1SHRED(1)                         User Commands                        SHRED(1)
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NAME

6       shred - overwrite a file to hide its contents, and optionally delete it
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SYNOPSIS

9       shred [OPTION]... FILE...
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DESCRIPTION

12       Overwrite  the specified FILE(s) repeatedly, in order to make it harder
13       for even very expensive hardware probing to recover the data.
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15       If FILE is -, shred standard output.
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17       Mandatory arguments to long options are  mandatory  for  short  options
18       too.
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20       -f, --force
21              change permissions to allow writing if necessary
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23       -n, --iterations=N
24              overwrite N times instead of the default (3)
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26       --random-source=FILE
27              get random bytes from FILE
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29       -s, --size=N
30              shred this many bytes (suffixes like K, M, G accepted)
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32       -u     deallocate and remove file after overwriting
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34       --remove[=HOW]
35              like -u but give control on HOW to delete;  See below
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37       -v, --verbose
38              show progress
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40       -x, --exact
41              do not round file sizes up to the next full block;
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43              this is the default for non-regular files
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45       -z, --zero
46              add a final overwrite with zeros to hide shredding
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48       --help display this help and exit
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50       --version
51              output version information and exit
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53       Delete  FILE(s)  if  --remove (-u) is specified.  The default is not to
54       remove the files because it is common to operate on device  files  like
55       /dev/hda,  and those files usually should not be removed.  The optional
56       HOW parameter indicates how to remove a directory  entry:  'unlink'  =>
57       use  a  standard  unlink call.  'wipe' => also first obfuscate bytes in
58       the name.  'wipesync' => also sync each obfuscated byte to the  device.
59       The default mode is 'wipesync', but note it can be expensive.
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61       CAUTION:  shred  assumes the file system and hardware overwrite data in
62       place.  Although this is  common,  many  platforms  operate  otherwise.
63       Also,  backups and mirrors may contain unremovable copies that will let
64       a shredded file be recovered later.  See the GNU coreutils  manual  for
65       details.
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AUTHOR

68       Written by Colin Plumb.
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REPORTING BUGS

71       GNU coreutils online help: <https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/>
72       Report any translation bugs to <https://translationproject.org/team/>
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75       Copyright  ©  2022  Free Software Foundation, Inc.  License GPLv3+: GNU
76       GPL version 3 or later <https://gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html>.
77       This is free software: you are free  to  change  and  redistribute  it.
78       There is NO WARRANTY, to the extent permitted by law.
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SEE ALSO

81       Full documentation <https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/shred>
82       or available locally via: info '(coreutils) shred invocation'
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86GNU coreutils 9.1                January 2023                         SHRED(1)
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