wipefs(8) - phpMan

WIPEFS(8) System Administration WIPEFS(8)

NAME
wipefs - wipe a signature from a device

SYNOPSIS
wipefs [-ahnpqtV] [-o offset] device...

DESCRIPTION
wipefs can erase filesystem, raid or partition-table signatures (magic strings) from the
specified device to make the signatures invisible for libblkid.

wipefs does not erase the filesystem itself nor any other data from the device. When used
without options -a or -o, it lists all visible filesystems and the offsets of their basic
signatures.

wipefs calls BLKRRPART ioctl when erase partition table to inform kernel about the change.

Note that some filesystems or some partition tables store more magic strings on the
devices. The wipefs command lists only the first offset where a magic string has been
detected. The device is not scanned for additional magic strings for the same filesystem.
It is possible that after wipefs -o offset the same filesystem or partition table will
still be visible by another magic string on another offset.

When used with option -a, all magic strings that are visible for libblkid are erased.

Note that by default wipefs does not erase nested partition tables on non-whole disk
devices. The option --force is required.

OPTIONS
-a, --all
Erase all available signatures. The set of erased signatures can be restricted
with the -t list option.

-f, --force
Force erasure, even if the filesystem is mounted. This is required in order to
erase the partition table on a block device.

-h, --help
Print help and exit.

-n, --no-act
Causes everything to be done except for the write() call.

-o, --offset offset
Specify the location (in bytes) of the signature which should be erased from the
device. The offset number may include a "0x" prefix; then the number will be
interpreted as a hex value. It is possible to specify multiple -o options.

The offset argument 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.

-p, --parsable
Print out in parsable instead of printable format. Encode all potentially unsafe
characters of a string to the corresponding hex value prefixed by '\x'.

-q, --quiet
Suppress output messages after successful signature wipe.

-t, --types list
Limit the set of printed or erased signatures. More than one type may be specified
in a comma-separated list. The list or individual types can be prefixed with 'no'
to specify the types on which no action should be taken. For more details see
mount(8).

-V, --version
Output version information and exit.

AUTHOR
Karel Zak <kzak AT redhat.com>

ENVIRONMENT
Setting LIBBLKID_DEBUG=0xffff enables debug output.