# man > GETFATTR(1)

> **TLDR:** Display file names and extended attributes.
>
- Retrieve all extended attributes of a file and display them in a detailed format:
  `getfattr {{-d|--dump}} {{path/to/file}}`
- Get a specific attribute of a file:
  `getfattr {{-n|--name}} user.{{attribute_name}} {{path/to/file}}`

*Source: tldr-pages*

---

[_GETFATTR_(1)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/GETFATTR/1/markdown)                                File Utilities                                [_GETFATTR_(1)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/GETFATTR/1/markdown)

## NAME
       getfattr - get extended attributes of filesystem objects

## SYNOPSIS
       **getfattr **[**-hRLP**] **-n name **[**-e en**] **pathname**...
       **getfattr **[**-hRLP**] **-d **[**-e en**] [**-m pattern**] **pathname**...

## DESCRIPTION
       For  each file, **getfattr **displays the file name, and the set of extended attribute names (and
       optionally values) which are associated with that file. Per default only  attributes  in  the
       user namespace are displayed, see **-m**.

       The output format of **getfattr -d **is as follows:
               1:  # file: somedir/
               2:  user.name0="value0"
               3:  user.name1="value1"
               4:  user.name2="value2"
               5:  ...

       Line  1  identifies  the file name for which the following lines are being reported.  The re‐
       maining lines (lines 2 to 4 above) show the _name_ and _value_ pairs associated with  the  speci‐
       fied file.

## OPTIONS
### -n _ --name
           Dump the value of the named extended attribute.

### -d --dump
           Dump the values of all matched extended attributes.

### -e _ --encoding
           Encode values after retrieving them.  Valid values of _en_ are "text", "hex", and "base64".
           Values  encoded  as text strings are enclosed in double quotes ("), while strings encoded
           as hexadecimal and base64 are prefixed with 0x and 0s, respectively.

### -h --no-dereference
           Do not dereference symlinks. Instead of the file a symlink refers to, the symlink  itself
           is examined.  Unless doing a logical (-L) traversal, do not traverse symlinks to directo‐
           ries.

### -m _ --match
           Only  include attributes with names matching the regular expression _pattern_.  The default
           value for _pattern_ is "^user\\.", which includes all the attributes in the user namespace.
           Specify "-" for including all attributes.  Refer to [**xattr**(7)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/xattr/7/markdown) for a more detailed  discus‐
           sion of namespaces.

### --absolute-names
           Do  not  strip leading slash characters ('/').  The default behaviour is to strip leading
           slash characters.

### --only-values
           Dump out the raw extended attribute value(s) without encoding them.

### -R --recursive
           List the attributes of all files and directories recursively.

### -L --logical
           Logical walk, follow symbolic links to directories.  The default behaviour is  to  follow
           symbolic  link arguments unless --no-dereference is given, and to skip symbolic links en‐
           countered in subdirectories.  Only effective in combination with -R.

### -P --physical
           Physical walk, do not follow symbolic links to directories.   This  also  skips  symbolic
           link arguments.  Only effective in combination with -R.

### --version
           Print the version of **getfattr **and exit.

### --help
           Print help explaining the command line options.

       **--  **End  of  command  line  options.  All remaining parameters are interpreted as file names,
           even if they start with a dash character.

## AUTHOR
       Andreas Gruenbacher,  <<_andreas.gruenbacher@gmail.com_>>  and  the  SGI  XFS  development  team,
       <<_linux-xfs@oss.sgi.com_>>.

       Please send your bug reports or comments to <_<https://savannah.nongnu.org/bugs/?group=attr_>> or
       <<_acl-devel@nongnu.org_>>.

## SEE ALSO
       [**setfattr**(1)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/setfattr/1/markdown), [**xattr**(7)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/xattr/7/markdown)

Dec 2001                                 Extended Attributes                             [_GETFATTR_(1)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/GETFATTR/1/markdown)