1SHRED(1) User Commands SHRED(1)
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6 shred - overwrite a file to hide its contents, and optionally delete it
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9 shred [OPTION]... FILE...
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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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68 Written by Colin Plumb.
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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 © 2023 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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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 9.3 September 2023 SHRED(1)