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BUSYBOX(1) busybox BUSYBOX(1) 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 util- ities 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 direc- tory 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 en- abled 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 pro- gram 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 com- mand 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: [, [[, addgroup, ar, arch, ascii, ash, awk, base32, base64, basename, bc, bunzip2, bzcat, bzip2, cal, cat, chat, chgrp, chmod, chown, chpst, chroot, cksum, clear, cmp, comm, cp, cpio, crc32, crond, crontab, cttyhack, cut, date, dc, dd, delgroup, diff, dirname, dnsd, dnsdomainname, dos2unix, dpkg, dpkg-deb, du, echo, ed, egrep, env, envdir, envuidgid, expand, expr, fac- tor, fakeidentd, fallocate, false, fatattr, fgrep, find, flock, fold, fsync, ftpd, ftpget, ftpput, getopt, grep, groups, gunzip, gzip, halt, hd, head, hexdump, hexedit, hostid, hostname, httpd, hush, id, inetd, install, iostat, ipcalc, kill, killall, killall5, klogd, less, link, ln, logger, logname, logread, lpq, lpr, ls, lzcat, lzma, lzop, makemime, man, md5sum, microcom, mim, mkdir, mkfifo, mknod, mktemp, more, mpstat, mv, nc, nice, nl, nmeter, nohup, nologin, nslookup, ntpd, nuke, od, paste, patch, pgrep, pidof, ping, ping6, pipe_progress, pkill, pmap, popmaildir, poweroff, printenv, printf, ps, pscan, pwd, pwdx, readlink, readprofile, realpath, reboot, reformime, renice, reset, resize, resume, rev, rm, rmdir, rpm, rpm2cpio, run-parts, runsv, runsvdir, script, scriptreplay, sed, sendmail, seq, setsid, setuidgid, sh, sha1sum, sha256sum, sha384sum, sha3sum, sha512sum, shred, shuf, sleep, smemcap, softlimit, sort, split, ssl_client, ssl_server, stat, strings, stty, su, sulogin, sum, sv, svc, svlogd, svok, sync, syslogd, tac, tail, tar, tcpsvd, tee, telnet, telnetd, test, tftp, tftpd, timeout, top, touch, tr, traceroute, traceroute6, tree, true, trun- cate, ts, tsort, tty, ttysize, uname, uncompress, unexpand, uniq, unix2dos, unlink, unlzma, unxz, unzip, users, usleep, uudecode, uuencode, uuidgen, vi, vmstat, volname, w, wall, watch, wc, wget, which, who, whoami, whois, xargs, xxd, xz, xzcat, yes, zcat COMMAND DESCRIPTIONS addgroup addgroup [-g GID] [-S] [USER] GROUP Add a group or add a user to a group -g GID Group id -S Create a system group ar ar x|p|t|r [-ov] ARCHIVE [FILE]... Extract or list FILEs from an ar archive, or create it x Extract p Extract to stdout t List r Create -o Restore mtime -v Verbose arch arch Print system architecture ash ash [-il] [-|+Cabefmnuvx] [-|+o OPT]... [-c 'SCRIPT' [ARG0 ARGS] | FILE ARGS | -s ARGS] Unix shell interpreter awk awk [OPTIONS] [AWK_PROGRAM] [FILE]... -v VAR=VAL Set variable -F SEP Use SEP as field separator -f/-E FILE Read program from FILE -e AWK_PROGRAM base32 base32 [-d] [-w COL] [FILE] Base32 encode or decode FILE to standard output -d Decode data -w COL Wrap lines at COL (default 76, 0 disables) base64 base64 [-d] [-w COL] [FILE] Base64 encode or decode FILE to standard output -d Decode data -w COL Wrap lines at COL (default 76, 0 disables) basename basename FILE [SUFFIX] | -a FILE... | -s SUFFIX FILE... Strip directory path and SUFFIX from FILE -a All arguments are FILEs -s SUFFIX Remove SUFFIX (implies -a) bc bc [-sqlw] [FILE]... Arbitrary precision calculator -q Quiet -l Load standard library -s Be POSIX compatible -w Warn if extensions are used $BC_LINE_LENGTH changes output width bunzip2 bunzip2 [-cfk] [FILE]... Decompress FILEs (or stdin) -c Write to stdout -f Force -k Keep input files -t Test integrity bzcat bzcat [FILE]... Decompress to stdout bzip2 bzip2 [-cfkdt123456789] [FILE]... Compress FILEs (or stdin) with bzip2 algorithm -1..9 Compression level -d Decompress -c Write to stdout -f Force -k Keep input files -t Test integrity cal cal [-jmy] [[MONTH] YEAR] Display a calendar -j Use julian dates -m Week starts on Monday -y Display the entire year cat cat [-nbvteA] [FILE]... Print FILEs to stdout -n Number output lines -b Number nonempty lines -v Show nonprinting characters as ^x or M-x -t ...and tabs as ^I -e ...and end lines with $ -A Same as -vte chat chat EXPECT [SEND [EXPECT [SEND]]...] Useful for interacting with a modem connected to stdin/stdout. A script consists of "expect-send" argument pairs. Example: chat '' ATZ OK ATD123456 CONNECT '' ogin: pppuser word: ppppass '~' chgrp chgrp [-Rh]... GROUP FILE... Change the group membership of FILEs to GROUP -h Affect symlinks instead of symlink targets -R Recurse chmod chmod [-R] MODE[,MODE]... FILE... MODE is octal number (bit pattern sstrwxrwxrwx) or [ugoa]{+|-|=}[rwxXst] -R Recurse chown chown [-Rh]... USER[:[GRP]] FILE... Change the owner and/or group of FILEs to USER and/or GRP -h Affect symlinks instead of symlink targets -R Recurse 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, run PROG -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 stdin -1 Close stdout -2 Close stderr chroot chroot NEWROOT [PROG ARGS] Run PROG with root directory set to NEWROOT cksum cksum FILE... Calculate CRC32 checksum of FILEs clear clear Clear screen cmp cmp [-l|s] [-n NUM] FILE1 [FILE2] Compare FILE1 with FILE2 (or stdin) -l Show decimal offset and octal byte value for differing bytes, don't stop on first mismatch -s Quiet -n NUM Compare at most NUM bytes comm comm [-123] FILE1 FILE2 Compare FILE1 with FILE2 -1 Suppress lines unique to FILE1 -2 Suppress lines unique to FILE2 -3 Suppress lines common to both files cp cp [-arPLHpfinlsTu] SOURCE DEST or: cp [-arPLHpfinlsu] SOURCE... { -t DI- RECTORY | DIRECTORY } Copy SOURCEs to DEST -a Same as -dpR -R,-r Recurse -d,-P Preserve symlinks (default if -R) -L Follow all symlinks -H Follow symlinks on command line -p Preserve file attributes if possible -f Overwrite -i Prompt before overwrite -n Don't overwrite -l,-s Create (sym)links -T Refuse to copy if DEST is a directory -t DIR Copy all SOURCEs into DIR -u Copy only newer files cpio cpio [-dmvu] [-F FILE] [-R USER[:GRP]] [-ti] [EXTR_FILE]... Extract (-i) or list (-t) files from a cpio archive on stdin Main operation mode: -t List -i Extract EXTR_FILEs (or all) Options: -d Make leading directories -m Restore mtime -v Verbose -u Overwrite -F FILE Input (-t,-i,-p) or output (-o) file -R USER[:GRP] Set owner of created files -L Dereference symlinks -0 NUL terminated input crc32 crc32 FILE... Calculate CRC32 checksum of FILEs crond crond [-fbS] [-l N] [-d N] [-L LOGFILE] [-c DIR] -f Foreground -b Background (default) -S Log to syslog (default) -l N Set log level. Most verbose 0, default 8 -d N Set log level, log to stderr -L FILE Log to FILE -c DIR Cron dir. Default:/var/spool/cron/crontabs 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) cttyhack cttyhack [PROG ARGS] Give PROG a controlling tty if possible. Example for /etc/inittab (for busybox init): ::respawn:/bin/cttyhack /bin/sh Giving controlling tty to shell running with PID 1: $ exec cttyhack sh Starting interactive shell from boot shell script: setsid cttyhack sh cut cut {-b|c LIST | -f|F LIST [-d SEP] [-s]} [-D] [-O SEP] [FILE]... Print selected fields from FILEs to stdout -b LIST Output only bytes from LIST -c LIST Output only characters from LIST -d SEP Input field delimiter (default -f TAB, -F run of whitespace) -f LIST Print only these fields (-d is single char) -F LIST Print only these fields (-d is regex) -s Drop lines with no delimiter (else print them in full) -D Don't sort ranges; line without delimiters has one field --output-delimiter SEP Output field delimeter -n Ignored date date [OPTIONS] [+FMT] [[-s] TIME] Display time (using +FMT), or set time -u Work in UTC (don't convert to local time) [-s] TIME Set time to TIME -d TIME Display TIME, not 'now' -D FMT FMT (strptime format) for -s/-d TIME conversion -r FILE Display last modification time of FILE -R Output RFC-2822 date -I[SPEC] Output ISO-8601 date SPEC=date (default), hours, minutes, seconds or ns Recognized TIME formats: @seconds_since_1970 hh:mm[:ss] [YYYY.]MM.DD-hh:mm[:ss] YYYY-MM-DD hh:mm[:ss] [[[[[YY]YY]MM]DD]hh]mm[.ss] 'date TIME' form accepts MMDDhhmm[[YY]YY][.ss] instead dc dc [-x] [-eSCRIPT]... [-fFILE]... [FILE]... Tiny RPN calculator. Operations: Arithmetic: + - * / % ^ ~ - divide with remainder | - modular exponentiation v - square root p - print top of the stack without popping f - print entire stack k - pop the value and set pre- cision i - pop the value and set input radix o - pop the value and set out- put radix Examples: dc -e'2 2 + p' -> 4, dc -e'8 8 * 2 2 + / p' -> 16 dd dd [if=FILE] [of=FILE] [ibs=N obs=N/bs=N] [count=N] [skip=N] [seek=N] [conv=notrunc|noerror|sync|fsync] [iflag=skip_bytes|count_bytes|fullblock|direct] [oflag=seek_bytes|ap- pend|direct] Copy a file with converting and formatting 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 conv=swab Swap every pair of bytes iflag=skip_bytes skip=N is in bytes iflag=count_bytes count=N is in bytes oflag=seek_bytes seek=N is in bytes iflag=direct O_DIRECT input oflag=direct O_DIRECT output iflag=fullblock Read full blocks oflag=append Open output in append mode status=noxfer Suppress rate output status=none Suppress all output N may be suffixed by c (1), w (2), b (512), kB (1000), k (1024), MB, M, GB, G delgroup delgroup [USER] GROUP Delete group GROUP from the system or user USER from group GROUP diff diff [-abBdiNqrTstw] [-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. -a Treat all files as text -b Ignore changes in the amount of whitespace -B Ignore changes whose lines are all blank -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 Recurse -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 dnsd dnsd [-dvs] [-c CONFFILE] [-t TTL_SEC] [-p PORT] [-i ADDR] Small static DNS server daemon -c FILE Config file -t SEC TTL -p PORT Listen on PORT -i ADDR Listen on ADDR -d Daemonize -v Verbose -s Send successful replies only. Use this if you want to use /etc/resolv.conf with two nameserver lines: nameserver DNSD_SERVER nameserver NORMAL_DNS_SERVER dos2unix dos2unix [-ud] [FILE] Convert FILE in-place from DOS to Unix format. When no file is given, use stdin/stdout. -u dos2unix -d unix2dos dpkg dpkg [-ilCPru] [-F OPT] PACKAGE Install, remove and manage Debian packages -i,--install Install the package -l,--list List of installed packages --configure Configure an unpackaged package -P,--purge Purge all files of a package -r,--remove Remove all but the configuration files for a package --unpack Unpack a package, but don't configure it --force-depends Ignore dependency problems --force-confnew Overwrite existing config files when installing --force-confold Keep old config files when installing dpkg-deb dpkg-deb [-cefxX] FILE [DIR] Perform actions on Debian packages (.deb) -c List files -f Print control fields -e Extract control files to DIR (default: ./DEBIAN) -x Extract files to DIR (no default) -X Verbose extract du du [-aHLdclsxhmk] [FILE]... Summarize disk space used for FILEs (or directories) -a Show file sizes too -b Apparent size (including holes) -L Follow all symlinks -H Follow symlinks on command line -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) echo echo [-neE] [ARG]... Print ARGs to stdout -n No trailing newline -e Interpret backslash escapes (\t=tab etc) -E Don't interpret backslash escapes (default) ed ed [-p PROMPT] [-s] [FILE] env env [-i0] [-u NAME]... [-] [NAME=VALUE]... [PROG ARGS] Print current environment or run PROG after setting up environment -, -i Start with empty environment -0 NUL terminated output -u NAME Remove variable from environment envdir envdir DIR PROG ARGS Set various environment variables as specified by files in the directory DIR, run PROG envuidgid envuidgid USER PROG ARGS Set $UID to USER's uid and $GID to USER's gid, run PROG expand expand [-i] [-t N] [FILE]... Convert tabs to spaces, writing to stdout -i Don't convert tabs after non blanks -t Tabstops every N chars expr expr EXPRESSION Print the value of EXPRESSION 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 LEN Substring of STRING, POS counts 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. Com- parisons 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. factor factor [NUMBER]... Print prime factors fakeidentd fakeidentd [-fiw] [-b ADDR] [STRING] Provide fake ident (auth) service -f Run in foreground -i Inetd mode -w Inetd 'wait' mode -b ADDR Bind to specified address STRING Ident answer string (default: nobody) fallocate fallocate [-o OFS] -l LEN FILE Preallocate space for FILE -o OFS Offset of range -l LEN Length of range fatattr fatattr [-+rhsvda] FILE... Change file attributes on FAT filesystem - Clear attributes + Set attributes r Read only h Hidden s System v Volume label d Directory a Archive find find [-HL] [PATH]... [OPTIONS] [ACTIONS] Search for files and perform actions on them. First failed action stops processing of current file. Defaults: PATH is current directory, action is '-print' -L,-follow Follow symlinks -H ...on command line only -xdev Don't descend directories on other filesystems -maxdepth N Descend at most N levels. -maxdepth 0 applies actions to command line arguments only -mindepth N Don't act on first N levels -depth Act on directory *after* traversing it Actions: ( ACTIONS ) Group actions for -o / -a ! ACT Invert ACT's success/failure ACT1 [-a] ACT2 If ACT1 fails, stop, else do ACT2 ACT1 -o ACT2 If ACT1 succeeds, stop, else do ACT2 Note: -a has higher priority than -o -name PATTERN Match file name (w/o directory name) to PATTERN -iname PATTERN Case insensitive -name -path PATTERN Match path to PATTERN -ipath PATTERN Case insensitive -path -regex PATTERN Match path to regex PATTERN -type X File type is X (one of: f,d,l,b,c,s,p) -executable File is executable -perm MASK At least one mask bit (+MASK), all bits (-MASK), or exactly MASK bits are set in file's mode -mtime DAYS mtime is greater than (+N), less than (-N), or exactly N days in the past -atime DAYS atime +N/-N/N days in the past -ctime DAYS ctime +N/-N/N days in the past -mmin MINS mtime is greater than (+N), less than (-N), or exactly N minutes in the past -amin MINS atime +N/-N/N minutes in the past -cmin MINS ctime +N/-N/N minutes in the past -newer FILE mtime is more recent than FILE's -inum N File has inode number N -samefile FILE File is same as FILE -user NAME/ID File is owned by given user -group NAME/ID File is owned by given group -size N[bck] File size is N (c:bytes,k:kbytes,b:512 bytes(def.)) +/-N: file size is bigger/smaller than N -links N Number of links is greater than (+N), less than (-N), or exactly N -empty Match empty file/directory -prune If current file is directory, don't descend into it If none of the following actions is specified, -print is assumed -print Print file name -print0 Print file name, NUL terminated -exec CMD ARG ; Run CMD with all instances of {} replaced by file name. Fails if CMD exits with nonzero -exec CMD ARG + Run CMD with {} replaced by list of file names -ok CMD ARG ; Prompt and run CMD with {} replaced -delete Delete current file/directory. Turns on -depth option -quit Exit flock flock [-sxun] FD | { FILE [-c] PROG ARGS } [Un]lock file descriptor, or lock FILE, run PROG -s Shared lock -x Exclusive lock (default) -u Unlock FD -n Fail rather than wait fold fold [-bs] [-w WIDTH] [FILE]... Wrap input lines in FILEs (or stdin), writing to stdout -b Count bytes rather than columns -s Break at spaces -w Use WIDTH columns instead of 80 fsync fsync [-d] FILE... Write all buffered blocks in FILEs to disk -d Avoid syncing metadata ftpd ftpd [-wvS] [-a USER] [-t SEC] [-T SEC] [DIR] FTP server. Chroots to DIR, if this fails (run by non-root), cds to it. It is an inetd service, inetd.conf line: 21 stream tcp nowait root ftpd ftpd /files/to/serve Can be run from tcpsvd: tcpsvd -vE 0.0.0.0 21 ftpd /files/to/serve -w Allow upload -A No login required, client access occurs under ftpd's UID -a USER Enable 'anonymous' login and map it to USER -v Log errors to stderr. -vv: verbose log -S Log errors to syslog. -SS: verbose log -t,-T N Idle and absolute timeout ftpget ftpget [OPTIONS] HOST [LOCAL_FILE] REMOTE_FILE Download a file via FTP -c Continue previous transfer -v Verbose -u USER Username -p PASS Password -P PORT ftpput ftpput [OPTIONS] HOST [REMOTE_FILE] LOCAL_FILE Upload a file to a FTP server -v Verbose -u USER Username -p PASS Password -P PORT getopt getopt [OPTIONS] [--] OPTSTRING PARAMS -a Allow long options starting with single - -l LOPT[,...] Long options to recognize -n PROGNAME The name under which errors are reported -o OPTSTRING Short options to recognize -q No error messages on unrecognized options -Q No normal output -s SHELL Set shell quoting conventions -T Version test (exits with 4) -u Don't quote output Example: O=`getopt -l bb: -- ab:c:: "$@"` || exit 1 eval set -- "$O" while true; do case "$1" in -a) echo A; shift;; -b|--bb) echo "B:'$2'"; shift 2;; -c) case "$2" in "") echo C; shift 2;; *) echo "C:'$2'"; shift 2;; esac;; --) shift; break;; *) echo Error; exit 1;; esac done grep grep [-HhnlLoqvsrRiwFE] [-m N] [-A|B|C N] { PATTERN | -e PATTERN... | -f FILE... } [FILE]... Search for PATTERN in FILEs (or stdin) -H Add 'filename:' prefix -h Do not add 'filename:' prefix -n Add 'line_no:' prefix -l Show only names of files that match -L Show only names of files that don't match -c Show only count of matching lines -o Show only the matching part of line -q Quiet. Return 0 if PATTERN is found, 1 otherwise -v Select non-matching lines -s Suppress open and read errors -r Recurse -R Recurse and dereference symlinks -i Ignore case -w Match whole words only -x Match whole lines only -F PATTERN is a literal (not regexp) -E PATTERN is an extended regexp -m N Match up to N times per file -A N Print N lines of trailing context -B N Print N lines of leading context -C N Same as '-A N -B N' -e PTRN Pattern to match -f FILE Read pattern from file groups groups [USER] Print the groups USER is in gunzip gunzip [-cfkt] [FILE]... Decompress FILEs (or stdin) -c Write to stdout -f Force -k Keep input files -t Test integrity gzip gzip [-cfkdt123456789] [FILE]... Compress FILEs (or stdin) -1..9 Compression level -d Decompress -c Write to stdout -f Force -k Keep input files -t Test integrity halt halt [-d DELAY] [-nf] Halt the system -d SEC Delay interval -n Do not sync -f Force (don't go through init) hd hd FILE... hd is an alias for hexdump -C head head [OPTIONS] [FILE]... Print first 10 lines of FILEs (or stdin). With more than one FILE, precede each with a filename header. -n N[bkm] Print first N lines -n -N[bkm] Print all except N last lines -c [-]N[bkm] Print first N bytes (b:*512 k:*1024 m:*1024^2) -q Never print headers -v Always print headers hexdump hexdump [-bcdoxCv] [-e FMT] [-f FMT_FILE] [-n LEN] [-s OFS] [FILE]... Display FILEs (or stdin) in a user specified format -b 1-byte octal display -c 1-byte character display -d 2-byte decimal display -o 2-byte octal display -x 2-byte hex display -C hex+ASCII 16 bytes per line -v Show all (no dup folding) -e FORMAT_STR Example: '16/1 "%02x|""\n"' -f FORMAT_FILE -n LENGTH Show only first LENGTH bytes -s OFFSET Skip OFFSET bytes hexedit hexedit FILE Edit FILE in hexadecimal hostid hostid Print out a unique 32-bit identifier for the machine hostname hostname [-sidf] [HOSTNAME | -F FILE] Show or set hostname or DNS domain name -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] [-M MAXCONN] [-K KILLSEC] [-u USER[:GRP]] [-r REALM] [-h HOME] or httpd -d/-e/-m STRING Listen for incoming HTTP requests -i Inetd mode -f Run in foreground -v[v] Verbose -p [IP:]PORT Bind to IP:PORT (default *:80) -M NUM Pause if NUM connections are open (default 256) -K NUM Kill CGIs after NUM seconds -u USER[:GRP] Set uid/gid after binding to port -r REALM Authentication Realm for Basic Authentication -h HOME Home directory (default .) -c FILE Configuration file (default {/etc,HOME}/httpd.conf) -m STRING MD5 crypt STRING -e STRING HTML encode STRING -d STRING URL decode STRING hush hush [-enxl] [-c 'SCRIPT' [ARG0 ARGS] | FILE ARGS | -s ARGS] Unix shell interpreter id id [-ugGnr] [USER] Print information about USER or the current user -u User ID -g Group ID -G Supplementary group IDs -n Print names instead of numbers -r Print real ID instead of effective ID inetd inetd [-fe] [-q N] [-R N] [CONFFILE] Listen for network connections and launch programs -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) Default CONFFILE is /etc/inetd.conf install install [-cdDsp] [-o USER] [-g GRP] [-m MODE] [-t DIR] [SOURCE]... DEST Copy files and set attributes -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 -t DIR Install to DIR iostat iostat [-c] [-d] [-t] [-z] [-k|-m] [ALL|BLOCKDEV...] [INTERVAL [COUNT]] Report CPU and I/O statistics -c Show CPU utilization -d Show device utilization -t Print current time -z Omit devices with no activity -k Use kb/s -m Use Mb/s ipcalc ipcalc [-bnmphs] ADDRESS[/PREFIX] [NETMASK] Calculate and display network settings from IP address -b Broadcast address -n Network address -m Default netmask for IP -p Prefix for IP/NETMASK -h Resolved host name -s No error messages kill kill [-l] [-SIG] PID... Send a signal (default: TERM) to given PIDs -l List all signal names and numbers killall killall [-lq] [-SIG] PROCESS_NAME... Send a signal (default: TERM) to given processes -l List all signal names and numbers -q Don't complain if no processes were killed killall5 killall5 [-l] [-SIG] [-o PID]... Send a signal (default: TERM) to all processes outside current session -l List all signal names and numbers -o PID Don't signal this PID klogd klogd [-c N] [-n] Log kernel messages to syslog -c N Print to console messages more urgent than prio N (1-8) -n Run in foreground less less [-EFIMmNSRh~] [FILE]... View FILE (or stdin) one screenful at a time -E Quit once the end of a file is reached -F Quit if entire file fits on first screen -I Ignore case in all searches -M,-m Display status line with line numbers and percentage through the file -N Prefix line number to each line -S Truncate long lines -R Remove color escape codes in input -~ Suppress ~s displayed past EOF link link FILE LINK Create hard LINK to FILE ln ln [-sfnbtv] [-S SUF] TARGET... LINK|DIR Create a link LINK or DIR/TARGET to the specified TARGET(s) -s Make symlinks instead of hardlinks -f Remove existing destinations -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 -T Treat LINK as a file, not DIR -v Verbose logger logger [-s] [-t TAG] [-p PRIO] [MESSAGE] Write MESSAGE (or stdin) to syslog -s Log to stderr as well as the system log -t TAG Log using the specified tag (defaults to user name) -p PRIO Priority (number or FACILITY.LEVEL pair) logname logname Print the name of the current user logread logread [-fF] Show messages in syslogd's circular buffer -f Output data as log grows -F Same as -f, but dump buffer first lpq lpq [-P queue[@host[:port]]] [-U USERNAME] [-d JOBID]... [-fs] -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]... -P lp service to connect to (else uses $PRINTER) -m Send mail on completion -h Print banner page too -V Verbose ls ls [-1AaCxdLHRFplinshrSXvctu] [-w WIDTH] [FILE]... List directory contents -1 One column output -a Include names starting with . -A Like -a, but exclude . and .. -x List by lines -d List directory names, not contents -L Follow symlinks -H Follow symlinks on command line -R Recurse -p Append / to directory names -F Append indicator (one of */=@|) to names -l Long format -i List inode numbers -n List numeric UIDs and GIDs instead of names -s List allocated blocks -lc List ctime -lu List atime --full-time List full date/time -h Human readable sizes (1K 243M 2G) --group-directories-first -S Sort by size -X Sort by extension -v Sort by version -t Sort by mtime -tc Sort by ctime -tu Sort by atime -r Reverse sort order -w N Format N columns wide --color[={always,never,auto}] lzcat lzcat [FILE]... Decompress to stdout lzma lzma -d [-cfk] [FILE]... Decompress FILEs (or stdin) -d Decompress -c Write to stdout -f Force -k Keep input files -t Test integrity lzop lzop [-cfUvd123456789CF] [FILE]... -1..9 Compression level -d Decompress -c Write to stdout -f Force -U Delete input files -v Verbose -F Don't store or verify checksum -C Also write checksum of compressed block makemime makemime [OPTIONS] [FILE]... Create multipart MIME-encoded message from FILEs -o FILE Output. Default: stdout -a HDR Add header(s). Examples: "From: user@host.org", "Date: `date -R`" -c CT Content type. Default: application/octet-stream -C CS Charset. Default: us-ascii Other options are silently ignored man man [-aw] [SECTION] MANPAGE[.SECTION]... Display manual page -a Display all pages -w Show page locations $COLUMNS overrides output width md5sum md5sum [-c[sw]] [FILE]... Print or check MD5 checksums -c Check sums against list in FILEs -s Don't output anything, status code shows success -w Warn about improperly formatted checksum lines microcom microcom [-d DELAY_MS] [-t TIMEOUT_MS ] [-s SPEED] [-X] TTY Copy bytes from stdin to TTY and from TTY to stdout -d DELAY Wait up to DELAY ms for TTY output before sending every next byte to it -t TIMEOUT Exit if both stdin and TTY are silent for TIMEOUT ms -s SPEED Set serial line to SPEED -X Disable special meaning of NUL and Ctrl-X from stdin mim mim [-f FILE] [SHELL_OPTIONS] [TARGET] ... Run a script from a Makefile-like specification file -f FILE Spec file (default Mimfile) mkdir mkdir [-m MODE] [-p] DIRECTORY... Create DIRECTORY -m MODE Mode -p No error if exists; make parent directories as needed mkfifo mkfifo [-m MODE] NAME Create named pipe -m MODE Mode (default a=rw) mknod mknod [-m MODE] NAME TYPE [MAJOR MINOR] Create a special file (block, character, or pipe) -m MODE Creation mode (default a=rw) TYPE: b Block device c or u Character device p Named pipe (MAJOR MINOR must be omitted) 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). Without TEMPLATE, -t tmp.XXXXXX is assumed. -d Make directory, not file -q Fail silently on errors -t Prepend base directory name to TEMPLATE -p DIR Use DIR as a base directory (implies -t) -u Do not create anything; print a name Base directory is: -p DIR, else $TMPDIR, else /tmp more more [FILE]... View FILE (or stdin) one screenful at a time mpstat mpstat [-A] [-I SUM|CPU|ALL|SCPU] [-u] [-P num|ALL] [INTERVAL [COUNT]] Per-processor statistics -A Same as -I ALL -u -P ALL -I SUM|CPU|ALL|SCPU Report interrupt statistics -P num|ALL Processor to monitor -u Report CPU utilization mv mv [-finT] SOURCE DEST or: mv [-fin] SOURCE... { -t DIRECTORY | DIRECTORY } Rename SOURCE to DEST, or move SOURCEs to DIRECTORY -f Don't prompt before overwriting -i Interactive, prompt before overwrite -n Don't overwrite an existing file -T Refuse to move if DEST is a directory -t DIR Move all SOURCEs into DIR nc nc [OPTIONS] HOST PORT - connect nc [OPTIONS] -l -p PORT [HOST] [PORT] - listen -e PROG Run PROG after connect (must be last) -l Listen mode, for inbound connects -lk With -e, provides persistent server -p PORT Local port -s ADDR Local address -w SEC Timeout for connects and final net reads -i SEC Delay interval for lines sent -n Don't do DNS resolution -u UDP mode -b Allow broadcasts -v Verbose -o FILE Hex dump traffic -z Zero-I/O mode (scanning) nice nice [-n ADJUST] [PROG ARGS] Change scheduling priority, run PROG -n ADJUST Adjust priority by ADJUST nl nl [OPTIONS] [FILE]... Write FILEs to standard output with line numbers added -b STYLE Which lines to number - a: all, t: nonempty, n: none -i N Line number increment -s STRING Use STRING as line number separator -v N Start from N -w N Width of line numbers nmeter nmeter [-d MSEC] FORMAT_STRING Monitor system in real time -d MSEC Milliseconds between updates, default:1000, none:-1 Format specifiers: %Nc or %[cN] CPU. N - bar size (default 10) (displays: S:system U:user N:niced D:iowait I:irq i:softirq) %[nINTERFACE] Network INTERFACE %m Allocated memory %[md] Dirty file-backed memory %[mw] Memory being written to storage %[mf] Free memory %[mt] Total memory %s Allocated swap %f Number of used file descriptors %Ni Total/specific IRQ rate %x Context switch rate %p Forks %[pn] # of processes %b Block io %Nt Time (with N decimal points) %NT Zero-based timestamp (with N decimal points) %r Print <cr> instead of <lf> at EOL nohup nohup PROG ARGS Run PROG immune to hangups, with output to a non-tty nologin nologin Politely refuse a login nslookup nslookup [-type=QUERY_TYPE] [-debug] HOST [DNS_SERVER] Query DNS about HOST QUERY_TYPE: soa,ns,a,aaaa,cname,mx,txt,ptr,srv,any ntpd ntpd [-dnqNwl] [-I IFACE] [-S PROG] [-k KEYFILE] [-p [keyno:N:]PEER]... NTP client/server -d[d] Verbose -n Run in foreground -q Quit after clock is set -N Run at high priority -w Do not set time (only query peers), implies -n -S PROG Run PROG after stepping time, stratum change, and every 11 min -k FILE Key file (ntp.keys compatible) -p [keyno:NUM:]PEER Obtain time from PEER (may be repeated) Use key NUM for authentication If -p is not given, 'server HOST' lines from /etc/ntp.conf are used -l Also run as server on port 123 -I IFACE Bind server to IFACE, implies -l nuke nuke DIR... Remove DIRs od od [-abcdeFfhiloxsv] [FILE] Print FILE (or stdin) unambiguously, as octal bytes by default paste paste [-d LIST] [-s] [FILE]... Paste lines from each input file, separated with tab -d LIST Use delimiters from LIST, not tab -s Serial: one file at a time patch patch [-RNE] [-p N] [-i DIFF] [ORIGFILE [PATCHFILE]] -p N Strip N leading components from file names -i DIFF Read DIFF instead of stdin -R Reverse patch -N Ignore already applied patches -E Remove output files if they become empty --dry-run Don't actually change files pgrep pgrep [-flanovx] [-s SID|-P PPID|PATTERN] Display process(es) selected by regex PATTERN -l Show command name too -a Show command line 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 [-s] [-o PID] [NAME]... List PIDs of all processes with names that match NAMEs -s Show only one PID -o PID Omit given pid Use %PPID to omit pid of pidof's parent ping ping HOST Send ICMP ECHO_REQUESTs to HOST ping6 ping6 HOST Send ICMP ECHO_REQUESTs to HOST pkill pkill [-l|-SIGNAL] [-xfvnoe] [-s SID|-P PPID|PATTERN] Send signal to processes selected by regex PATTERN -l List all signals -x Match whole name (not substring) -f Match against entire command line -s SID Match session ID (0 for current) -P PPID Match parent process ID -v Negate the match -n Signal the newest process only -o Signal the oldest process only -e Display name and PID of the process being killed pmap pmap [-xq] PID... Display process memory usage -x Show details -q Quiet popmaildir popmaildir [OPTIONS] MAILDIR [CONN_HELPER ARGS] Fetch content of remote mailbox to local maildir -s Skip authorization -T Get messages with TOP instead of RETR -k Keep retrieved messages on the server -t SEC Network timeout -F 'PROG ARGS' Filter program (may be repeated) -M 'PROG ARGS' Delivery program Fetch from plain POP3 server: popmaildir -k DIR nc pop3.server.com 110 <user_and_pass.txt Fetch from SSLed POP3 server and delete fetched emails: popmaildir DIR -- openssl s_client -quiet -connect pop3.server.com:995 <user_and_pass.txt poweroff poweroff [-d DELAY] [-nf] Halt and shut off power -d SEC Delay interval -n Do not sync -f Force (don't go through init) printenv printenv [VARIABLE]... Print environment VARIABLEs. If no VARIABLE specified, print all. printf printf FORMAT [ARG]... Format and print ARG(s) according to FORMAT (a-la C printf) ps ps Show list of processes w Wide output l Long output T Show threads pscan pscan [-cb] [-p MIN_PORT] [-P MAX_PORT] [-t TIMEOUT] [-T MIN_RTT] HOST Scan HOST, print all open ports -c Show closed ports too -b Show blocked ports too -p PORT Scan from this port (default 1) -P PORT Scan up to this port (default 1024) -t MS Timeout (default 5000 ms) -T MS Minimum rtt (default 5 ms) pwd pwd Print the full filename of the current working directory pwdx pwdx PID... Show current directory for PIDs readlink readlink [-fnv] FILE Display the value of a symlink -n Don't add newline -f Canonicalize by following all symlinks -v Verbose readprofile readprofile [OPTIONS] -m MAPFILE (Default: /boot/System.map) -p PROFILE (Default: /proc/profile) -M NUM Set the profiling multiplier to NUM -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 FILE... Print absolute pathnames of FILEs reboot reboot [-d DELAY] [-nf] Reboot the system -d SEC Delay interval -n Do not sync -f Force (don't go through init) reformime reformime [OPTIONS] Parse MIME-encoded message on stdin -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] PRIORITY [[-p|g|u] ID...]... Change scheduling priority of a running process -n Add PRIORITY to current nice value Without -n, nice value is set to PRIORITY -p Process ids (default) -g Process group ids -u Process user names reset reset Reset terminal (ESC codes) and termios (signals, buffering, echo) resize resize Resize the screen resume resume BLOCKDEV [OFFSET] Restore system state from 'suspend-to-disk' data in BLOCKDEV rev rev [FILE]... Reverse lines of FILE rm rm [-irf] FILE... Remove (unlink) FILEs -i Always prompt before removing -f Never prompt -R,-r Recurse rmdir rmdir [-p] DIRECTORY... Remove DIRECTORY if it is empty -p Include parents --ignore-fail-on-non-empty rpm rpm -i PACKAGE.rpm; rpm -qp[ildc] PACKAGE.rpm Manipulate RPM packages Commands: -i Install package -qp Query package -qpi Show information -qpl List contents -qpd List documents -qpc List config files rpm2cpio rpm2cpio PACKAGE.rpm Output a cpio archive of the rpm file run-parts run-parts [-a ARG]... [-u UMASK] [--reverse] [--test] [--exit-on-error] [--list] DIRECTORY Run a bunch of scripts in DIRECTORY -a ARG Pass ARG as argument to scripts -u UMASK Set UMASK before running scripts --reverse Reverse execution order --test Dry run --exit-on-error Exit if a script exits with non-zero --list Print names of matching files even if they are not executable 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 script script [-afq] [-t[FILE]] [-c PROG] [OUTFILE] Default OUTFILE is 'typescript' -a Append output -c PROG Run PROG, not shell -q Quiet -t[FILE] Send timing to stderr or FILE scriptreplay scriptreplay TIMINGFILE [TYPESCRIPT [DIVISOR]] Play back typescripts, using timing information sed sed [-i[SFX]] [-nrE] [-f FILE]... [-e CMD]... [FILE]... or: sed [-i[SFX]] [-nrE] CMD [FILE]... -e CMD Add CMD to sed commands to be executed -f FILE Add FILE contents to sed commands to be executed -i[SFX] Edit files in-place (otherwise write to stdout) Optionally back files up, appending SFX -n Suppress automatic printing of pattern space -r,-E Use extended regex syntax If no -e or -f, the first non-option argument is the sed command string. Remaining arguments are input files (stdin if none). sendmail sendmail [-tv] [-f SENDER] [-amLOGIN 4<user_pass.txt | -auUSER -apPASS] [-w SECS] [-H 'PROG ARGS' | -S HOST] [RECIPIENT_EMAIL]... Read email from stdin and send it Standard options: -t Read additional recipients from message body -f SENDER For use in MAIL FROM:<sender>. Can be empty string Default: -auUSER, or username of current UID -o OPTIONS Various options. -oi implied, others are ignored -i -oi synonym, implied and ignored Busybox specific options: -v Verbose -w SECS Network timeout -H 'PROG ARGS' Run connection helper. Examples: openssl s_client -quiet -tls1 -starttls smtp -connect smtp.gmail.com:25 openssl s_client -quiet -tls1 -connect smtp.gmail.com:465 $SMTP_ANTISPAM_DELAY: seconds to wait after helper connect -S HOST[:PORT] Server (default $SMTPHOST or 127.0.0.1) -amLOGIN Log in using AUTH LOGIN -amPLAIN or AUTH PLAIN (-amCRAM-MD5 not supported) -auUSER Username for AUTH -apPASS Password for AUTH If no -a options are given, authentication is not done. If -amLOGIN is given but no -au/-ap, user/password is read from fd #4. Other options are silently ignored; -oi is implied. Use makemime to create emails with at- tachments. seq seq [-w] [-s SEP] [FIRST [INC]] LAST Print numbers from FIRST to LAST, in steps of INC. FIRST, INC default to 1. -w Pad with leading zeros -s SEP String separator setsid setsid [-c] PROG ARGS Run PROG in a new session. PROG will have no controlling terminal and will not be affected by keyboard signals (^C etc). -c Set controlling terminal to stdin setuidgid setuidgid USER PROG ARGS Set uid and gid to USER's uid and gid, drop supplementary group ids, run PROG sh sh [-il] [-|+Cabefmnuvx] [-|+o OPT]... [-c 'SCRIPT' [ARG0 ARGS] | FILE ARGS | -s ARGS] Unix shell interpreter sha1sum sha1sum [-c[sw]] [FILE]... Print or check SHA1 checksums -c Check sums against list in FILEs -s Don't output anything, status code shows success -w Warn about improperly formatted checksum lines sha256sum sha256sum [-c[sw]] [FILE]... Print or check SHA256 checksums -c Check sums against list in FILEs -s Don't output anything, status code shows success -w Warn about improperly formatted checksum lines sha384sum sha384sum [-c[sw]] [FILE]... Print or check SHA384 checksums -c Check sums against list in FILEs -s Don't output anything, status code shows success -w Warn about improperly formatted checksum lines sha3sum sha3sum [-c[sw]] [-a BITS] [FILE]... Print or check SHA3 checksums -c Check sums against list in FILEs -s Don't output anything, status code shows success -w Warn about improperly formatted checksum lines -a BITS 224 (default), 256, 384, 512 sha512sum sha512sum [-c[sw]] [FILE]... Print or check SHA512 checksums -c Check sums against list in FILEs -s Don't output anything, status code shows success -w Warn about improperly formatted checksum lines shred shred [-fuz] [-n N] [-s SIZE] FILE... Overwrite/delete FILEs -f Chmod to ensure writability -s SIZE Size to write -n N Overwrite N times (default 3) -z Final overwrite with zeros -u Remove file shuf shuf [-n NUM] [-o FILE] [-z] [FILE | -e [ARG...] | -i L-H] Randomly permute lines -n NUM Output at most NUM lines -o FILE Write to FILE, not standard output -z NUL terminated output -e Treat ARGs as lines -i L-H Treat numbers L-H as lines 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 smemcap smemcap >SMEMDATA.TAR Collect memory usage data in /proc and write it to stdout 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 -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 [-nrughMcszbdfiokt] [-o FILE] [-k START[.OFS][OPTS][,END[.OFS][OPTS]] [-t CHAR] [FILE]... Sort lines of text -o FILE Output to FILE -c Check whether input is sorted -b Ignore leading blanks -f Ignore case -i Ignore unprintable characters -d Dictionary order (blank or alphanumeric only) -n Sort numbers -g General numerical sort -h Sort human readable numbers (2K 1G) -M Sort month -V Sort version -t CHAR Field separator -k N[,M] Sort by Nth field -r Reverse sort order -s Stable (don't sort ties alphabetically) -u Suppress duplicate lines -z NUL terminated input and output split split [OPTIONS] [INPUT [PREFIX]] -b N[k|m] Split by N (kilo|mega)bytes -l N Split by N lines -a N Use N letters as suffix ssl_client ssl_client [-n SNI] { -s FD [-r FD] | HOST | -e PROG ARGS } ssl_server ssl_server -f PRIVKEY_CERT.pem PROG ARGSInetd-style TLS server -f PEMFILE HAProxy-style CRT file stat stat [-lt] [-c FMT] FILE... Display file status -c FMT Use the specified format -L Follow links -t Terse display FMT sequences: %a Access rights in octal %A Access rights in human readable form %b Number of blocks allocated (see %B) %B 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 %G Group name %h Number of hard links %i Inode number %n File name %N File name, with -> TARGET 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 %U User name %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 strings strings [-fo] [-t o|d|x] [-n LEN] [FILE]... Display printable strings in a binary file -f Precede strings with filenames -o Precede strings with octal offsets -t o|d|x Precede strings with offsets in base 8/10/16 -n LEN At least LEN characters form a string (default 4) stty stty [-a|g] [-F DEVICE] [SETTING]... Without arguments, prints baud rate, line discipline, and deviations from stty sane -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 [-lmp] [-s SH] [-] [USER [FILE ARGS | -c 'CMD' [ARG0 ARGS]]] Run shell under USER (by default, root) -,-l Clear environment, go to home dir, run shell as login shell -p,-m Do not set new $HOME, $SHELL, $USER, $LOGNAME -c CMD Command to pass to 'sh -c' -s SH Shell to use instead of user's default sulogin sulogin [-t N] [TTY] Single user login -p Start a login shell -t SEC Timeout sum sum [-rs] [FILE]... Checksum and count the blocks in a file -r Use BSD sum algorithm (1K blocks) -s Use System V sum algorithm (512byte blocks) sv sv [-v] [-w SEC] CMD SERVICE_DIR... Control services monitored by runsv supervisor. Commands (only first char- acter 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, don't 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 svc svc [-udopchaitkx] SERVICE_DIR... Control services monitored by runsv supervisor -u If service is not running, start it; restart if it stops -d If service is running, send TERM+CONT signals; do not restart it -o Once: if service is not running, start it; do not restart it -pchaitk Send STOP, CONT, HUP, ALRM, INT, TERM, KILL signal to service -x Exit: runsv will exit as soon as the service is down svlogd svlogd [-tttv] [-r C] [-R CHARS] [-l MATCHLEN] [-b BUFLEN] DIR... Read log data from stdin and write to rotated log files in DIRs -r C Replace non-printable characters with C -R CHARS Also replace CHARS with C (default _) -t Timestamp with @tai64n -tt Timestamp with yyyy-mm-dd_hh:mm:ss.sssss -ttt Timestamp with yyyy-mm-ddThh:mm:ss.sssss -v Verbose DIR/config file modifies behavior: sSIZE - when to rotate logs (default 1000000, 0 disables) nNUM - number of files to retain !PROG - process ro- tated log with PROG +,-PATTERN - (de)select line for logging E,ePATTERN - (de)select line for stderr svok svok SERVICE_DIR Check whether runsv supervisor is running. Exit code is 0 if it does, 100 if it does not, 111 (with error message) if SERVICE_DIR does not exist. sync sync Write all buffered blocks to disk syslogd syslogd [OPTIONS] System logging utility -n Run in foreground -R HOST[:PORT] Log to HOST:PORT (default PORT:514) -L Log locally and via network (default is network only if -R) -C[size_kb] Log to shared mem buffer (use logread to read it) -K Log to kernel printk buffer (use dmesg to read it) -O FILE Log to FILE (default: /var/log/messages, stdout if -) -s SIZE Max size (KB) before rotation (default 200KB, 0=off) -b N N rotated logs to keep (default 1, max 99, 0=purge) -l N Log only messages more urgent than prio N (1-8) -S Smaller output -t Strip client-generated timestamps -D Drop duplicates -f FILE Use FILE as config (default:/etc/syslog.conf) tac tac [FILE]... Concatenate FILEs and print them in reverse tail tail [OPTIONS] [FILE]... Print last 10 lines of FILEs (or stdin) to. With more than one FILE, pre- cede each with a filename header. -c [+]N[bkm] Print last N bytes -n N[bkm] Print last N lines -n +N[bkm] Start on Nth line and print the rest (b:*512 k:*1024 m:*1024^2) -q Never print headers -v Always print headers -f Print data as file grows -F Same as -f, but keep retrying -s SECONDS Wait SECONDS between reads with -f tar tar c|x|t [-ZzJjahmvokO] [-f TARFILE] [-C DIR] [-T FILE] [-X FILE] [LON- GOPT]... [FILE]... Create, extract, or list files from a tar file c Create x Extract t List -f FILE Name of TARFILE ('-' for stdin/out) -C DIR Change to DIR before operation -v Verbose -O Extract to stdout -m Don't restore mtime -o Don't restore user:group -k Don't replace existing files -Z (De)compress using compress -z (De)compress using gzip -J (De)compress using xz -j (De)compress using bzip2 --lzma (De)compress using lzma -a (De)compress based on extension -h Follow symlinks -T FILE File with names to include -X FILE File with glob patterns to exclude --exclude PATTERN Glob pattern to exclude --overwrite Replace existing files --strip-components NUM NUM of leading components to strip --no-recursion Don't descend in directories --numeric-owner Use numeric user:group --no-same-permissions Don't restore access permissions --to-command COMMAND Pipe files to COMMAND 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 connections. Run PROG for each connection. IP PORT IP:PORT to listen on PROG ARGS Program to run -u USER[:GRP] Change to user/group after bind -c N Up to N connections simultaneously (default 30) -b N Allow backlog of approximately N TCP SYNs (default 20) -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 -E Don't set up environment -h Look up peer's hostname -l NAME Local hostname (else look up local hostname in DNS) -v Verbose Environment if no -E: PROTO='TCP' TCPREMOTEADDR='ip:port' ('[ip]:port' for IPv6) TCPLOCALADDR='ip:port' TCPORIGDSTADDR='ip:port' of destination before firewall Useful for REDIRECTed-to-local connections: iptables -t nat -A PREROUTING -p tcp --dport 80 -j REDIRECT --to 8080 TCPCONCUR- RENCY=num_of_connects_from_this_ip If -h: TCPLOCALHOST='hostname' (-l NAME is used if specified) TCPREMOTEHOST='hostname' tee tee [-ai] [FILE]... Copy stdin to each FILE, and also to stdout -a Append to the given FILEs, don't overwrite -i Ignore interrupt signals (SIGINT) telnet telnet [-a] [-l USER] HOST [PORT] Connect to telnet server -a Automatic login with $USER envvar -l USER Automatic login as USER telnetd telnetd [OPTIONS] Handle incoming telnet connections -l LOGIN Exec LOGIN on connect (default /bin/login) -f ISSUE_FILE Display ISSUE_FILE instead of /etc/issue.net -K Close connection as soon as login exits (normally wait until all programs close slave pty) -p PORT Port to listen on. Default 23 -b ADDR[:PORT] Address to bind to -F Run in foreground -i Inetd mode -w SEC Inetd 'wait' mode, linger time SEC inetd.conf line: 23 stream tcp wait root telnetd telnetd -w10 -S Log to syslog (implied by -i or without -F and -w) -v Verbose tftp tftp [OPTIONS] HOST [PORT] Transfer a file from/to tftp server -l FILE Local FILE -r FILE Remote FILE -g Get file -p Put file -b SIZE Transfer blocks in bytes tftpd tftpd [-crl] [-u USER] [DIR] Transfer a file on tftp client's request tftpd is an inetd service, inetd.conf line: 69 dgram udp nowait root tftpd tftpd -l /files/to/serve Can be run from udpsvd: udpsvd -vE 0.0.0.0 69 tftpd /files/to/serve -r Prohibit upload -c Allow file creation via upload -u USER Access files as USER -l Log to syslog (inetd mode requires this) timeout timeout [-s SIG] [-k KILL_SECS] SECS PROG ARGS Run PROG. Send SIG to it if it is not gone in SECS seconds. Default SIG: TERM.If it still exists in KILL_SECS seconds, send KILL. top top [-bmH] [-n COUNT] [-d SECONDS] Show a view of process activity in real time. Read the status of all processes from /proc each SECONDS and show a screenful of them. Keys: N/M/P/T: show CPU usage, sort by pid/mem/cpu/time S: show memory R: reverse sort H: toggle threads, 1: toggle SMP Q,^C: exit Options: -b Batch mode -n N Exit after N iterations -d SEC Delay between updates -m Same as 's' key -H Show threads touch touch [-cham] [-d DATE] [-t DATE] [-r FILE] FILE... Update mtime of FILEs -c Don't create files -h Don't follow links -a Change only atime -m Change only mtime -d DT Date/time to use -t DT Date/time to use -r FILE Use FILE's date/time tr tr [-cds] STRING1 [STRING2] Translate, squeeze, or delete characters from stdin, writing to stdout -c Take complement of STRING1 -d Delete input characters coded STRING1 -s Squeeze multiple output characters of STRING2 into one character traceroute traceroute [-46IFlnrv] [-f 1ST_TTL] [-m MAXTTL] [-q PROBES] [-p PORT] [-t TOS] [-w WAIT_SEC] [-s SRC_IP] [-i IFACE] [-z PAUSE_MSEC] HOST [BYTES] Trace the route to HOST -4,-6 Force IP or IPv6 name resolution -F Set don't fragment bit -I Use ICMP ECHO instead of UDP datagrams -l Display TTL value of the returned packet -n Print numeric addresses -r Bypass routing tables, send directly to HOST -v Verbose -f N First number of hops (default 1) -m N Max number of hops -q N Number of probes per hop (default 3) -p N Base UDP port number used in probes (default 33434) -s IP Source address -i IFACE Source interface -t N Type-of-service in probe packets (default 0) -w SEC Wait for a response (default 3) -z MSEC Wait before each send traceroute6 traceroute6 [-Inrv] [-f 1ST_TTL] [-m MAXTTL] [-q PROBES] [-p PORT] [-t TOS] [-w WAIT_SEC] [-s SRC_IP] [-i IFACE] [-z PAUSE_MSEC] HOST [BYTES] Trace the route to HOST -I Use ICMP ECHO instead of UDP datagrams -n Print numeric addresses -r Bypass routing tables, send directly to HOST -v Verbose -f N First number of hops (default 1) -m N Max number of hops -q N Number of probes per hop (default 3) -p N Base UDP port number used in probes (default 33434) -s IP Source address -i IFACE Source interface -t N Type-of-service in probe packets (default 0) -w SEC Wait for a response (default 3) -z MSEC Wait before each send truncate truncate [-c] -s SIZE FILE... Truncate FILEs to SIZE -c Do not create files -s SIZE ts ts [-is] [STRFTIME] Pipe stdin to stdout, add timestamp to each line -s Time since start -i Time since previous line tsort tsort [FILE] Topological sort tty tty [-s] Print file name of stdin's terminal -s Print nothing, only return exit status ttysize ttysize [w] [h] Print dimensions of stdin tty, or 80x24 uname uname [-amnrspvio] Print system information -a Print all -m Machine (hardware) type -n Hostname -r Kernel release -s Kernel name (default) -p Processor type -v Kernel version -i Hardware platform -o OS name uncompress uncompress [-cf] [FILE]... Decompress FILEs (or stdin) -c Write to stdout -f Overwrite unexpand unexpand [-fa][-t N] [FILE]... Convert spaces to tabs, writing to stdout -a Convert all blanks -f Convert only leading blanks -t N Tabstops every N chars uniq uniq [-cduiz] [-f,s,w N] [FILE [OUTFILE]] Discard duplicate lines -c Prefix lines by the number of occurrences -d Only print duplicate lines -u Only print unique lines -i Ignore case -z NUL terminated output -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 [-ud] [FILE] Convert FILE in-place from Unix to DOS format. When no file is given, use stdin/stdout. -u dos2unix -d unix2dos unlink unlink FILE Delete FILE by calling unlink() unlzma unlzma [-cfk] [FILE]... Decompress FILEs (or stdin) -c Write to stdout -f Force -k Keep input files -t Test integrity unxz unxz [-cfk] [FILE]... Decompress FILEs (or stdin) -c Write to stdout -f Force -k Keep input files -t Test integrity unzip unzip [-lnojpqK] FILE[.zip] [FILE]... [-x FILE]... [-d DIR] Extract FILEs from ZIP archive -l List contents (with -q for short form) -n Never overwrite files (default: ask) -o Overwrite -j Do not restore paths -p Write to stdout -t Test -q Quiet -K Do not clear SUID bit -x FILE Exclude FILEs -d DIR Extract into DIR users users Print the users currently logged on usleep usleep N Pause for N microseconds uudecode uudecode [-o OUTFILE] [INFILE] Uudecode a file Finds OUTFILE in uuencoded source unless -o is given uuencode uuencode [-m] [FILE] STORED_FILENAME Uuencode FILE (or stdin) to stdout -m Use base64 encoding per RFC1521 uuidgen uuidgen Generate a random UUID vi vi [-c CMD] [-R] [-H] [FILE]... Edit FILE -c CMD Initial command to run ($EXINIT and ~/.exrc also available) -R Read-only -H List available features vmstat vmstat [-n] [INTERVAL [COUNT]] Show virtual memory statistics -n Show header once volname volname [DEVICE] Show CD volume name of the DEVICE (default /dev/cdrom) w w Show who is logged on wall wall [FILE] Write content of FILE or stdin to all logged-in users watch watch [-n SEC] [-tx] PROG ARGS Run PROG periodically -n SEC Period (default 2) -t Don't print header -x exec(PROG,ARGS) instead of sh -c 'PROG ARGS' wc wc [-cmlwL] [FILE]... Count lines, words, and bytes for FILEs (or stdin) -c Count bytes -m Count characters -l Count newlines -w Count words -L Print longest line length wget wget [-cqS] [--spider] [-O FILE] [-o LOGFILE] [--header STR] [--post-data STR | --post-file FILE] [-Y on/off] [--no-check-cer- tificate] [-P DIR] [-U AGENT] [-T SEC] URL... Retrieve files via HTTP or FTP --spider Only check URL existence: $? is 0 if exists --header STR Add STR (of form 'header: value') to headers --post-data STR Send STR using POST method --post-file FILE Send FILE using POST method --no-check-certificate Don't validate the server's certificate -c Continue retrieval of aborted transfer -q Quiet -P DIR Save to DIR (default .) -S Show server response -T SEC Network read timeout is SEC seconds -O FILE Save to FILE ('-' for stdout) -o LOGFILE Log messages to FILE -U STR Use STR for User-Agent header -Y on/off Use proxy which which [-a] COMMAND... Locate COMMAND -a Show all matches who who [-aH] Show who is logged on -a Show all -H Print column headers whoami whoami Print the user name associated with the current effective user id whois whois [-i] [-h SERVER] [-p PORT] NAME... Query WHOIS info about NAME -i Show redirect results too -h,-p Server to query xargs xargs [OPTIONS] [PROG ARGS] Run PROG on every item given by stdin -0 NUL terminated input -a FILE Read from FILE instead of stdin -o Reopen stdin as /dev/tty -r Don't run command if input is empty -t Print the command on stderr before execution -p Ask user whether to run each command -E STR,-e[STR] STR stops input processing -I STR Replace STR within PROG ARGS with input line -n N Pass no more than N args to PROG -s N Pass command line of no more than N bytes -P N Run up to N PROGs in parallel -x Exit if size is exceeded xxd xxd [-ri] [-ps] [-g N] [-c N] [-l LEN] [-s OFS] [-o OFS] [FILE] Hex dump FILE (or stdin) -g N Bytes per group (default 2) -c N Bytes per line (default:16, -ps:30, -i:12) -ps Show only hex bytes (no offset/spaces) -i C include file style -l LENGTH Show only first LENGTH bytes -s OFFSET Skip OFFSET bytes -o OFFSET Add OFFSET to displayed offset -r Reverse (with -p, assumes no offsets in input) xz xz -d [-cfk] [FILE]... Decompress FILEs (or stdin) -d Decompress -c Write to stdout -f Force -k Keep input files -t Test integrity xzcat xzcat [FILE]... Decompress to stdout yes yes [STRING] Repeatedly print a line with STRING, or 'y' zcat zcat [FILE]... Decompress to stdout LIBC NSS GNU Libc (glibc) uses the Name Service Switch (NSS) to configure the behav- ior of the C library for the local environment, and to configure how it reads system data, such as passwords and group information. This is imple- mented 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 in- stalling any of the NSS configuration files and libraries. When used with glibc, the BusyBox 'networking' applets will similarly re- quire that you install at least some of the glibc NSS stuff (in particular, /etc/nsswitch.conf, /lib/libnss_dns*, /lib/libnss_files*, and /lib/libre- solv*). 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 incorrect, 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 unarchiving 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. Paul Fox <pgf@foxharp.boston.ma.us> vi editing mode for ash, various other patches/fixes Roberto A. Foglietta <me@roberto.foglietta.name> port: dnsd Bernhard Reutner-Fischer <rep.dot.nop@gmail.com> misc Mike Frysinger <vapier@gentoo.org> initial e2fsprogs, printenv, setarch, sum, misc Jie Zhang <jie.zhang@analog.com> fixed two bugs in msh and hush (exitcode of killed processes) version 1.38.0 2026-08-02 BUSYBOX(1)
NAME | SYNTAX | DESCRIPTION | USAGE | COMMON OPTIONS | COMMANDS | COMMAND DESCRIPTIONS | LIBC NSS | MAINTAINER | AUTHORS
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