip the root filesystem
         -T      Don't show title on startup
         -V      Verbose
         -C n    Write status information to specified filedescriptor
         -t type List of filesystem types to check
 
 
fsck.minix
fsck.minix [-larvsmf] /dev/name

Check MINIX filesystem

Options:

         -l      List all filenames
         -r      Perform interactive repairs
         -a      Perform automatic repairs
         -v      Verbose
         -s      Output superblock information
         -m      Show "mode not cleared" warnings
         -f      Force file system check
 
 
fsync
fsync [OPTIONS] FILE...Write files' buffered blocks to disk

Options:

         -d      Avoid syncing metadata
 
 
ftpd
ftpd [-wvS] [-t N] [-T N] [DIR]

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
 
 

Options:

         -w      Allow upload
         -v      Log to stderr
         -S      Log to syslog
         -t,-T   Idle and absolute timeouts
         DIR     Change root to this directory
 
 
ftpget
ftpget [OPTIONS] HOST LOCAL_FILE REMOTE_FILE

Retrieve a remote file via FTP

Options:

         -c,--continue   Continue previous transfer
         -v,--verbose    Verbose
         -u,--username   Username
         -p,--password   Password
         -P,--port       Port number
 
 
ftpput
ftpput [OPTIONS] HOST REMOTE_FILE LOCAL_FILE

Store a local file on a remote machine via FTP

Options:

         -v,--verbose    Verbose
         -u,--username   Username
         -p,--password   Password
         -P,--port       Port number
 
 
fuser
fuser [OPTIONS] FILE or PORT/PROTO

Find processes which use FILEs or PORTs

Options:

         -m      Find processes which use same fs as FILEs
         -4      Search only IPv4 space
         -6      Search only IPv6 space
         -s      Silent: just exit with 0 if any processes are found
         -k      Kill found processes (otherwise display PIDs)
         -SIGNAL Signal to send (default: TERM)
 
 
getopt
getopt [OPTIONS]

Parse options

         -a,--alternative                Allow long options starting with single -
         -l,--longoptions=longopts       Long options to be recognized
         -n,--name=progname              The name under which errors are reported
         -o,--options=optstring          Short options to be recognized
         -q,--quiet                      Disable error reporting by getopt(3)
         -Q,--quiet-output               No normal output
         -s,--shell=shell                Set shell quoting conventions
         -T,--test                       Test for getopt(1) version
         -u,--unquoted                   Don't quote the output
 
 
getty
getty [OPTIONS] BAUD_RATE TTY [TERMTYPE]

Open a tty, prompt for a login name, then invoke /bin/login

Options:

         -h              Enable hardware (RTS/CTS) flow control
         -i              Do not display /etc/issue before running login
         -L              Local line, do not do carrier detect
         -m              Get baud rate from modem's CONNECT status message
         -w              Wait for a CR or LF before sending /etc/issue
         -n              Do not prompt the user for a login name
         -f issue_file   Display issue_file instead of /etc/issue
         -l login_app    Invoke login_app instead of /bin/login
         -t timeout      Terminate after timeout if no username is read
         -I initstring   Init string to send before anything else
         -H login_host   Log login_host into the utmp file as the hostname
 
 
grep
grep [-HhrilLnqvsoweFEABCz] PATTERN [FILE]...

Search for PATTERN in each FILE or standard input

Options:

         -H      Prefix output lines with filename where match was found
         -h      Suppress the prefixing filename on output
         -r      Recurse subdirectories
         -i      Ignore case distinctions
         -l      List names of files that match
         -L      List names of files that do not match
         -n      Print line number with output lines
         -q      Quiet. Return 0 if PATTERN is found, 1 otherwise
         -v      Select non-matching lines
         -s      Suppress file open/read error messages
         -c      Only print count of matching lines
         -o      Show only the part of a line that matches PATTERN
         -m MAX  Match up to MAX times per file
         -w      Match whole words only
         -F      PATTERN is a set of newline-separated strings
         -E      PATTERN is an extended regular expression
         -e PTRN Pattern to match
         -f FILE Read pattern from file
         -A      Print NUM lines of trailing context
         -B      Print NUM lines of leading context
         -C      Print NUM lines of output context
         -z      Input is NUL terminated
 
 
gunzip
gunzip [OPTIONS] [FILE]...

Uncompress FILEs (or standard input)

Options:

         -c      Write to standard output
         -f      Force
         -t      Test file integrity
 
 
gzip
gzip [OPTIONS] [FILE]...

Compress FILEs (or standard input)

Options:

         -c      Write to standard output
         -d      Decompress
         -f      Force
 
 
halt
halt [-d delay] [-n] [-f] [-w]

Halt the system

Options:

         -d      Delay interval for halting
         -n      No call to sync()
         -f      Force halt (don't go through init)
         -w      Only write a wtmp record
 
 
hd
hd FILE...

hd is an alias for hexdump -C

hdparm
hdparm [OPTIONS] [DEVICE]

Options:

         -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)
         -R      Register an IDE interface (DANGEROUS)
         -S      Set standby (spindown) timeout
         -t      Perform device read timings
         -T      Perform cache read timings
         -u      Get/set unmaskirq flag (0/1)
         -U      Un-register an IDE interface (DANGEROUS)
         -v      Defaults; same as -mcudkrag for IDE drives
         -V      Display program version and exit immediately
         -w      Perform device reset (DANGEROUS)
         -W      Set drive write-caching flag (0/1) (DANGEROUS)
         -x      Tristate device for hotswap (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      Re-read partition table
 
 
head
head [OPTIONS] [FILE]...

Print first 10 lines of each FILE to standard output. With more than one FILE, precede each with a header giving the file name. With no FILE, or when FILE is -, read standard input.

Options:

         -n NUM  Print first NUM lines instead of first 10
         -c NUM  Output the first NUM bytes
         -q      Never output headers giving file names
         -v      Always output headers giving file names
 
 
hexdump
hexdump [-bcCdefnosvxR] FILE...

Display file(s) or standard input in a user specified format

Options:

         -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

Options:

         -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

Options:

         -i              Inetd mode
         -f              Do not daemonize
         -v[v]           Verbose
         -c FILE         Configuration file (default httpd.conf)
         -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 .)
         -m STRING       MD5 crypt STRING
         -e STRING       HTML encode STRING
         -d STRING       URL decode STRING
 
 
hwclock
hwclock [-r|--show] [-s|--hctosys] [-w|--systohc] [-l|--localtime] [-u|--utc] [-f FILE]

Query and set hardware clock (RTC)

Options:

         -r      Show hardware clock time
         -s      Set system time from hardware clock
         -w      Set hardware clock to system time
         -u      Hardware clock is in UTC
         -l      Hardware clock is in local time
         -f FILE Use specified device (e.g. /dev/rtc2)
 
 
id
id [OPTIONS] [USER]

Print information about USER or the current user

Options:

         -u      Print user ID
         -g      Print group ID
         -G      Print supplementary group IDs
         -n      Print name instead of a number
         -r      Print real user ID instead of effective ID
 
 
ifconfig
ifconfig [-a] interface [address]

Configure a network interface

Options:

         [add ADDRESS[/PREFIXLEN]]
         [del ADDRESS[/PREFIXLEN]]
         [[-]broadcast [ADDRESS]] [[-]pointopoint [ADDRESS]]
         [netmask ADDRESS] [dstaddr ADDRESS]
         [outfill NN] [keepalive NN]
         [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] ...
 
 
ifdown
ifdown [-ainmvf] ifaces...

Options:

         -a      De/configure all interfaces automatically
         -i FILE Use FILE for interface definitions
         -n      Print out what would happen, but don't do it
                 (note: doesn't disable mappings)
         -m      Don't run any mappings
         -v      Print out what would happen before doing it
         -f      Force de/configuration
 
 
ifenslave
ifenslave [-cdf] master-iface <slave-iface...>

Configure network interfaces for parallel routing

Options:

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

Network interface plug detection daemon.

Options:

         -n              Do not daemonize
         -s              Do not log to syslog
         -i IFACE        Interface
         -f/-F           Treat link detection error as link down/link up
                         (otherwise exit on error)
         -a              Do not up interface automatically
         -M              Monitor creation/destruction of interface
                         (otherwise it must exist)
         -r PROG         Script to run
         -x ARG          Extra argument for script
         -I              Don't exit on nonzero exit code from script
         -p              Don't run script on daemon startup
         -q              Don't run script on daemon quit
         -l              Run script on startup even if no cable is detected
         -t SECS         Poll time in seconds
         -u SECS         Delay before running script after link up
         -d SECS         Delay after link down
         -m MODE         API mode (mii, priv, ethtool, wlan, auto)
         -k              Kill running daemon
 
 
ifup
ifup [-ainmvf] ifaces...

Options:

         -a      De/configure all interfaces automatically
         -i FILE Use FILE for interface definitions
         -n      Print out what would happen, but don't do it
                 (note: doesn't disable mappings)
         -m      Don't run any mappings
         -v      Print out what would happen before doing it
         -f      Force de/configuration
 
 
inetd
inetd [-fe] [-q N] [-R N] [CONFFILE]

Listen for network connections and launch programs

Options:

         -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 parent of all processes

insmod
insmod [OPTIONS] MODULE [symbol=value]...

Load the specified kernel modules into the kernel

Options:

         -f      Force module to load into the wrong kernel version
         -k      Make module autoclean-able
         -v      Verbose
         -q      Quiet
         -L      Lock to prevent simultaneous loads of a module
         -m      Output load map to stdout
         -o NAME Set internal module name to NAME
         -x      Do not export externs
 
 
install
install [-cdDsp] [-o USER] [-g GRP] [-m MODE] [source] dest|directory

Copy files and set attributes

Options:

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

Change I/O scheduling class and priority

Options:

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

Options:

         -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.

Options:

         -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 | monitor } ROUTE }

iproute { list | flush } SELECTOR iproute get ADDRESS [from ADDRESS iif STRING]                         [oif STRING] [tos TOS]
iproute { add | del | change | append | replace | monitor } 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

Options set 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 is TERM) to given PIDs

Options:

         -l      List all signal names and numbers
 
 
killall
killall [-l] [-q] [-SIG] process-name...

Send a signal (default is TERM) to given processes

Options:

         -l      List all signal names and numbers
         -q      Do not complain if no processes were killed
 
 
killall5
killall5 [-l] [-SIG] [-o PID]...

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

Options:

         -l      List all signal names and numbers
         -o PID  Do not signal this PID
 
 
klogd
klogd [-c N] [-n]

Kernel logger

Options:

         -c N    Only messages with level < N are printed to console
         -n      Run in foreground
 
 
last
last [-HW] [-f file]

Show listing of the last users that logged into the system

Options:

         -W      Display with no host column truncation
         -f file Read from file instead of /var/log/wtmp
 
 
length
length STRING

Print STRING's length

less
less [-EMNmh~I?] [FILE]...

View a file or list of files. The position within files can be changed, and files can be manipulated in various ways.

Options:

         -E      Quit once the end of a file is reached
         -M,-m   Display a status line containing the line numbers
                 and percentage through the file
         -N      Prefix line numbers to each line
         -I      Ignore case in all searches
         -~      Suppress ~s displayed past the end of the file
 
 
ln
ln [OPTIONS] TARGET... LINK_NAME|DIRECTORY

Create a link named LINK_NAME or DIRECTORY to the specified TARGET. Use '--' to indicate that all following arguments are non-options.

Options:

         -s      Make symlinks instead of hardlinks
         -f      Remove existing destination files
         -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
 
 
loadfont
loadfont < font

Load a console font from standard input

loadkmap
loadkmap < keymap

Load a binary keyboard translation table from standard input

logger
logger [OPTIONS] [MESSAGE]

Write MESSAGE to the system log. If MESSAGE is omitted, log stdin.

Options:

         -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

Options:

         -f      Do not authenticate (user already authenticated)
         -h      Name of the remote host
         -p      Preserve environment
 
 
logname
logname

Print the name of the current user

logread
logread [OPTIONS]

Show messages in syslogd's circular buffer

Options:

         -f      Output data as log grows
 
 
losetup
losetup [-o OFS] LOOPDEV FILE - associate loop devices         losetup -d LOOPDEV - disassociate
        losetup [-f] - show

Options:

         -o OFS  Start OFS bytes into FILE
         -f      Show first 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]

Options:

         -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]...

Options:

         -P      lp service to connect to (else uses $PRINTER)
         -m      Send mail on completion
         -h      Print banner page too
         -V      Verbose
 
 
ls
ls [-1AacCdeFilnpLRrSsTtuvwxXhk] [FILE]...

List directory contents

Options:

         -1      List in a single column
         -A      Don't list . and ..
         -a      Don't hide entries starting with .
         -C      List by columns
         -c      With -l: sort by ctime
         --color[={always,never,auto}]   Control coloring
         -d      List directory entries instead of contents
         -e      List full date and time
         -F      Append indicator (one of */=@|) to entries
         -i      List inode numbers
         -l      Long listing format
         -n      List numeric UIDs and GIDs instead of names
         -p      Append indicator (one of /=@|) to entries
         -L      List entries pointed to by symlinks
         -R      List subdirectories recursively
         -r      Sort in reverse order
         -S      Sort by file size
         -s      List the size of each file, in blocks
         -T NUM  Assume tabstop every NUM columns
         -t      With -l: sort by modification time
         -u      With -l: sort by access time
         -v      Sort by version
         -w NUM  Assume the terminal is NUM columns wide
         -x      List by lines
         -X      Sort by extension
         -h      List sizes in human readable format (1K 243M 2G)
 
 
lsattr
lsattr [-Radlv] [FILE]...

List file attributes on an ext2 fs

Options:

         -R      Recursively list subdirectories
         -a      Do not hide entries starting with .
         -d      List directory entries instead of contents
         -l      List long flag names
         -v      List the file's version/generation number
 
 
lsmod
lsmod

List the currently loaded kernel modules

lzmacat
lzmacat FILE

Uncompress to stdout

makedevs
makedevs [-d device_table] rootdir

Create a range of special files as specified in a device table. Device table entries take the form of:

<type> <mode> <uid> <gid> <major> <minor> <start> <inc> <count> Where name is the file name, type can be one of:         f       Regular file
        d       Directory
        c       Character device
        b       Block device
        p       Fifo (named pipe)
uid is the user id for the target file, gid is the group id for the target file. The rest of the entries (major, minor, etc) apply to to device special files. A '-' may be used for blank entries.

makemime
makemime [OPTIONS] [FILE]...

Create multipart MIME-encoded message from FILEs.

Options:

         -o FILE Output. Default: stdout
         -a HDR  Add header. Examples:
                 "From: user@host.org", "Date: `date -R`"
         -c CT   Content type. Default: text/plain
         -C CS   Charset. Default: us-ascii
 
 

Other options are silently ignored

man
man [OPTIONS] [MANPAGE]...

Format and display manual page

Options:

         -a      Display all pages
         -w      Show page locations
 
 
md5sum
md5sum [OPTIONS] [FILE]...
   or: md5sum [OPTIONS] -c [FILE]

Print or check MD5 checksums

Options:

         -c      Check sums against given list
         -s      Don't output anything, status code shows success
         -w      Warn about improperly formatted checksum lines
 
 
mdev
mdev [-s]
         -s      Scan /sys and populate /dev during system boot
 
 

It can be run by kernel as a hotplug helper. To activate it:
 echo /bin/mdev >/proc/sys/kernel/hotplug It uses /etc/mdev.conf with lines [-]DEVNAME UID:GID PERM [>|=PATH] [@|$|*PROG]

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

Options:

         -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

Options:

         -m      Set permission mode (as in chmod), not rwxrwxrwx - umask
         -p      No error if existing, make parent directories as needed
 
 
mkdosfs
mkdosfs [-v] [-n LABEL] FILE_OR_DEVICE [SIZE_IN_KB]

Make a FAT32 filesystem

Options:

         -v      Verbose
         -n LBL  Volume label
 
 
mkfifo
mkfifo [OPTIONS] name

Create named pipe (identical to 'mknod name p')

Options:

         -m MODE Mode (default a=rw)
 
 
mkfs.minix
mkfs.minix [-c | -l filename] [-nXX] [-iXX] /dev/name [blocks]

Make a MINIX filesystem

Options:

         -c              Check device for bad blocks
         -n [14|30]      Maximum length of filenames
         -i INODES       Number of inodes for the filesystem
         -l FILENAME     Read bad blocks list from FILENAME
         -v              Make version 2 filesystem
 
 
mkfs.vfat
mkfs.vfat [-v] [-n LABEL] FILE_OR_DEVICE [SIZE_IN_KB]

Make a FAT32 filesystem

Options:

         -v      Verbose
         -n LBL  Volume label
 
 
mknod
mknod [OPTIONS] NAME TYPE MAJOR MINOR

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

Options:

         -m      Create the special file using the specified mode (default a=rw)
 TYPEs include:
 
         b:      Make a block device
         c or u: Make a character device
         p:      Make a named pipe (MAJOR and MINOR are ignored)
 
 
mkpasswd
mkpasswd [OPTIONS] [PASSWORD] [SALT]

Crypt the PASSWORD using crypt(3)

Options:

         -P,--password-fd=NUM    Read password from fd NUM
         -m,--method=TYPE        Encryption method TYPE
         -S,--salt=SALT
 
 
mkswap
mkswap DEVICE

Prepare block device to be used as swap partition

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).

Options:

         -d      Make a directory instead of a file
         -t      Generate a path rooted in temporary directory
         -p DIR  Use DIR as a temporary directory (implies -t)
 
 

For -t or -p, directory is chosen as follows: $TMPDIR if set, else -p DIR, else /tmp

modprobe
modprobe [-knqrsv] MODULE [symbol=value...]

Options:

         -k      Make module autoclean-able
         -n      Dry run
         -q      Quiet
         -r      Remove module (stacks) or do autoclean
         -s      Report via syslog instead of stderr
         -v      Verbose
         -b      Apply blacklist to module names too
 
 
more
more [FILE]...

View FILE or standard input one screenful at a time

mount
mount [flags] DEVICE NODE [-o OPT,OPT]

Mount a filesystem. Filesystem autodetection requires /proc be mounted.

Options:

         -a              Mount all filesystems in fstab
         -f              Dry run
         -r              Read-only mount
         -w              Read-write mount (default)
         -t FSTYPE       Filesystem type
         -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
         bind            Bind a directory to an additional location
         move            Relocate an existing mount point
         remount         Remount a mounted filesystem, changing its flags
         ro/rw           Read-only/read-write mount
 
 

There are EVEN MORE flags that are specific to each filesystem You'll have to see the written documentation for those filesystems

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

Check if the directory is a mountpoint

Options:

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

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

Options:

         -f      Don't prompt before overwriting
         -i      Interactive, prompt before overwrite
 
 
nameif
nameif [-s] [-c FILE] [{IFNAME MACADDR}]

Rename network interface while it in the down state

Options:

         -c FILE         Use configuration file (default is /etc/mactab)
         -s              Use syslog (LOCAL0 facility)
         IFNAME MACADDR  new_interface_name interface_mac_address
 
 
nc
nc [OPTIONS] HOST PORT - connect nc [OPTIONS] -l -p PORT [HOST] [PORT] - listen

Options:

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

Display networking information

Options:

         -l      Display listening server sockets
         -a      Display all sockets (default: connected)
         -e      Display other/more information
         -n      Don't resolve names
         -t      Tcp sockets
         -u      Udp sockets
         -w      Raw sockets
         -x      Unix sockets
         -r      Display routing table
         -W      Display with no column truncation
         -p      Display PID/Program name for sockets
 
 
nice
nice [-n ADJUST] [PROG [ARGS]]

Run PROG with modified scheduling priority

Options:

         -n ADJUST       Adjust priority by ADJUST
 
 
nmeter
nmeter format_string

Monitor system in real time

Format specifiers:

  %Nc or %[cN]   Monitor CPU. N - bar size, default 10
                 (displays: S:system U:user N:niced D:iowait I:irq i:softirq)
  %[niface]      Monitor network interface 'iface'
  %m             Monitor allocated memory
  %[mf]          Monitor free memory
  %[mt]          Monitor total memory
  %s             Monitor allocated swap
  %f             Monitor number of used file descriptors
  %Ni            Monitor total/specific IRQ rate
  %x             Monitor context switch rate
  %p             Monitor forks
  %[pn]          Monitor # of processes
  %b             Monitor block io
  %Nt            Show time (with N decimal points)
  %Nd            Milliseconds between updates (default:1000)
  %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

od
od [-aBbcDdeFfHhIiLlOovXx] [-t TYPE] [FILE]

Write an unambiguous representation, octal bytes by default, of FILE to standard output. With no FILE or when FILE is -, read standard input.

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

Start PROG on a new virtual terminal

Options:

         -c N    Use specified VT
         -s      Switch to the VT
         -w      Wait for PROG to exit
 
 
passwd
passwd [OPTIONS] [USER]

Change USER's password. If no USER is specified, changes the password for the current user.

Options:

         -a      Algorithm to use for password (choices: des, md5)
         -d      Delete password for the account
         -l      Lock (disable) account
         -u      Unlock (re-enable) account
 
 
patch
patch [-p NUM] [-i DIFF] [-R] [-N]
         -p NUM  Strip NUM leading components from file names
         -i DIFF Read DIFF instead of stdin
         -R      Reverse patch
         -N      Ignore already applied patches
 
 
pgrep
pgrep [-flnovx] [-s SID|-P PPID|PATTERN]

Display process(es) selected by regex PATTERN

Options:

         -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

Options:

         -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

Options:

         -4, -6          Force IPv4 or IPv6 hostname resolution
         -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
         -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 displays output at start
                         and when finished
 
 
ping6
ping6 [OPTIONS] HOST

Send ICMP ECHO_REQUEST packets to network hosts

Options:

         -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 displays output at start
                         and when finished
 
 
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

Options:

         -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
 
 
popmaildir
popmaildir [OPTIONS] Maildir [connection-helper ...]

Fetch content of remote mailbox to local maildir

Options:

         -b              Binary mode. Ignored
         -d              Debug. Ignored
         -m              Show used memory. Ignored
         -V              Show version. Ignored
         -c              Use tcpclient. Ignored
         -a              Use APOP protocol. Implied. If server supports APOP -> use it
         -s              Skip authorization
         -T              Get messages with TOP instead with RETR
         -k              Keep retrieved messages on the server
         -t timeout      Set network timeout
         -F "program arg1 arg2 ..."      Filter by program. May be multiple
         -M "program arg1 arg2 ..."      Deliver by program
         -R size         Remove old messages on the server >= size (in bytes). Ignored
         -Z N1-N2        Remove messages from N1 to N2 (dangerous). Ignored
         -L size         Do not retrieve new messages >= size (in bytes). Ignored
         -H lines        Type specified number of lines of a message. Ignored
 
 
poweroff
poweroff [-d delay] [-n] [-f]

Halt and shut off power

Options:

         -d      Delay interval for halting
         -n      No call to sync()
         -f      Force power off (don't go through init)
 
 
printenv
printenv [VARIABLES...]

Print all or part of environment. If no environment VARIABLE specified, print them all.

printf
printf FORMAT [ARGUMENT...]

Format and print ARGUMENT(s) according to FORMAT, where FORMAT controls the output exactly as in C printf

ps
ps

Report process status

Options:

         -o col1,col2=header     Select columns for display
 
 
pscan
pscan [-cb] [-p MIN_PORT] [-P MAX_PORT] [-t TIMEOUT] [-T MIN_RTT] HOST

Scan a host, print all open ports

Options:

         -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)
 
 
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 and time from a remote HOST

Options:

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

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

readahead
readahead [FILE]...

Preload FILE(s) in RAM cache so that subsequent reads for thosefiles do not block on disk I/O

readlink
readlink [-fnv] FILE

Display the value of a symlink

Options:

         -f      Canonicalize by following all symlinks
         -n      Don't add newline
         -v      Verbose
 
 
readprofile
readprofile [OPTIONS]

Options:

         -m mapfile      (Default: /boot/System.map)
         -p profile      (Default: /proc/profile)
         -M mult         Set the profiling multiplier to mult
         -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 pathname...

Return the absolute pathnames of given argument

reboot
reboot [-d delay] [-n] [-f]

Reboot the system

Options:

         -d      Delay interval for rebooting
         -n      No call to sync()
         -f      Force reboot (don't go through init)
 
 
reformime
reformime [OPTIONS] [FILE]...

Parse MIME-encoded message

Options:

         -x prefix       Extract content of MIME sections to files
         -X prog [args]  Filter content of MIME sections through prog.
                         Must be the last option
 
 

Other options are silently ignored.

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

Change priority of running processes

Options:

         -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

resize
resize

Resize the screen

rm
rm [OPTIONS] FILE...

Remove (unlink) the FILE(s). Use '--' to indicate that all following arguments are non-options.

Options:

         -i      Always prompt before removing
         -f      Never prompt
         -r,-R   Remove directories recursively
 
 
rmdir
rmdir [OPTIONS] DIRECTORY...

Remove the DIRECTORY, if it is empty.

Options:

         -p|--parents    Include parents
         -ignore-fail-on-non-empty
 
 
rmmod
rmmod [OPTIONS] [MODULE]...

Unload the specified kernel modules from the kernel

Options:

         -w      Wait until the module is no longer used
         -f      Force unloading
         -a      Remove all unused modules (recursively)
 
 
route
route [{add|del|delete}]

Edit kernel routing tables

Options:

         -n      Don't resolve names
         -e      Display other/more information
         -A inet{6}      Select address family
 
 
rpm
rpm -i -q[ildc]p package.rpm

Manipulate RPM packages

Options:

         -i      Install package
         -q      Query package
         -p      Query uninstalled package
         -i      Show information
         -l      List contents
         -d      List documents
         -c      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
 
 
run-parts
run-parts [-t] [-l] [-a ARG] [-u MASK] DIRECTORY

Run a bunch of scripts in a directory

Options:

         -t      Print what would be run, but don't actually run anything
         -a ARG  Pass ARG as argument for every program
         -u MASK Set the umask to MASK before running every program
         -l      Print names of all matching files even if they are not executable
 
 
runlevel
runlevel [utmp]

Find the current and previous system runlevel.

If no utmp file exists or if no runlevel record can be found, print ``unknown''

runsv
runsv dir

Start and monitor a service and optionally an appendant log service

runsvdir
runsvdir [-P] [-s SCRIPT] dir

Start a runsv process for each subdirectory. If it exits, restart it.

         -P              Put each runsv in a new session
         -s SCRIPT       Run SCRIPT <signo> after signal is processed
 
 
rx
rx FILE

Receive a file using the xmodem protocol

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

Options:

         -a      Append output
         -c      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 [-efinr] SED_CMD [FILE]...

Options:

         -e CMD  Add CMD to sed commands to be executed
         -f FILE Add FILE contents to sed commands to be executed
         -i      Edit files in-place
         -n      Suppress automatic printing of pattern space
         -r      Use extended regex syntax
 
 

If no -e or -f is given, the first non-option argument is taken as the sed command to interpret. All remaining arguments are names of input files; if no input files are specified, then the standard input is read. Source files will not be modified unless -i option is given.

sendmail
sendmail [OPTIONS] [RECIPIENT_EMAIL]...

Read email from stdin and send it

Standard options:

         -t              Read additional recipients from message body
         -f sender       Sender (required)
         -o options      Various options. -oi implied, others are ignored
 
 

Busybox specific options:

         -w seconds      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 | -au<username> -ap<password>]
                         -H 'exec openssl s_client -quiet -tls1
                                 -connect smtp.gmail.com:465' <email.txt
                                 [4<username_and_passwd.txt | -au<username> -ap<password>]
         -S server[:port] Server
         -au<username>   Username for AUTH LOGIN
         -ap<password>   Password for AUTH LOGIN
         -am<method>     Authentication method. Ignored. LOGIN is implied
 
 

Other options are silently ignored; -oi -t is implied Use makemime applet to create message with attachments

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

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

Options:

         -w      Pad to last with leading zeros
         -s SEP  String separator
 
 
setarch
setarch personality program [args...]

Personality may be:

         linux32         Set 32bit uname emulation
         linux64         Set 64bit uname emulation
 
 
setconsole
setconsole [-r|--reset] [DEVICE]

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

Options:

         -r      Reset output to /dev/console
 
 
setfont
setfont FONT [-m MAPFILE] [-C TTY]

Load a console font

Options:

         -m MAPFILE      Load console screen map
         -C TTY          Affect TTY instead of /dev/tty
 
 
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 (0 for current)

setsid
setsid PROG [ARG...]

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.

setuidgid
setuidgid account prog args

Set uid and gid to account's uid and gid, removing all supplementary groups and run PROG

sha1sum
sha1sum [OPTIONS] [FILE]...
   or: sha1sum [OPTIONS] -c [FILE]

Print or check SHA1 checksums.

Options:

         -c      Check sums against given list
         -s      Don't output anything, status code shows success
         -w      Warn about improperly formatted checksum lines
 
 
sha256sum
sha256sum [OPTIONS] [FILE]...
   or: sha256sum [OPTIONS] -c [FILE]

Print or check SHA1 checksums.

Options:

         -c      Check sums against given list
         -s      Don't output anything, status code shows success
         -w      Warn about improperly formatted checksum lines
 
 
sha512sum
sha512sum [OPTIONS] [FILE]...
   or: sha512sum [OPTIONS] -c [FILE]

Print or check SHA1 checksums.

Options:

         -c      Check sums against given list
         -s      Don't output anything, status code shows success
         -w      Warn about improperly formatted checksum lines
 
 
showkey
showkey [-a | -k | -s]

Show keys pressed

Options:

         -a      Display decimal/octal/hex values of the keys
         -k      Display interpreted keycodes (default)
         -s      Display raw scan-codes
 
 
slattach
slattach [-cehmLF] [-s SPEED] [-p PROTOCOL] DEVICE

Attach network interface(s) to serial line(s)

Options:

         -p PROT Set protocol (slip, cslip, slip6, clisp6 or adaptive)
         -s SPD  Set line speed
         -e      Exit after initializing device
         -h      Exit when the carrier is lost
         -c PROG Run PROG when the line is hung up
         -m      Do NOT initialize the line in raw 8 bits mode
         -L      Enable 3-wire operation
         -F      Disable RTS/CTS flow control
 
 
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

softlimit
softlimit [-a BYTES] [-m BYTES] [-d BYTES] [-s BYTES] [-l BYTES]         [-f BYTES] [-c BYTES] [-r BYTES] [-o N] [-p N] [-t N]
        PROG ARGS

Set soft resource limits, then run PROG

Options:

         -a BYTES        Limit total size of all segments
         -m BYTES        Same as -d BYTES -s BYTES -l BYTES -a BYTES
         -d BYTES        Limit data segment
         -s BYTES        Limit stack segment
         -l BYTES        Limit locked memory size
         -o N            Limit number of open files per process
         -p N            Limit number of processes per uid
 Options controlling file sizes:
 
         -f BYTES        Limit output file sizes
         -c BYTES        Limit core file size
 Efficiency opts:
 
         -r BYTES        Limit resident set size
         -t N            Limit CPU time, process receives
                         a SIGXCPU after N seconds
 
 
sort
sort [-nrugMcszbdfimSTokt] [-o FILE] [-k start[.offset][opts][,end[.offset][opts]] [-t CHAR] [FILE]...

Sort lines of text

Options:

         -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]]

Options:

         -b n[k|m]       Split by bytes
         -l n            Split by lines
         -a n            Use n letters as suffix
 
 
start-stop-daemon
start-stop-daemon [OPTIONS] [-S|-K] ... [-- arguments...]

Search for matching processes, and then -K: stop all matching processes. -S: start a process unless a matching process is found.

Process matching:

         -u,--user USERNAME|UID  Match only this user's processes
         -n,--name NAME          Match processes with NAME
                                 in comm field in /proc/PID/stat
         -x,--exec EXECUTABLE    Match processes with this command
                                 in /proc/PID/cmdline
         -p,--pidfile FILE       Match a process with PID from the file
         All specified conditions must match
 -S only:
         -x,--exec EXECUTABLE    Program to run
         -a,--startas NAME       Zeroth argument
         -b,--background         Background
         -N,--nicelevel N        Change nice level
         -c,--chuid USER[:[GRP]] Change to user/group
         -m,--make-pidfile       Write PID to the pidfile specified by -p
 -K only:
         -s,--signal SIG         Signal to send
         -t,--test               Match only, exit with 0 if a process is found
 Other:
 
         -o,--oknodo             Exit with status 0 if nothing is done
         -v,--verbose            Verbose
         -q,--quiet              Quiet
 
 
stat
stat [OPTIONS] FILE...

Display file (default) or filesystem status

Options:

         -c fmt  Use the specified format
         -f      Display filesystem status
         -L      Dereference links
         -t      Display info in terse form
 
 

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     Quoted file name with dereference 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

Options:

         -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

Options:

         -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] [-] [username]

Change user id or become root

Options:

         -p, -m  Preserve environment
         -c CMD  Command to pass to 'sh -c'
         -s SH   Shell to use instead of default shell
 
 
sulogin
sulogin [OPTIONS] [TTY]

Single user login

Options:

         -t N    Timeout
 
 
sum
sum [-rs] [FILE]...

Checksum and count the blocks in a file

Options:

         -r      Use BSD sum algorithm (1K blocks)
         -s      Use System V sum algorithm (512byte blocks)
 
 
sv
sv [-v] [-w sec] command service...

Control services monitored by runsv supervisor. Commands (only first character is enough):

status: query service status up: if service isn't running, start it. If service stops, restart it once: like 'up', but if service stops, don't restart it down: send TERM and CONT signals. If ./run exits, start ./finish         if it exists. After it stops, do not restart service
exit: send TERM and CONT signals to service and log service. If they exit,         runsv exits too
pause, cont, hup, alarm, interrupt, quit, 1, 2, term, kill: send STOP, CONT, HUP, ALRM, INT, QUIT, USR1, USR2, TERM, KILL signal to service

svlogd
svlogd [-ttv] [-r c] [-R abc] [-l len] [-b buflen] dir...

Continuously read log data from standard input, optionally filter log messages, and write the data to one or more automatically rotated logs

swapoff
swapoff [-a] [DEVICE]

Stop swapping on DEVICE

Options:

         -a      Stop swapping on all swap devices
 
 
swapon
swapon [-a] [-p pri] [DEVICE]

Start swapping on DEVICE

Options:

         -a      Start swapping on all swap devices
         -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.

Options:

         -c DEV  Reopen stdio to DEV after switch
 
 
sync
sync

Write all buffered blocks to disk

sysctl
sysctl [OPTIONS] [VALUE]...

Configure kernel parameters at runtime

Options:

         -n      Don't print key names
         -e      Don't warn about unknown keys
         -w      Change sysctl setting
         -p FILE Load sysctl settings from FILE (default /etc/sysctl.conf)
         -a      Display all values
         -A      Display all values in table form
 
 
syslogd
syslogd [OPTIONS]

System logging utility. Note that this version of syslogd ignores /etc/syslog.conf.

Options:

         -n              Run in foreground
         -O FILE         Log to given file (default:/var/log/messages)
         -l n            Set local log level
         -S              Smaller logging output
         -s SIZE         Max size (KB) before rotate (default:200KB, 0=off)
         -b NUM          Number of rotated logs to keep (default:1, max=99, 0=purge)
         -R HOST[:PORT]  Log to IP or hostname on PORT (default PORT=514/UDP)
         -L              Log locally and via network (default is network only if -R)
         -D              Drop duplicates
         -C[size(KiB)]   Log to shared mem buffer (read it using logread)
 
 
tac
tac [FILE]...

Concatenate FILE(s) and print them in reverse

tail
tail [OPTIONS] [FILE]...

Print last 10 lines of each FILE to standard output. With more than one FILE, precede each with a header giving the file name. With no FILE, or when FILE is -, read standard input.

Options:

         -c N[kbm]       Output the last N bytes
         -n N[kbm]       Print last N lines instead of last 10
         -f              Output data as the file grows
         -q              Never output headers giving file names
         -s SEC          Wait SEC seconds between reads with -f
         -v              Always output headers giving file names
 
 

If the first character of N (bytes or lines) is a '+', output begins with the Nth item from the start of each file, otherwise, print the last N items in the file. N bytes may be suffixed by k (x1024), b (x512), or m (1024^2).

tar
tar -[czjaZxtvO] [-X FILE] [-f TARFILE] [-C DIR] [FILE(s)]...

Create, extract, or list files from a tar file

Options:

         c       Create
         x       Extract
         t       List
 Archive format selection:
 
         z       Filter the archive through gzip
         j       Filter the archive through bzip2
         a       Filter the archive through lzma
         Z       Filter the archive through compress
 File selection:
 
         f       Name of TARFILE or "-" for stdin
         O       Extract to stdout
         exclude File to exclude
         X       File with names to exclude
         C       Change to directory DIR before operation
         v       Verbose
 
 
tcpsvd
tcpsvd [-hEv] [-c N] [-C N[:MSG]] [-b N] [-u USER] [-l NAME] IP PORT PROG

Create TCP socket, bind to IP:PORT and listen for incoming connection. Run PROG for each connection.

         IP              IP to listen on. '0' = all
         PORT            Port to listen on
         PROG [ARGS]     Program to run
         -l NAME         Local hostname (else looks up local hostname in DNS)
         -u USER[:GRP]   Change to user/group after bind
         -c N            Handle up to N connections simultaneously
         -b N            Allow a backlog of approximately N TCP SYNs
         -C N[:MSG]      Allow only up to N connections from the same IP
                         New connections from this IP address are closed
                         immediately. MSG is written to the peer before close
         -h              Look up peer's hostname
         -E              Do not set up environment variables
         -v              Verbose
 
 
tee
tee [OPTIONS] [FILE]...

Copy standard input to each FILE, and also to standard output

Options:

         -a      Append to the given FILEs, do not overwrite
         -i      Ignore interrupt signals (SIGINT)
 
 
telnet
telnet [-a] [-l USER] HOST [PORT]

Connect to telnet server

Options:

         -a      Automatic login with $USER variable
         -l USER Automatic login as USER
 
 
telnetd
telnetd [OPTIONS]

Handle incoming telnet connections

Options:

         -l LOGIN        Exec LOGIN on connect
         -f issue_file   Display issue_file instead of /etc/issue
         -K              Close connection as soon as login exits
                         (normally wait until all programs close slave pty)
         -p PORT         Port to listen on
         -b ADDR         Address to bind to
         -F              Run in foreground
         -i              Run as inetd subservice
 
 
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

Options:

         -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 /files/to/serve
It also can be ran from udpsvd:

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

Options:

         -r      Prohibit upload
         -c      Allow file creation via upload
         -u      Access files as USER
 
 
time
time [OPTIONS] PROG [ARGS]

Run PROG. When it finishes, its resource usage is displayed.

Options:

         -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]

Provide a view of process activity in real time. Read the status of all processes from /proc each SECONDS and show the status for however many processes will fit on the screen.

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

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

Options:

         -c      Do not create files
         -d DT   Date/time to use
 
 
tr
tr [-cds] STRING1 [STRING2]

Translate, squeeze, and/or delete characters from standard input, writing to standard output

Options:

         -c      Take complement of STRING1
         -d      Delete input characters coded STRING1
         -s      Squeeze multiple output characters of STRING2 into one character
 
 
traceroute
traceroute [-FIldnrv] [-f 1st_ttl] [-m max_ttl] [-p port#] [-q nqueries]         [-s src_addr] [-t tos] [-w wait] [-g gateway] [-i iface]
        [-z pausemsecs] HOST [data size]

Trace the route to HOST

Options:

         -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 hop addresses numerically rather than symbolically
         -r      Bypass the normal routing tables and send directly to a host
         -v      Verbose
         -m max_ttl      Max time-to-live (max number of hops)
         -p port#        Base UDP port number used in probes
                         (default is 33434)
         -q nqueries     Number of probes per 'ttl' (default 3)
         -s src_addr     IP address to use as the source address
         -t tos          Type-of-service in probe packets (default 0)
         -w wait         Time in seconds to wait for a response
                         (default 3 sec)
         -g              Loose source route gateway (8 max)
 
 
true
true

Return an exit code of TRUE (0)

tty
tty

Print file name of standard input's terminal

Options:

         -s      Print nothing, only return exit status
 
 
ttysize
ttysize [w] [h]

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

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

Create or delete tun interfaces Options:

         -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
 
 
udhcpc
udhcpc [-Cfbnqtvo] [-c CID] [-V VCLS] [-H HOSTNAME] [-i INTERFACE]         [-p pidfile] [-r IP] [-s script] [-O dhcp-option]... [-P N]
         -V,--vendorclass=CLASSID        Vendor class identifier
         -i,--interface=INTERFACE        Interface to use (default eth0)
         -H,-h,--hostname=HOSTNAME       Client hostname
         -c,--clientid=CLIENTID  Client identifier
         -C,--clientid-none      Suppress default client identifier
         -p,--pidfile=file       Create pidfile
         -r,--request=IP         IP address to request
         -s,--script=file        Run file at DHCP events (default /usr/share/udhcpc/default.script)
         -t,--retries=N          Send up to N request packets
         -T,--timeout=N          Try to get a lease for N seconds (default 3)
         -A,--tryagain=N         Wait N seconds (default 20) after failure
         -O,--request-option=OPT Request DHCP option OPT (cumulative)
         -o,--no-default-options Do not request any options (unless -O is also given)
         -f,--foreground Run in foreground
         -b,--background Background if lease is not immediately obtained
         -S,--syslog     Log to syslog too
         -n,--now        Exit with failure if lease is not immediately obtained
         -q,--quit       Quit after obtaining lease
         -R,--release    Release IP on quit
         -P,--client-port N  Use port N instead of default 68
         -a,--arping     Use arping to validate offered address
 
 
udhcpd
udhcpd [-fS] [-P N] [configfile]

DHCP server

         -f      Run in foreground
         -S      Log to syslog too
         -P N    Use port N instead of default 67
 
 
udpsvd
udpsvd [-hEv] [-c N] [-u USER] [-l NAME] IP PORT PROG

Create UDP socket, bind to IP:PORT and wait for incoming packets. Run PROG for each packet, redirecting all further packets with same peer ip:port to it.

         IP              IP to listen on. '0' = all
         PORT            Port to listen on
         PROG [ARGS]     Program to run
         -l NAME         Local hostname (else looks up local hostname in DNS)
         -u USER[:GRP]   Change to user/group after bind
         -c N            Handle up to N connections simultaneously
         -h              Look up peer's hostname
         -E              Do not set up environment variables
         -v              Verbose
 
 
umount
umount [flags] FILESYSTEM|DIRECTORY

Unmount file systems

Options:

         -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      Free loop device if it has been used
 
 
uname
uname [-amnrspv]

Print system information.

Options:

         -a      Print all
         -m      The machine (hardware) type
         -n      Hostname
         -r      OS release
         -s      OS name (default)
         -p      Processor type
         -v      OS version
 
 
uncompress
uncompress [-c] [-f] [name...]

Uncompress .Z file[s]

Options:

         -c      Extract to stdout
         -f      Overwrite an existing file
 
 
unexpand
unexpand [-f][-a][-t NUM] [FILE|-]

Convert spaces to tabs, writing to standard output.

Options:

         -a,--all        Convert all blanks
         -f,--first-only Convert only leading blanks
         -t,--tabs=N     Tabstops every N chars
 
 
uniq
uniq [-fscduw]... [INPUT [OUTPUT]]

Discard duplicate lines

Options:

         -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 [OPTION] [FILE]

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

Options:

         -u      dos2unix
         -d      unix2dos
 
 
unlzma
unlzma [OPTIONS] [FILE]

Uncompress FILE (or standard input if FILE is '-' or omitted)

Options:

         -c      Write to standard output
         -f      Force
 
 
unzip
unzip [-opts[modifiers]] file[.zip] [list] [-x xlist] [-d exdir]

Extract files from ZIP archives

Options:

         -l      List archive contents (with -q for short form)
         -n      Never overwrite existing files (default)
         -o      Overwrite files without prompting
         -p      Send output to stdout
         -q      Quiet
         -x      Exclude these files
         -d      Extract files into this directory
 
 
uptime
uptime

Display the time since the last boot

usleep
usleep N

Pause for N microseconds

uudecode
uudecode [-o outfile] [infile]

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

uuencode
uuencode [-m] [infile] stored_filename

Uuencode a file to stdout

Options:

         -m      Use base64 encoding per RFC1521
 
 
vconfig
vconfig COMMAND [OPTIONS]

Create and remove virtual ethernet devices

Options:

         add             [interface-name] [vlan_id]
         rem             [vlan-name]
         set_flag        [interface-name] [flag-num] [0 | 1]
         set_egress_map  [vlan-name] [skb_priority] [vlan_qos]
         set_ingress_map [vlan-name] [skb_priority] [vlan_qos]
         set_name_type   [name-type]
 
 
vi
vi [OPTIONS] [FILE]...

Edit FILE

Options:

         -c      Initial command to run ($EXINIT also available)
         -R      Read-only - do not write to the file
         -H      Short help regarding available features
 
 
vlock
vlock [OPTIONS]

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

Options:

         -a      Lock all VTs
 
 
volname
volname [DEVICE]

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

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

Run PROG periodically

Options:

         -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

Options:

         -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 [OPTIONS] [FILE]...

Print line, word, and byte counts for each FILE, and a total line if more than one FILE is specified. With no FILE, read standard input.

Options:

         -c      Print the byte counts
         -l      Print the newline counts
         -L      Print the length of the longest line
         -w      Print the word counts
 
 
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] url

Retrieve files via HTTP or FTP

Options:

         -s      Spider mode - only check file existence
         -c      Continue retrieval of aborted transfer
         -q      Quiet
         -P      Set directory prefix to DIR
         -O      Save to filename ('-' for stdout)
         -U      Adjust 'User-Agent' field
         -Y      Use proxy ('on' or 'off')
 
 
which
which [COMMAND]...

Locate a COMMAND

who
who [-a]

Show who is logged on

Options:

         -a      show all
 
 
whoami
whoami

Print the user name associated with the current effective user id

xargs
xargs [OPTIONS] [PROG [ARGS]]

Run PROG on every item given by standard input

Options:

         -p      Ask user whether to run each command
         -r      Do not 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
         -x      Exit if size is exceeded
 
 
yes
yes [OPTIONS] [STRING]

Repeatedly output a line with STRING, or 'y'

zcat
zcat FILE

Uncompress to stdout

zcip
zcip [OPTIONS] IFACE SCRIPT

Manage a ZeroConf IPv4 link-local address

Options:

         -f              Run in foreground
         -q              Quit after obtaining address
         -r 169.254.x.x  Request this address first
         -v              Verbose
 
 

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

LIBC NSS

GNU Libc (glibc) uses the Name Service Switch (NSS) to configure the behavior of the C library for the local environment, and to configure how it reads system data, such as passwords and group information. This is implemented using an /etc/nsswitch.conf configuration file, and using one or more of the /lib/libnss_* libraries. BusyBox tries to avoid using any libc calls that make use of NSS. Some applets however, such as login and su, will use libc functions that require 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

Denis Vlasenko <vda.linux@googlemail.com>

AUTHORS

The following people have contributed code to BusyBox whether they know it or not. If you have written code included in BusyBox, you should probably be listed here so you can obtain your bit of eternal glory. If you should be listed here, or the description of what you have done needs more detail, or is incorect, please send in an update.

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 unarchving 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.