{ "mode": "man", "parameter": "mkfs", "section": "8", "url": "https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/mkfs/8/json", "generated": "2026-06-02T19:34:42Z", "synopsis": "mkfs [options] [-t type] [fs-options] device [size]", "sections": { "NAME": { "content": "mkfs - build a Linux filesystem\n", "subsections": [] }, "SYNOPSIS": { "content": "mkfs [options] [-t type] [fs-options] device [size]\n", "subsections": [] }, "DESCRIPTION": { "content": "", "subsections": [ { "name": "This mkfs frontend is deprecated in favour of filesystem specific mkfs. utils.", "content": "mkfs is used to build a Linux filesystem on a device, usually a hard disk partition. The\ndevice argument is either the device name (e.g., /dev/hda1, /dev/sdb2), or a regular file\nthat shall contain the filesystem. The size argument is the number of blocks to be used for\nthe filesystem.\n\nThe exit status returned by mkfs is 0 on success and 1 on failure.\n\nIn actuality, mkfs is simply a front-end for the various filesystem builders (mkfs.fstype)\navailable under Linux. The filesystem-specific builder is searched for via your PATH\nenvironment setting only. Please see the filesystem-specific builder manual pages for further\ndetails.\n" } ] }, "OPTIONS": { "content": "", "subsections": [ { "name": "-t --type", "content": "Specify the type of filesystem to be built. If not specified, the default filesystem type\n(currently ext2) is used.\n\nfs-options\nFilesystem-specific options to be passed to the real filesystem builder.\n", "flag": "-t", "long": "--type" }, { "name": "-V --verbose", "content": "Produce verbose output, including all filesystem-specific commands that are executed.\nSpecifying this option more than once inhibits execution of any filesystem-specific\ncommands. This is really only useful for testing.\n", "flag": "-V", "long": "--verbose" }, { "name": "-V --version", "content": "Display version information and exit. (Option -V will display version information only\nwhen it is the only parameter, otherwise it will work as --verbose.)\n", "flag": "-V", "long": "--version" }, { "name": "-h --help", "content": "Display help text and exit.\n", "flag": "-h", "long": "--help" } ] }, "BUGS": { "content": "All generic options must precede and not be combined with filesystem-specific options. Some\nfilesystem-specific programs do not automatically detect the device size and require the size\nparameter to be specified.\n", "subsections": [] }, "AUTHORS": { "content": "David Engel , Fred N. van Kempen , Ron Sommeling\n.\n\nThe manual page was shamelessly adapted from Remy Card’s version for the ext2 filesystem.\n", "subsections": [] }, "SEE ALSO": { "content": "fs(5), badblocks(8), fsck(8), mkdosfs(8), mke2fs(8), mkfs.bfs(8), mkfs.ext2(8), mkfs.ext3(8),\nmkfs.ext4(8), mkfs.minix(8), mkfs.msdos(8), mkfs.vfat(8), mkfs.xfs(8)\n", "subsections": [] }, "REPORTING BUGS": { "content": "For bug reports, use the issue tracker at https://github.com/karelzak/util-linux/issues.\n", "subsections": [] }, "AVAILABILITY": { "content": "The mkfs command is part of the util-linux package which can be downloaded from Linux Kernel\nArchive .\n\n\n\nutil-linux 2.37.2 2021-06-02 MKFS(8)", "subsections": [] } }, "summary": "mkfs - build a Linux filesystem", "flags": [ { "flag": "-t", "long": "--type", "arg": null, "description": "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." }, { "flag": "-V", "long": "--verbose", "arg": null, "description": "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." }, { "flag": "-V", "long": "--version", "arg": null, "description": "Display version information and exit. (Option -V will display version information only when it is the only parameter, otherwise it will work as --verbose.)" }, { "flag": "-h", "long": "--help", "arg": null, "description": "Display help text and exit." } ], "examples": [], "see_also": [ { "name": "fs", "section": "5", "url": "https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/fs/5/json" }, { "name": "badblocks", "section": "8", "url": "https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/badblocks/8/json" }, { "name": "fsck", "section": "8", "url": "https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/fsck/8/json" }, { "name": "mkdosfs", "section": "8", "url": "https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/mkdosfs/8/json" }, { "name": "mke2fs", "section": "8", "url": "https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/mke2fs/8/json" }, { "name": "mkfs.bfs", "section": "8", "url": "https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/mkfs.bfs/8/json" }, { "name": "mkfs.ext2", "section": "8", "url": "https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/mkfs.ext2/8/json" }, { "name": "mkfs.ext3", "section": "8", "url": "https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/mkfs.ext3/8/json" }, { "name": "mkfs.ext4", "section": "8", "url": "https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/mkfs.ext4/8/json" }, { "name": "mkfs.minix", "section": "8", "url": "https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/mkfs.minix/8/json" }, { "name": "mkfs.msdos", "section": "8", "url": "https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/mkfs.msdos/8/json" }, { "name": "mkfs.vfat", "section": "8", "url": "https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/mkfs.vfat/8/json" }, { "name": "mkfs.xfs", "section": "8", "url": "https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/mkfs.xfs/8/json" } ], "tldr": { "source": "official", "description": "Build a Linux filesystem on a hard disk partition.", "examples": [ { "description": "Build a Linux ext2 filesystem on a partition", "command": "sudo mkfs {{/dev/sdXY}}" }, { "description": "Build a filesystem of a specified type", "command": "sudo mkfs {{-t|--type}} {{ext4}} {{/dev/sdXY}}" }, { "description": "Build a filesystem of a specified type and check for bad blocks", "command": "sudo mkfs -c {{-t|--type}} {{ntfs}} {{/dev/sdXY}}" } ] } }