SHRED(1)                      User Commands                      SHRED(1)

NAME
       shred  -  overwrite  a  file  to hide its contents, and optionally
       delete it

SYNOPSIS
       shred [OPTION]... FILE...

DESCRIPTION
       Overwrite the specified FILE(s) repeatedly, in order  to  make  it
       harder  for  even  very  expensive hardware probing to recover the
       data.

       If FILE is -, shred standard output.

       Mandatory arguments  to  long  options  are  mandatory  for  short
       options too.

       -f, --force
              change permissions to allow writing if necessary

       -n, --iterations=N
              overwrite N times instead of the default (3)

       --random-source=FILE
              get random bytes from FILE

       -s, --size=N
              shred this many bytes (suffixes like K, M, G accepted)

       -u     deallocate and remove file after overwriting

       --remove[=HOW]
              like -u but give control on HOW to delete;  See below

       -v, --verbose
              show progress

       -x, --exact
              do not round file sizes up to the next full block;

              this is the default for non-regular files

       -z, --zero
              add a final overwrite with zeros to hide shredding

       --help display this help and exit

       --version
              output version information and exit

       Delete  FILE(s) if --remove (-u) is specified.  The default is not
       to remove the files because it is  common  to  operate  on  device
       files  like  /dev/hda,  and  those  files  usually  should  not be
       removed.  The optional HOW parameter indicates  how  to  remove  a
       directory  entry:  'unlink' => use a standard unlink call.  'wipe'
       => also first obfuscate bytes in the  name.   'wipesync'  =>  also
       sync   each   obfuscated  byte  to  disk.   The  default  mode  is
       'wipesync', but note it can be expensive.

       CAUTION: shred assumes the file system and hardware overwrite data
       in  place.  Although this is common, many platforms operate other‐
       wise.  Also, backups and mirrors may  contain  unremovable  copies
       that  will  let  a  shredded file be recovered later.  See the GNU
       coreutils manual for details.

AUTHOR
       Written by Colin Plumb.

REPORTING BUGS
       GNU  coreutils  online  help:  <https://www.gnu.org/software/core‐
       utils/>
       Report    any   translation   bugs   to   <https://translationpro‐
       ject.org/team/>

COPYRIGHT
       Copyright © 2020 Free Software Foundation, Inc.   License  GPLv3+:
       GNU GPL version 3 or later <https://gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html>.
       This is free software: you are free to change and redistribute it.
       There is NO WARRANTY, to the extent permitted by law.

SEE ALSO
       Full documentation <https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/shred>
       or available locally via: info '(coreutils) shred invocation'

GNU coreutils 8.32              April 2020                       SHRED(1)