NAME

       cfdisk - display or manipulate a disk partition table

SYNOPSIS

       cfdisk [options] [device]

DESCRIPTION

       cfdisk is a curses-based program for partitioning any block device. The default device is
       /dev/sda.

       Note that cfdisk provides basic partitioning functionality with a user-friendly interface.
       If you need advanced features, use fdisk(8) instead.

       All disk label changes will remain in memory only, and the disk will be unmodified until
       you decide to write your changes. Be careful before using the write command.

       Since version 2.25 cfdisk supports MBR (DOS), GPT, SUN and SGI disk labels, but no longer
       provides any functionality for CHS (Cylinder-Head-Sector) addressing. CHS has never been
       important for Linux, and this addressing concept does not make any sense for new devices.

       Since version 2.25 cfdisk also does not provide a 'print' command any more. This
       functionality is provided by the utilities partx(8) and lsblk(8) in a very comfortable and
       rich way.

       If you want to remove an old partition table from a device, use wipefs(8).

OPTIONS

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

       -V, --version
           Print version and exit.

       -L, --color[=when]
           Colorize the output. The optional argument when can be auto, never or always. If the
           when argument is omitted, it defaults to auto. The colors can be disabled, for the
           current built-in default see --help output. See also the COLORS section.

       --lock[=mode]
           Use exclusive BSD lock for device or file it operates. The optional argument mode can
           be yes, no (or 1 and 0) or nonblock. If the mode argument is omitted, it defaults to
           yes. This option overwrites environment variable $LOCK_BLOCK_DEVICE. The default is
           not to use any lock at all, but it’s recommended to avoid collisions with
           systemd-udevd(8) or other tools.

       -r, --read-only
           Forced open in read-only mode.

       -z, --zero
           Start with an in-memory zeroed partition table. This option does not zero the
           partition table on the disk; rather, it simply starts the program without reading the
           existing partition table. This option allows you to create a new partition table from
           scratch or from an sfdisk(8)-compatible script.

COMMANDS

       The commands for cfdisk can be entered by pressing the corresponding key (pressing Enter
       after the command is not necessary). Here is a list of the available commands:

       b
           Toggle the bootable flag of the current partition. This allows you to select which
           primary partition is bootable on the drive. This command may not be available for all
           partition label types.

       d
           Delete the current partition. This will convert the current partition into free space
           and merge it with any free space immediately surrounding the current partition. A
           partition already marked as free space or marked as unusable cannot be deleted.

       h
           Show the help screen.

       n
           Create a new partition from free space. cfdisk then prompts you for the size of the
           partition you want to create. The default size is equal to the entire available free
           space at the current position.

           The size may be followed by a multiplicative suffix: 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").

       q
           Quit the program. This will exit the program without writing any data to the disk.

       r
           Reduce or enlarge the current partition. cfdisk then prompts you for the new size of
           the partition. The default size is the current size. A partition marked as free space
           or marked as unusable cannot be resized.

           Note that reducing the size of a partition might destroy data on that partition.

       s
           Sort the partitions in ascending start-sector order. When deleting and adding
           partitions, it is likely that the numbering of the partitions will no longer match
           their order on the disk. This command restores that match.

       t
           Change the partition type. By default, new partitions are created as Linux partitions.

       u
           Dump the current in-memory partition table to an sfdisk(8)-compatible script file.

           The script files are compatible between cfdisk, fdisk(8) sfdisk(8) and other libfdisk
           applications. For more details see sfdisk(8).

           It is also possible to load an sfdisk-script into cfdisk if there is no partition
           table on the device or when you start cfdisk with the --zero command-line option.

       W
           Write the partition table to disk (you must enter an uppercase W). Since this might
           destroy data on the disk, you must either confirm or deny the write by entering `yes'
           or `no'. If you enter `yes', cfdisk will write the partition table to disk and then
           tell the kernel to re-read the partition table from the disk.

           The re-reading of the partition table does not always work. In such a case you need to
           inform the kernel about any new partitions by using partprobe(8) or partx(8), or by
           rebooting the system.

       x
           Toggle extra information about a partition.

       Up Arrow, Down Arrow
           Move the cursor to the previous or next partition. If there are more partitions than
           can be displayed on a screen, you can display the next (previous) set of partitions by
           moving down (up) at the last (first) partition displayed on the screen.

       Left Arrow, Right Arrow
           Select the preceding or the next menu item. Hitting Enter will execute the currently
           selected item.

       All commands can be entered with either uppercase or lowercase letters (except for Write).
       When in a submenu or at a prompt, you can hit the Esc key to return to the main menu.

COLORS

       The output colorization is implemented by terminal-colors.d(5) functionality. Implicit
       coloring can be disabled by an empty file

          /etc/terminal-colors.d/cfdisk.disable

       for the cfdisk command or for all tools by

          /etc/terminal-colors.d/disable

       The user-specific $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/terminal-colors.d or $HOME/.config/terminal-colors.d
       overrides the global setting.

       Note that the output colorization may be enabled by default, and in this case
       terminal-colors.d directories do not have to exist yet.

       cfdisk does not support color customization with a color-scheme file.

ENVIRONMENT

       CFDISK_DEBUG=all
           enables cfdisk debug output.

       LIBFDISK_DEBUG=all
           enables libfdisk debug output.

       LIBBLKID_DEBUG=all
           enables libblkid debug output.

       LIBSMARTCOLS_DEBUG=all
           enables libsmartcols debug output.

       LIBSMARTCOLS_DEBUG_PADDING=on
           use visible padding characters. Requires enabled LIBSMARTCOLS_DEBUG.

       LOCK_BLOCK_DEVICE=<mode>
           use exclusive BSD lock. The mode is "1" or "0". See --lock for more details.

AUTHORS

       Karel Zak <kzak@redhat.com>

       The current cfdisk implementation is based on the original cfdisk from Kevin E. Martin
       <martin@cs.unc.edu>.

SEE ALSO

       fdisk(8), parted(8), partprobe(8), partx(8), sfdisk(8)

REPORTING BUGS

       For bug reports, use the issue tracker at https://github.com/util-linux/util-linux/issues.

AVAILABILITY

       The cfdisk command is part of the util-linux package which can be downloaded from Linux
       Kernel Archive <https://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/utils/util-linux/>.