CFDISK(8) System Administration CFDISK(8)
NAME
cfdisk - display or manipulate a disk partition table
SYNOPSIS
cfdisk [options] [device]
DESCRIPTION
cfdisk is a curses-based program for partitioning any block device. The
default device is /dev/sda.
Note that cfdisk provides basic partitioning functionality with a
user-friendly interface. If you need advanced features, use fdisk(8)
instead.
All disk label changes will remain in memory only, and the disk will be
unmodified until you decide to write your changes. Be careful before
using the write command.
Since version 2.25 cfdisk supports MBR (DOS), GPT, SUN and SGI disk
labels, but no longer provides any functionality for CHS
(Cylinder-Head-Sector) addressing. CHS has never been important for
Linux, and this addressing concept does not make any sense for new
devices.
Since version 2.25 cfdisk also does not provide a 'print' command any
more. This functionality is provided by the utilities partx(8) and
lsblk(8) in a very comfortable and rich way.
If you want to remove an old partition table from a device, use
wipefs(8).
OPTIONS
-h, --help
Display help text and exit.
-V, --version
Print version and exit.
-L, --color[=when]
Colorize the output. The optional argument when can be auto, never
or always. If the when argument is omitted, it defaults to auto.
The colors can be disabled, for the current built-in default see
--help output. See also the COLORS section.
--lock[=mode]
Use exclusive BSD lock for device or file it operates. The optional
argument mode can be yes, no (or 1 and 0) or nonblock. If the mode
argument is omitted, it defaults to yes. This option overwrites
environment variable $LOCK_BLOCK_DEVICE. The default is not to use
any lock at all, but it’s recommended to avoid collisions with
systemd-udevd(8) or other tools.
-r, --read-only
Forced open in read-only mode.
-z, --zero
Start with an in-memory zeroed partition table. This option does
not zero the partition table on the disk; rather, it simply starts
the program without reading the existing partition table. This
option allows you to create a new partition table from scratch or
from an sfdisk(8)-compatible script.
COMMANDS
The commands for cfdisk can be entered by pressing the corresponding
key (pressing Enter after the command is not necessary). Here is a list
of the available commands:
b
Toggle the bootable flag of the current partition. This allows you
to select which primary partition is bootable on the drive. This
command may not be available for all partition label types.
d
Delete the current partition. This will convert the current
partition into free space and merge it with any free space
immediately surrounding the current partition. A partition already
marked as free space or marked as unusable cannot be deleted.
h
Show the help screen.
n
Create a new partition from free space. cfdisk then prompts you for
the size of the partition you want to create. The default size is
equal to the entire available free space at the current position.
The size may be followed by a multiplicative suffix: 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").
q
Quit the program. This will exit the program without writing any
data to the disk.
r
Reduce or enlarge the current partition. cfdisk then prompts you
for the new size of the partition. The default size is the current
size. A partition marked as free space or marked as unusable cannot
be resized.
Note that reducing the size of a partition might destroy data on
that partition.
s
Sort the partitions in ascending start-sector order. When deleting
and adding partitions, it is likely that the numbering of the
partitions will no longer match their order on the disk. This
command restores that match.
t
Change the partition type. By default, new partitions are created
as Linux partitions.
u
Dump the current in-memory partition table to an
sfdisk(8)-compatible script file.
The script files are compatible between cfdisk, fdisk(8) sfdisk(8)
and other libfdisk applications. For more details see sfdisk(8).
It is also possible to load an sfdisk-script into cfdisk if there
is no partition table on the device or when you start cfdisk with
the --zero command-line option.
W
Write the partition table to disk (you must enter an uppercase W).
Since this might destroy data on the disk, you must either confirm
or deny the write by entering `yes' or `no'. If you enter `yes',
cfdisk will write the partition table to disk and then tell the
kernel to re-read the partition table from the disk.
The re-reading of the partition table does not always work. In such
a case you need to inform the kernel about any new partitions by
using partprobe(8) or partx(8), or by rebooting the system.
x
Toggle extra information about a partition.
Up Arrow, Down Arrow
Move the cursor to the previous or next partition. If there are
more partitions than can be displayed on a screen, you can display
the next (previous) set of partitions by moving down (up) at the
last (first) partition displayed on the screen.
Left Arrow, Right Arrow
Select the preceding or the next menu item. Hitting Enter will
execute the currently selected item.
All commands can be entered with either uppercase or lowercase letters
(except for Write). When in a submenu or at a prompt, you can hit the
Esc key to return to the main menu.
COLORS
The output colorization is implemented by terminal-colors.d(5)
functionality. Implicit coloring can be disabled by an empty file
/etc/terminal-colors.d/cfdisk.disable
for the cfdisk command or for all tools by
/etc/terminal-colors.d/disable
The user-specific $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/terminal-colors.d or
$HOME/.config/terminal-colors.d overrides the global setting.
Note that the output colorization may be enabled by default, and in
this case terminal-colors.d directories do not have to exist yet.
cfdisk does not support color customization with a color-scheme file.
ENVIRONMENT
CFDISK_DEBUG=all
enables cfdisk debug output.
LIBFDISK_DEBUG=all
enables libfdisk debug output.
LIBBLKID_DEBUG=all
enables libblkid debug output.
LIBSMARTCOLS_DEBUG=all
enables libsmartcols debug output.
LIBSMARTCOLS_DEBUG_PADDING=on
use visible padding characters. Requires enabled
LIBSMARTCOLS_DEBUG.
LOCK_BLOCK_DEVICE=<mode>
use exclusive BSD lock. The mode is "1" or "0". See --lock for more
details.
AUTHORS
Karel Zak <kzak@redhat.com>
The current cfdisk implementation is based on the original cfdisk from
Kevin E. Martin <martin@cs.unc.edu>.
SEE ALSO
fdisk(8), parted(8), partprobe(8), partx(8), sfdisk(8)
REPORTING BUGS
For bug reports, use the issue tracker at
https://github.com/util-linux/util-linux/issues.
AVAILABILITY
The cfdisk command is part of the util-linux package which can be
downloaded from Linux Kernel Archive
<https://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/utils/util-linux/>.
util-linux 2.38.1 2022-05-11 CFDISK(8)
Generated by dwww version 1.15 on Sat Jun 1 21:02:00 CEST 2024.