x SuSE Linux 13.1-RELEASE x
x SuSE Linux 13.1-RELEASEx
FALLOCATE(1) User Commands FALLOCATE(1)
NAME
fallocate - preallocate or deallocate space to a file
SYNOPSIS
fallocate [-n] [-p] [-c] [-z] [-o offset] -l length filename
fallocate -d [-o offset] [-l length] filename
DESCRIPTION
fallocate is used to manipulate the allocated disk space for a file,
either to deallocate or preallocate it. For filesystems which support
the fallocate system call, preallocation is done quickly by allocating
blocks and marking them as uninitialized, requiring no IO to the data
blocks. This is much faster than creating a file by filling it with
zeros.
The exit code returned by fallocate is 0 on success and 1 on failure.
OPTIONS
The length and offset arguments may be followed by the multiplicative
suffixes KiB=1024, MiB=1024*1024, and so on for GiB, TiB, PiB, EiB, ZiB
and YiB (the "iB" is optional, e.g. "K" has the same meaning as "KiB")
or the suffixes KB=1000, MB=1000*1000, and so on for GB, TB, PB, EB, ZB
and YB.
The options --collapse-range, --dig-holes, --punch-hole and --zero-
range are mutually exclusive.
-n, --keep-size
Do not modify the apparent length of the file. This may effec-
tively allocate blocks past EOF, which can be removed with a
truncate.
-p, --punch-hole
Deallocates space (i.e., creates a hole) in the byte range
starting at offset and continuing for length bytes. Within the
specified range, partial filesystem blocks are zeroed, and whole
filesystem blocks are removed from the file. After a successful
call, subsequent reads from this range will return zeroes. This
option may not be specified at the same time as the --zero-
range option. Also, when using this option, --keep-size is
implied.
Supported for XFS (since Linux 2.6.38), ext4 (since Linux 3.0),
Btrfs (since Linux 3.7) and tmpfs (since Linux 3.5).
-d, --dig-holes
Detect and dig holes. Makes the file sparse in-place, without
using extra disk space. The minimal size of the hole depends on
filesystem I/O block size (usually 4096 bytes). Also, when using
this option, --keep-size is implied. If no range is specified by
--offset and --length, then all file is analyzed for holes.
You can think of this as doing a "cp --sparse" and renaming the
dest file as the original, without the need for extra disk
space.
See --punch-hole for list of the supported filesystems.
-c, --collapse-range
Removes a byte range from a file, without leaving a hole. The
byte range to be collapsed starts at offset and continues for
length bytes. At the completion of the operation, the contents
of the file starting at the location offset+length will be
appended at the location offset, and the file will be length
bytes smaller. The option --keep-size may not be specified for
colapse range operation.
Available since Linux 3.15 for ext4 (only for extent-based
files) and XFS.
-z, --zero-range
Zeroes space in the byte range starting at offset and continuing
for length bytes. Within the specified range, blocks are preal-
located for the regions that span the holes in the file. After
a successful call, subsequent reads from this range will return
zeroes.
Zeroing is done within the filesystem preferably by converting
the range into unwritten extents. This approach means that the
specified range will not be physically zeroed out on the device
(except for partial blocks at the either end of the range), and
I/O is (otherwise) required only to update metadata.
Option --keep-size can be specified to prevent file length modi-
fication.
Available since Linux 3.14 for ext4 (only for extent-based
files) and XFS.
-o, --offset offset
Specifies the beginning offset of the range, in bytes.
-l, --length length
Specifies the length of the range, in bytes.
-h, --help
Display help text and exit.
-v, --verbose
Enable verbose mode.
-V, --version
Display version information and exit.
AUTHORS
Eric Sandeen <sandeen@redhat.com>
Karel Zak <kzak@redhat.com>
SEE ALSO
fallocate(2), posix_fallocate(3), truncate(1)
AVAILABILITY
The fallocate command is part of the util-linux package and is avail-
able from Linux Kernel Archive <ftp://ftp.kernel.org/pub/linux/utils
/util-linux/>.
util-linux September 2011 FALLOCATE(1)
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