docs/busybox.

pod
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 utilities 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 directory 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 enabled 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 program 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 command 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

Page 1
 docs/[Link]
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:

[, [[, ar, arch, ash, awk, base64, basename, bash, bunzip2, busybox,
bzcat, bzip2, cal, cat, chmod, cksum, clear, cmp, comm, cp, cpio,
cut, date, dc, dd, df, diff, dirname, dos2unix, dpkg, dpkg-deb, du,
echo, ed, egrep, env, expand, expr, factor, false, fgrep, find,
fold, fsync, ftpget, ftpput, getopt, grep, groups, gunzip, gzip, hd,
head, hexdump, iconv, id, ipcalc, kill, killall, less, link, ln,
logname, ls, lzcat, lzma, lzop, lzopcat, man, md5sum, mkdir, mktemp,
mv, nc, nl, od, paste, patch, pgrep, pidof, pipe_progress, pkill,
printenv, printf, ps, pwd, readlink, realpath, reset, rev, rm,
rmdir, rpm, rpm2cpio, sed, seq, sh, sha1sum, sha256sum, sha3sum,
sha512sum, shred, shuf, sleep, sort, split, ssl_client, stat,
strings, su, sum, tac, tail, tar, tee, test, timeout, touch, tr,
true, truncate, ts, ttysize, uname, uncompress, unexpand, uniq,
unix2dos, unlink, unlzma, unlzop, unxz, unzip, usleep, uudecode,
uuencode, vi, watch, wc, wget, which, whoami, whois, xargs, xxd, xz,
xzcat, yes, zcat

COMMAND DESCRIPTIONS
ar
ar [-o] [-v] [-p] [-t] [-x] ARCHIVE FILES
Extract or list FILES from an ar archive
-o Preserve original dates
-p Extract to stdout
-t List
-x Extract
-v Verbose

arch
arch
Print system architecture

ash
ash [-/+OPTIONS] [-/+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 FILE Read program from FILE
-e AWK_PROGRAM

base64

Page 2
 docs/[Link]
base64 [-d] [FILE]
Base64 encode or decode FILE to standard output -d Decode data

basename
basename FILE [SUFFIX]
Strip directory path and .SUFFIX from FILE

bash
bash [-/+OPTIONS] [-/+o OPT]... [-c 'SCRIPT' [ARG0 [ARGS]] / FILE [ARGS] / -s [ARGS]]
Unix shell interpreter

bunzip2
bunzip2 [-cfk] [FILE]...
Decompress FILEs (or stdin)
-c Write to stdout
-f Force
-k Keep input files

bzcat
bzcat [FILE]...
Decompress to stdout

bzip2
bzip2 [OPTIONS] [FILE]...
Compress FILEs (or stdin) with bzip2 algorithm
-1..9 Compression level
-d Decompress
-t Test file integrity
-c Write to stdout
-f Force
-k Keep input files

cal
cal [-jy] [[MONTH] YEAR]
Display a calendar
-j Use julian dates
-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

chmod
chmod [-Rcvf] MODE[,MODE]... FILE...

Page 3
 docs/[Link]
Each MODE is one or more of the letters ugoa, one of the symbols +-= and one or more of the
letters rwxst
-R Recurse
-c List changed files
-v List all files
-f Hide errors

cksum
cksum FILE...
Calculate the CRC32 checksums of FILEs

clear
clear
Clear screen

cmp
cmp [-l] [-s] FILE1 [FILE2 [SKIP1 [SKIP2]]]
Compare FILE1 with FILE2 (or stdin)
-l Write the byte numbers (decimal) and values (octal)
for all differing bytes
-s Quiet

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 [OPTIONS] SOURCE... DEST
Copy SOURCE(s) 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
-l,-s Create (sym)links
-T Treat DEST as a normal file
-u Copy only newer files

cpio
cpio [-dmvu] [-F FILE] [-R USER[:GRP]] [-H newc] [-tio] [EXTR_FILE]...
Extract (-i) or list (-t) files from a cpio archive, or take file list from stdin and create an archive
(-o)
Main operation mode:
-t List

Page 4
 docs/[Link]
-i Extract EXTR_FILEs (or all)
-o Create (requires -H newc)
Options:

-H newc Archive format

-d Make leading directories
-m Preserve 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 Input is separated by NULs

cut
cut [OPTIONS] [FILE]...
Print selected fields from each input FILE to stdout
-b LIST Output only bytes from LIST
-c LIST Output only characters from LIST
-d CHAR Use CHAR instead of tab as the field delimiter
-s Output only the lines containing delimiter
-f N Print only these fields
-n Ignored

date
date [OPTIONS] [+FMT] [TIME]
Display time (using +FMT), or set time
[-s,--set] TIME Set time to TIME
-u,--utc Work in UTC (don't convert to local time)
-R,--rfc-2822 Output RFC-2822 compliant date string
-I[SPEC] Output ISO-8601 compliant date string
SPEC='date' (default) for date only,
'hours', 'minutes', or 'seconds' for date and
time to the indicated precision
-r,--reference FILE Display last modification time of FILE
-d,--date TIME Display TIME, not 'now'
-D FMT Use FMT (strptime format) for -d TIME conversion

Recognized TIME formats:

hh:mm[:ss]
[YYYY.][Link]-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 [-eSCRIPT]... [-fFILE]... [FILE]...
Tiny RPN calculator. Operations: +, -, *, /, %, ~, ^, p - print top of the stack without popping f -
print entire stack k - pop the value and set the precision i - pop the value and set input radix o
- pop the value and set output 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]

Page 5
 docs/[Link]
[conv=notrunc|noerror|sync|fsync] [iflag=skip_bytes|fullblock] [oflag=seek_bytes|append]
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=fullblock Read full blocks
oflag=seek_bytes seek=N is in bytes
oflag=append Open output file in append mode
status=noxfer Suppress rate output
status=none Suppress all output

if=/dev/zero and if=/dev/urandom are supported N may be suffixed by c (1), w (2), b (512), kB
(1000), k (1024), MB, M, GB, G

df
df [-PkmhT] [FILESYSTEM]...
Print filesystem usage statistics
-P POSIX output format
-k 1024-byte blocks (default)
-m 1M-byte blocks
-h Human readable (e.g. 1K 243M 2G)
-T Print filesystem type

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

Page 6
 docs/[Link]
dirname
dirname FILENAME
Strip non-directory suffix from FILENAME

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 -x

du
du [-aHLdclsxhmk] [FILE]...
Summarize disk space used for each FILE and/or directory
-a Show file sizes too
-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 the specified ARGs to stdout

Page 7
 docs/[Link]
-n Suppress trailing newline
-e Interpret backslash escapes (i.e., \t=tab)
-E Don't interpret backslash escapes (default)

ed
ed [FILE]

env
env [-iu] [-] [name=value]... [PROG ARGS]
Print the current environment or run PROG after setting up the specified environment
-, -i Start with an empty environment
-u Remove variable from the environment

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 to stdout
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 LENGTH Substring of STRING, POS counted 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. Comparisons 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]...
Page 8
 docs/[Link]
Print prime factors

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
-mmin MINS mtime is greater than (+N), less than (-N),
or exactly N minutes in the past
-newer FILE mtime is more recent than FILE's
-inum N File has inode number N
-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
-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
-delete Delete current file/directory. Turns on -depth option
-quit Exit

fold
fold [-bs] [-w WIDTH] [FILE]...
Wrap input lines in each FILE (or stdin), writing to stdout
-b Count bytes rather than columns
-s Break at spaces
-w Use WIDTH columns instead of 80
Page 9
 docs/[Link]
fsync
fsync [-d] FILE...
Write all buffered blocks in FILEs to disk
-d Avoid syncing metadata

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 NUM 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 NUM Port number

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 [-HhnlLoqvsriwFE] [-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

Page 10
 docs/[Link]
-s Suppress open and read errors
-r Recurse
-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 group memberships of USER or for the current process

gunzip
gunzip [-cfkt] [FILE]...
Decompress FILEs (or stdin)
-c Write to stdout
-f Force
-k Keep input files
-t Test file integrity

gzip
gzip [-cfkdt123456789] [FILE]...
Compress FILEs (or stdin)
-1..9 Compression level
-d Decompress
-t Test file integrity
-c Write to stdout
-f Force
-k Keep input files

hd
hd FILE...
hd is an alias for hexdump -C

head
head [OPTIONS] [FILE]...
Print first 10 lines of each FILE (or stdin) to stdout. With more than one FILE, precede each
with a filename header.
-n N[kbm] Print first N lines
-n -N[kbm] Print all except N last lines
-c [-]N[kbm] Print first N bytes
-q Never print headers
-v Always print headers

N may be suffixed by k (x1024), b (x512), or m (x1024^2).

hexdump
Page 11
 docs/[Link]
hexdump [-bcCdefnosvxR] [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
-R Reverse of 'hexdump -Cv'

iconv
iconv [-lc] [-o outfile] -f from-enc -t to-enc [FILE]...
Convert text between character encodings
-l List all known character encodings
-c Silently discard characters that cannot be converted
-o Use outfile for output
-f Use from-enc for input characters
-t Use to-enc for output characters

id
id [OPTIONS] [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

ipcalc
ipcalc [OPTIONS] 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 [-l] [-q] [-SIG] PROCESS_NAME...

Page 12
 docs/[Link]
Send a signal (default: TERM) to given processes
-l List all signal names and numbers
-q Don't complain if no processes were killed

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 [OPTIONS] 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 2nd arg must be a DIR
-v Verbose

logname
logname
Print the name of the current user

ls
ls [-1AaCxdLHRFplinshrSXvctu] [-w WIDTH] [FILE]...
List directory contents
-1 One column output
-a Include entries which start with .
-A Like -a, but exclude . and ..
-x List by lines
-d List directory entries instead of contents
-L Follow symlinks
-H Follow symlinks on command line
-R Recurse
-p Append / to dir entries
-F Append indicator (one of */=@|) to entries
-l Long listing format
-i List inode numbers
-n List numeric UIDs and GIDs instead of names

Page 13
 docs/[Link]
-s List allocated blocks
-lc List ctime
-lu List atime
--full-time List full date and 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}] Control coloring

lzcat
lzcat [FILE]...
Decompress to stdout

lzma
lzma -d [-cfk] [FILE]...
Decompress FILE (or stdin)
-d Decompress
-c Write to stdout
-f Force
-k Keep input files

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

lzopcat
lzopcat [-vF] [FILE]...
-v Verbose
-F Don't verify checksum

man
man [-aw] MANPAGE...
Display manual page
-a Display all pages
-w Show page locations

$COLUMNS overrides output width

Page 14
 docs/[Link]
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

mkdir
mkdir [OPTIONS] DIRECTORY...
Create DIRECTORY
-m MODE Mode
-p No error if exists; make parent directories as needed

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 [Link] 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

mv
mv [-fin] SOURCE DEST or: mv [-fin] SOURCE... DIRECTORY
Rename SOURCE to DEST, or move SOURCE(s) to DIRECTORY
-f Don't prompt before overwriting
-i Interactive, prompt before overwrite
-n Don't overwrite an existing file

nc
nc [-l] [-p PORT] [IPADDR PORT]
Open a pipe to IP:PORT
-l Listen mode, for inbound connects
-p PORT Local port

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

od

Page 15
 docs/[Link]
od [-abcdfhilovxs] [-t TYPE] [-A RADIX] [-N SIZE] [-j SKIP] [-S MINSTR] [-w WIDTH] [FILE]...
Print FILEs (or stdin) unambiguously, as octal bytes by default

paste
paste [OPTIONS] [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 [OPTIONS] [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 [OPTIONS] [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

pipe_progress
pipe_progress
Display a dot to indicate pipe activity

pkill
pkill [-l|-SIGNAL] [-fnovx] [-s SID|-P PPID|PATTERN]
Send a signal to process(es) selected by regex PATTERN
-l List all signals
-f Match against entire command line
-n Signal the newest process only
-o Signal the oldest process only
-v Negate the match
-x Match whole name (not substring)
Page 16
 docs/[Link]
-s Match session ID (0 for current)
-P Match parent process ID

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 [-o COL1,COL2=HEADER]
Show list of processes
-o COL1,COL2=HEADER Select columns for display

pwd
pwd
Print the full filename of the current working directory

readlink
readlink [-fnv] FILE
Display the value of a symlink
-f Canonicalize by following all symlinks
-n Don't add newline
-v Verbose

realpath
realpath FILE...
Return the absolute pathnames of given FILE

reset
reset
Reset the screen

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 [OPTIONS] DIRECTORY...
Remove DIRECTORY if it is empty
-p Include parents
Page 17
 docs/[Link]
--ignore-fail-on-non-empty

rpm
rpm -i [Link]; rpm -qp[ildc] [Link]
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 [Link]
Output a cpio archive of the rpm file

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 sends to stdout)
Optionally back files up, appending SFX
-n Suppress automatic printing of pattern space
-r,-E Use extended regex syntax
-b Keep CR/LF (Windows-only)

If no -e or -f, the first non-option argument is the sed command string. Remaining arguments
are input files (stdin if none).

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 to last with leading zeros
-s SEP String separator

sh
sh [-/+OPTIONS] [-/+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

Page 18
 docs/[Link]
-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 FILE...
Overwrite/delete FILEs
-f Chmod to ensure writability
-n N Overwrite N times (default 3)
-z Final overwrite with zeros
-u Remove file

shuf
shuf [-e|-i L-H] [-n NUM] [-o FILE] [-z] [FILE|ARG...]
Randomly permute lines
-e Treat ARGs as lines
-i L-H Treat numbers L-H as lines
-n NUM Output at most NUM lines
-o FILE Write to FILE, not standard output
-z End lines with zero byte, not newline

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

sort
sort [-nrugMcszbdfiokt] [-o FILE] [-k start[.offset][opts][,end[.offset][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)

Page 19
 docs/[Link]
-n Sort numbers
-g General numerical sort
-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 Lines are terminated by NUL, not newline

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 [-e] -h handle [-n SNI]

stat
stat [OPTIONS] FILE...
Display file (default) or filesystem status
-c FMT Use the specified format
-f Display filesystem status
-L Follow links
-t Terse display

FMT sequences for files:

%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

Page 20
 docs/[Link]
%Z Time of last change as seconds since Epoch

FMT sequences for file systems:

%a Free blocks available to non-superuser
%b Total data blocks
%c Total file nodes
%d Free file nodes
%f Free blocks
%i File System ID in hex
%l Maximum length of filenames
%n File name
%s Block size (for faster transfer)
%S Fundamental block size (for block counts)
%t Type in hex
%T Type in human readable form

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)

su
su [-c "CMD"]
Run shell with elevated privileges
-c CMD Command to pass to 'sh -c'

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)

tac
tac [FILE]...
Concatenate FILEs and print them in reverse

tail
tail [OPTIONS] [FILE]...
Print last 10 lines of each FILE (or stdin) to stdout. With more than one FILE, precede each
with a filename header.
-f Print data as file grows
-c [+]N[kbm] Print last N bytes
-n N[kbm] Print last N lines
-n +N[kbm] Start on Nth line and print the rest
-q Never print headers
-s SECONDS Wait SECONDS between reads with -f
-v Always print headers
-F Same as -f, but keep retrying

Page 21
 docs/[Link]
N may be suffixed by k (x1024), b (x512), or m (x1024^2).

tar
tar c|x|t [-ZzJjahmvokO] [-f TARFILE] [-C DIR] [-T FILE] [-X FILE] [--exclude PATTERN]...
[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
-a (De)compress using lzma
-h Follow symlinks
-T FILE File with names to include
-X FILE File with glob patterns to exclude
--exclude PATTERN Glob pattern to exclude

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)

timeout
timeout [-s SIG] SECS PROG ARGS
Runs PROG. Sends SIG to it if it is not gone in SECS seconds. Default SIG: TERM.

touch
touch [-c] [-d DATE] [-t DATE] [-r FILE] FILE...
Update the last-modified date on the given FILE[s]
-c Don't create files
-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

truncate
Page 22
 docs/[Link]
truncate [-c] -s SIZE FILE...
Truncate FILEs to the given size
-c Do not create files
-s SIZE Truncate to SIZE

ts
ts [-is] [STRFTIME]

ttysize
ttysize [w] [h]
Print dimensions of stdin tty, or 80x24

uname
uname [-amnrspvio]
Print system information
-a Print all
-m The machine (hardware) type
-n Hostname
-r Kernel release
-s Kernel name (default)
-p Processor type
-v Kernel version
-i The hardware platform
-o OS name

uncompress
uncompress [-cf] [FILE]...
Decompress .Z file[s]
-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 [-cdu][-f,s,w N] [INPUT [OUTPUT]]
Discard duplicate lines
-c Prefix lines by the number of occurrences
-d Only print duplicate lines
-u Only print unique lines
-i Ignore case
-f N Skip first N fields
-s N Skip first N chars (after any skipped fields)
-w N Compare N characters in line

unix2dos

Page 23
 docs/[Link]
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 FILE (or stdin)
-c Write to stdout
-f Force
-k Keep input files

unlzop
unlzop [-cfUvF] [FILE]...
-c Write to stdout
-f Force
-U Delete input files
-v Verbose
-F Don't verify checksum

unxz
unxz [-cfk] [FILE]...
Decompress FILE (or stdin)
-c Write to stdout
-f Force
-k Keep input files

unzip
unzip [-lnojpq] 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 Print to stdout
-q Quiet
-x FILE Exclude FILEs
-d DIR Extract into DIR

usleep
usleep N
Pause for N microseconds

uudecode
uudecode [-o OUTFILE] [INFILE]
Uudecode a file Finds OUTFILE in uuencoded source unless -o is given
Page 24
 docs/[Link]
uuencode
uuencode [-m] [FILE] STORED_FILENAME
Uuencode FILE (or stdin) to stdout
-m Use base64 encoding per RFC1521

vi
vi [OPTIONS] [FILE]...
Edit FILE
-c CMD Initial command to run ($EXINIT also available)
-R Read-only
-H List available features

watch
watch [-n SEC] [-t] PROG ARGS
Run PROG periodically
-n SEC Loop period (default 2)
-t Don't print header

wc
wc [-cmlwL] [FILE]...
Count lines, words, and bytes for each FILE (or stdin)
-c Count bytes
-m Count characters
-l Count newlines
-w Count words
-L Print longest line length

wget
wget [-c|--continue] [--spider] [-q|--quiet] [-O|--output-document FILE] [-o|--output-file FILE]
[--header 'header: value'] [-Y|--proxy on/off] [-P DIR] [-S|--server-response] [-U|--user-agent
AGENT] URL...
Retrieve files via HTTP or FTP
--spider Only check URL existence: $? is 0 if exists
-c Continue retrieval of aborted transfer
-q Quiet
-P DIR Save to DIR (default .)
-S Show server response
-O FILE Save to FILE ('-' for stdout)
-o FILE Log messages to FILE
-U STR Use STR for User-Agent header
-Y on/off Use proxy

which
which [COMMAND]...
Locate a COMMAND

whoami
whoami
Print the user name associated with the current effective user id

Page 25
 docs/[Link]
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 Input is separated by NULs
-a FILE Read from FILE instead of stdin
-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 [OPTIONS] [FILE]
Hex dump FILE (or stdin)
-g N Bytes per group
-c N Bytes per line
-p Show only hex bytes, assumes -c30
-l LENGTH Show only first LENGTH bytes
-s OFFSET Skip OFFSET bytes

xz
xz -d [-cfk] [FILE]...
Decompress FILE (or stdin)
-d Decompress
-c Write to stdout
-f Force
-k Keep input files

xzcat
xzcat [FILE]...
Decompress to stdout

yes
yes [STRING]
Repeatedly output a line with STRING, or 'y'

zcat
zcat [FILE]...
Decompress to stdout

Page 26
 docs/[Link]
LIBC NSS
GNU Libc (glibc) uses the Name Service Switch (NSS) to configure the behavior of the C library for
the local environment, and to configure how it reads system data, such as passwords and group
information. This is implemented using an /etc/[Link] 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 installing any of the NSS configuration files and libraries.

When used with glibc, the BusyBox 'networking' applets will similarly require that you install at least
some of the glibc NSS stuff (in particular, /etc/[Link], /lib/libnss_dns*, /lib/libnss_files*, and
/lib/libresolv*).

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 <[Link]@[Link]>

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 <[Link]@[Link]> run-parts

Erik Andersen <andersen@[Link]>

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 <[Link]@[Link]>

rpm2cpio, unzip, get_header_cpio, read_gz interface, rpm

Jeff Angielski <jeff@[Link]>

ftpput, ftpget

Edward Betts <edward@[Link]>

expr, hostid, logname, whoami

John Beppu <beppu@[Link]>

du, nslookup, sort

Brian Candler <[Link]@[Link]>

tiny-ls(ls)

Randolph Chung <tausq@[Link]>

fbset, ping, hostname

Page 27
 docs/[Link]
Dave Cinege <dcinege@[Link]>

more(v2), makedevs, dutmp, modularization, auto links file,

various fixes, Linux Router Project maintenance

Jordan Crouse <jordan@[Link]>

ipcalc

Magnus Damm <damm@[Link]>

tftp client insmod powerpc support

Larry Doolittle <ldoolitt@[Link]>

pristine source directory compilation, lots of patches and fixes.

Glenn Engel <glenne@[Link]>

httpd

Gennady Feldman <gfeldman@[Link]>

Sysklogd (single threaded syslogd, IPC Circular buffer support,

logread), various fixes.

Karl M. Hegbloom <karlheg@[Link]>

cp_mv.c, the test suite, various fixes to utility.c, &c.

Daniel Jacobowitz <dan@[Link]>

mktemp.c

Matt Kraai <kraai@[Link]>

documentation, bugfixes, test suite

Stephan Linz <linz@[Link]>

ipcalc, Red Hat equivalence

John Lombardo <john@[Link]>

tr

Glenn McGrath <bug1@[Link]>

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@[Link]>

cat, head, mkfifo, mknod, rmdir, sleep, tee, tty, uniq, usleep, wc,
yes,
mesg, vconfig, make_directory, parse_mode, dirname, mode_string,

Page 28
 docs/[Link]
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@[Link]>

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@[Link]>

Original author of BusyBox in 1995, 1996. Some of his code can

still be found hiding here and there...

Tim Riker <Tim@[Link]>

bug fixes, member of fan club

Kent Robotti <robotti@[Link]>

reset, tons and tons of bug reports and patches.

Chip Rosenthal <chip@[Link]>, <crosenth@[Link]>

wget - Contributed by permission of Covad Communications

Pavel Roskin <proski@[Link]>

Lots of bugs fixes and patches.

Gyepi Sam <gyepi@[Link]>

Remote logging feature for syslogd

Linus Torvalds <torvalds@[Link]>

mkswap, [Link], [Link]

Mark Whitley <markw@[Link]>

grep, sed, cut, xargs(previous),

style-guide, new-applet-HOWTO, bug fixes, etc.

Charles P. Wright <cpwright@[Link]>

gzip, mini-netcat(nc)

Enrique Zanardi <ezanardi@[Link]>

Page 29
 docs/[Link]
tarcat (since removed), loadkmap, various fixes, Debian maintenance

Tito Ragusa <farmatito@[Link]>

devfsd and size optimizations in strings, openvt and deallocvt.

Paul Fox <pgf@[Link]>

vi editing mode for ash, various other patches/fixes

Roberto A. Foglietta <me@[Link]>

port: dnsd

Bernhard Reutner-Fischer <[Link]@[Link]>

misc

Mike Frysinger <vapier@[Link]>

initial e2fsprogs, printenv, setarch, sum, misc

Jie Zhang <[Link]@[Link]>

fixed two bugs in msh and hush (exitcode of killed processes)

Page 30