# man > MKFS(8)

[_MKFS_(8)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/MKFS/8/markdown)                                 System Administration                                [_MKFS_(8)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/MKFS/8/markdown)

## NAME
       mkfs - build a Linux filesystem

## SYNOPSIS
       **mkfs **[options] [**-t _**type_] [_fs-options_] _device_ [_size_]

## DESCRIPTION
### This mkfs frontend is deprecated in favour of filesystem specific mkfs.<type> utils.

       **mkfs **is used to build a Linux filesystem on a device, usually a hard disk partition. The
       _device_ argument is either the device name (e.g., _/dev/hda1_, _/dev/sdb2_), or a regular file
       that shall contain the filesystem. The _size_ argument is the number of blocks to be used for
       the filesystem.

       The exit status returned by **mkfs **is 0 on success and 1 on failure.

       In actuality, **mkfs **is simply a front-end for the various filesystem builders (**mkfs._**fstype_)
       available under Linux. The filesystem-specific builder is searched for via your **PATH**
       environment setting only. Please see the filesystem-specific builder manual pages for further
       details.

## OPTIONS
### -t --type _
           Specify the _type_ of filesystem to be built. If not specified, the default filesystem type
           (currently ext2) is used.

       _fs-options_
           Filesystem-specific options to be passed to the real filesystem builder.

### -V --verbose
           Produce verbose output, including all filesystem-specific commands that are executed.
           Specifying this option more than once inhibits execution of any filesystem-specific
           commands. This is really only useful for testing.

### -h --help
           Display help text and exit.

### -V --version
           Print version and exit. (Option **-V **will display version information only when it is the
           only parameter, otherwise it will work as **--verbose**.)

## BUGS
       All generic options must precede and not be combined with filesystem-specific options. Some
       filesystem-specific programs do not automatically detect the device size and require the _size_
       parameter to be specified.

## AUTHORS
       [34mDavid Engel [0m<<david@ods.com>>, [34mFred N. van Kempen [0m<<waltje@uwalt.nl.mugnet.org>>, [34mRon Sommeling[0m
       <<sommel@sci.kun.nl>>.

       The manual page was shamelessly adapted from Remy Card’s version for the ext2 filesystem.

## SEE ALSO
       [**fs**(5)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/fs/5/markdown), [**badblocks**(8)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/badblocks/8/markdown), [**fsck**(8)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/fsck/8/markdown), [**mkdosfs**(8)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/mkdosfs/8/markdown), [**mke2fs**(8)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/mke2fs/8/markdown), [**mkfs.bfs**(8)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/mkfs.bfs/8/markdown), [**mkfs.ext2**(8)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/mkfs.ext2/8/markdown), [**mkfs.ext3**(8)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/mkfs.ext3/8/markdown),
       [**mkfs.ext4**(8)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/mkfs.ext4/8/markdown), [**mkfs.minix**(8)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/mkfs.minix/8/markdown), [**mkfs.msdos**(8)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/mkfs.msdos/8/markdown), [**mkfs.vfat**(8)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/mkfs.vfat/8/markdown), [**mkfs.xfs**(8)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/mkfs.xfs/8/markdown)

## REPORTING BUGS
       For bug reports, use the issue tracker at [34m<https://github.com/util-linux/util-linux/issues>[0m.

## AVAILABILITY
       The **mkfs **command is part of the util-linux package which can be downloaded from [34mLinux Kernel[0m
       [34mArchive [0m<<https://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/utils/util-linux/>>.

util-linux 2.39.3                            2023-10-23                                      [_MKFS_(8)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/MKFS/8/markdown)