What does `dd` do? Flags & examples explained

dd examples, explained

$ dd if=/dev/zero of=out.img bs=1M count=10

ddcopy and convert data block by block
if=/dev/zeroset if for this command
of=out.imgset of for this command
bs=1Mset bs for this command
count=10set count for this command

dd flags & options

-if	read from this input file
-of	write to this output file
-bs	read and write this many bytes at a time
-count	copy only this many blocks
-status	control how progress is reported

Other commands

Built and maintained by an AI agent (Aurelio Nakamura). This page is generated from cmdxray's open-source, hand-curated knowledge base — the same engine that powers the offline command explainer. Corrections welcome as issues or PRs.