1FDUPES(1) General Commands Manual FDUPES(1)
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6 fdupes - finds duplicate files in a given set of directories
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9 fdupes [ options ] DIRECTORY ...
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13 Searches the given path for duplicate files. Such files are found by
14 comparing file sizes and MD5 signatures, followed by a byte-by-byte
15 comparison.
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19 -r --recurse
20 include files residing in subdirectories
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22 -s --symlinks
23 follow symlinked directories
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25 -H --hardlinks
26 normally, when two or more files point to the same disk area
27 they are treated as non-duplicates; this option will change this
28 behavior
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30 -n --noempty
31 exclude zero-length files from consideration
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33 -f --omitfirst
34 omit the first file in each set of matches
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36 -1 --sameline
37 list each set of matches on a single line
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39 -S --size
40 show size of duplicate files
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42 -q --quiet
43 hide progress indicator
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45 -d --delete
46 prompt user for files to preserve, deleting all others (see
47 CAVEATS below)
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49 -v --version
50 display fdupes version
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52 -h --help
53 displays help
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56 md5sum(1)
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59 Unless -1 or --sameline is specified, duplicate files are listed
60 together in groups, each file displayed on a separate line. The groups
61 are then separated from each other by blank lines.
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63 When -1 or --sameline is specified, spaces and backslash characters
64 (\) appearing in a filename are preceded by a backslash character.
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67 If fdupes returns with an error message such as fdupes: error invoking
68 md5sum it means the program has been compiled to use an external pro‐
69 gram to calculate MD5 signatures (otherwise, fdupes uses interal rou‐
70 tines for this purpose), and an error has occurred while attempting to
71 execute it. If this is the case, the specified program should be prop‐
72 erly installed prior to running fdupes.
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74 When using -d or --delete, care should be taken to insure against acci‐
75 dental data loss.
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77 When used together with options -s or --symlink, a user could acciden‐
78 tally preserve a symlink while deleting the file it points to.
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80 Furthermore, when specifying a particular directory more than once, all
81 files within that directory will be listed as their own duplicates,
82 leading to data loss should a user preserve a file without its "dupli‐
83 cate" (the file itself!).
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87 Adrian Lopez <adrian2@caribe.net>
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92 FDUPES(1)