MirBSD manpage: dd(1)
DD(1) BSD Reference Manual DD(1)
dd - convert and copy a file
dd [operands ...]
The dd utility copies the standard input to the standard output, applying
any specified conversions. Input data is read and written in 512-byte
blocks. If input reads are short, input from multiple reads are aggregat-
ed to form the output block. When finished, dd displays the number of
complete and partial input and output blocks and truncated input records
to the standard error output.
The following operands are available:
if=file Read input from file instead of the standard input.
of=file Write output to file instead of the standard output. Any regular
output file is truncated unless the notrunc conversion value is
specified. If an initial portion of the output file is skipped
(see the seek operand), the output file is truncated at that
point.
ibs=n Set the input block size to n bytes instead of the default 512.
obs=n Set the output block size to n bytes instead of the default 512.
bs=n Set both the input and output block size to n bytes, superseding
the ibs and obs operands. If no conversion values other than
noerror, notrunc, or sync are specified, then each input block
is copied to the output as a single block without any aggrega-
tion of short blocks.
cbs=n Set the conversion record size to n bytes. The conversion record
size is required by the record oriented conversion values.
count=n Copy only n input blocks.
files=n Copy n input files before terminating. This operand is only ap-
plicable when the input device is a tape.
seek=n Seek n blocks from the beginning of the output before copying.
On non-tape devices, an lseek(2) operation is used. Otherwise,
existing blocks are read and the data discarded. If the user
does not have read permission for the tape, it is positioned us-
ing the tape ioctl(2) function calls. If the seek operation is
past the end of file, space from the current end of file to the
specified offset is filled with blocks of NUL bytes.
skip=n Skip n blocks from the beginning of the input before copying. On
input which supports seeks, an lseek(2) operation is used. Oth-
erwise, input data is read and discarded. For pipes, the correct
number of bytes is read. For all other devices, the correct
number of blocks is read without distinguishing between a par-
tial or complete block being read.
conv=value[,value ...]
Where value is one of the symbols from the following list.
ascii, oldascii
The same as the unblock value except that characters
are translated from EBCDIC to ASCII before the records
are converted. (These values imply unblock if the
operand cbs is also specified.) There are two conver-
sion maps for ASCII. The value ascii specifies the
recommended one which is compatible with System V. The
value oldascii specifies the one used in historic AT&T
and pre-4.3BSD-reno systems.
block Treats the input as a sequence of newline or end-of-
file terminated variable length records independent of
input and output block boundaries. Any trailing newline
character is discarded. Each input record is converted
to a fixed length output record where the length is
specified by the cbs operand. Input records shorter
than the conversion record size are padded with spaces.
Input records longer than the conversion record size
are truncated. The number of truncated input records,
if any, is reported to the standard error output at the
completion of the copy.
ebcdic, ibm, oldebcdic, oldibm
The same as the block value except that characters are
translated from ASCII to EBCDIC after the records are
converted. (These values imply block if the operand cbs
is also specified.) There are four conversion maps for
EBCDIC. The value ebcdic specifies the recommended one
which is compatible with AT&T System V UNIX. The value
ibm is a slightly different mapping, which is compati-
ble with the AT&T System V UNIX ibm value. The values
oldebcdic and oldibm are maps used in historic AT&T and
pre-4.3BSD-reno systems.
lcase Transform uppercase characters into lowercase charac-
ters.
noerror Do not stop processing on an input error. When an input
error occurs, a diagnostic message followed by the
current input and output block counts will be written
to the standard error output in the same format as the
standard completion message. If the sync conversion is
also specified, any missing input data will be replaced
with NUL bytes (or with spaces if a block oriented
conversion value was specified) and processed as a nor-
mal input buffer. If the sync conversion is not speci-
fied, the input block is omitted from the output. On
input files which are not tapes or pipes, the file
offset will be positioned past the block in which the
error occurred using lseek(2).
notrunc Do not truncate the output file. This will preserve any
blocks in the output file not explicitly written by dd.
The notrunc value is not supported for tapes.
osync Pad the final output block to the full output block
size. If the input file is not a multiple of the output
block size after conversion, this conversion forces the
final output block to be the same size as preceding
blocks for use on devices that require regularly sized
blocks to be written. This option is incompatible with
use of the bs=n block size specification.
swab Swap every pair of input bytes. If an input buffer has
an odd number of bytes, the last byte will be ignored
during swapping.
sync Pad every input block to the input buffer size. Spaces
are used for pad bytes if a block oriented conversion
value is specified, otherwise NUL bytes are used.
ucase Transform lowercase characters into uppercase charac-
ters.
unblock Treats the input as a sequence of fixed length records
independent of input and output block boundaries. The
length of the input records is specified by the cbs
operand. Any trailing space characters are discarded
and a newline character is appended.
Where sizes are specified, a decimal number of bytes is expected. If the
number ends with a 'b', 'k', 'm', or 'w', the number is multiplied by
512, 1024 (1K), 1048576 (1M), or the number of bytes in an integer,
respectively. Two or more numbers may be separated by an 'x' to indicate
a product.
When finished, dd displays the number of complete and partial input and
output blocks, truncated input records, and odd-length byte-swapping
blocks to the standard error output. A partial input block is one where
less than the input block size was read. A partial output block is one
where less than the output block size was written. Partial output blocks
to tape devices are considered fatal errors. Otherwise, the rest of the
block will be written. Partial output blocks to character devices will
produce a warning message. A truncated input block is one where a vari-
able length record oriented conversion value was specified and the input
line was too long to fit in the conversion record or was not newline ter-
minated.
Normally, data resulting from input or conversion or both are aggregated
into output blocks of the specified size. After the end of input is
reached, any remaining output is written as a block. This means that the
final output block may be shorter than the output block size.
If dd receives a SIGINFO (see the "status" argument for stty(1)) signal,
the current input and output block counts will be written to the standard
error output in the same format as the standard completion message. If dd
receives a SIGINT signal, the current input and output block counts will
be written to the standard error output in the same format as the stan-
dard completion message and dd will exit.
The dd utility exits 0 on success or >0 if an error occurred.
# dd if=floppy34.fs of=/dev/rfd0c bs=32k
Write an OpenBSD floppy image to a floppy disk.
cp(1), mt(1), tr(1)
The dd utility is expected to be a superset of the IEEE Std 1003.2 ("PO-
SIX.2") standard. The files operand and the ascii, ebcdic, ibm, oldascii,
oldebcdic, and oldibm values are extensions to the POSIX standard.
MirBSD #10-current January 13, 1994 2