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NAME | SYNOPSIS | DESCRIPTION | COMMAND SYNTAX | COMMANDS | STANDALONE TOOLS | EXIT STATUS | AVAILABILITY | SEE ALSO | COLOPHON |
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BTRFS(8) Btrfs Manual BTRFS(8)
btrfs - a toolbox to manage btrfs filesystems
btrfs <command> [<args>]
The btrfs utility is a toolbox for managing btrfs filesystems.
There are command groups to work with subvolumes, devices, for
whole filesystem or other specific actions. See section COMMANDS.
There are also standalone tools for some tasks like btrfs-convert
or btrfstune that were separate historically and/or haven’t been
merged to the main utility. See section STANDALONE TOOLS for more
details.
For other topics (mount options, etc) please refer to the separate
manual page btrfs(5).
Any command name can be shortened so long as the shortened form is
unambiguous, however, it is recommended to use full command names
in scripts. All command groups have their manual page named
btrfs-<group>.
For example: it is possible to run btrfs sub snaps instead of
btrfs subvolume snapshot. But btrfs file s is not allowed, because
file s may be interpreted both as filesystem show and as
filesystem sync.
If the command name is ambiguous, the list of conflicting options
is printed.
For an overview of a given command use btrfs command --help or
btrfs [command...] --help --full to print all available options.
balance
Balance btrfs filesystem chunks across single or several
devices.
See btrfs-balance(8) for details.
check
Do off-line check on a btrfs filesystem.
See btrfs-check(8) for details.
device
Manage devices managed by btrfs, including add/delete/scan and
so on.
See btrfs-device(8) for details.
filesystem
Manage a btrfs filesystem, including label setting/sync and so
on.
See btrfs-filesystem(8) for details.
inspect-internal
Debug tools for developers/hackers.
See btrfs-inspect-internal(8) for details.
property
Get/set a property from/to a btrfs object.
See btrfs-property(8) for details.
qgroup
Manage quota group(qgroup) for btrfs filesystem.
See btrfs-qgroup(8) for details.
quota
Manage quota on btrfs filesystem like enabling/rescan and etc.
See btrfs-quota(8) and btrfs-qgroup(8) for details.
receive
Receive subvolume data from stdin/file for restore and etc.
See btrfs-receive(8) for details.
replace
Replace btrfs devices.
See btrfs-replace(8) for details.
rescue
Try to rescue damaged btrfs filesystem.
See btrfs-rescue(8) for details.
restore
Try to restore files from a damaged btrfs filesystem.
See btrfs-restore(8) for details.
scrub
Scrub a btrfs filesystem.
See btrfs-scrub(8) for details.
send
Send subvolume data to stdout/file for backup and etc.
See btrfs-send(8) for details.
subvolume
Create/delete/list/manage btrfs subvolume.
See btrfs-subvolume(8) for details.
New functionality could be provided using a standalone tool. If
the functionality proves to be useful, then the standalone tool is
declared obsolete and its functionality is copied to the main
tool. Obsolete tools are removed after a long (years) depreciation
period.
Tools that are still in active use without an equivalent in btrfs:
btrfs-convert
in-place conversion from ext2/3/4 filesystems to btrfs
btrfstune
tweak some filesystem properties on a unmounted filesystem
btrfs-select-super
rescue tool to overwrite primary superblock from a spare copy
btrfs-find-root
rescue helper to find tree roots in a filesystem
Deprecated and obsolete tools:
btrfs-debug-tree
moved to btrfs inspect-internal dump-tree. Removed from source
distribution.
btrfs-show-super
moved to btrfs inspect-internal dump-super, standalone
removed.
btrfs-zero-log
moved to btrfs rescue zero-log, standalone removed.
For space-constrained environments, it’s possible to build a
single binary with functionality of several standalone tools. This
is following the concept of busybox where the file name selects
the functionality. This works for symlinks or hardlinks. The full
list can be obtained by btrfs help --box.
btrfs returns a zero exit status if it succeeds. Non zero is
returned in case of failure.
btrfs is part of btrfs-progs. Please refer to the btrfs wiki
http://btrfs.wiki.kernel.org for further details.
btrfs(5), btrfs-balance(8), btrfs-check(8), btrfs-convert(8),
btrfs-device(8), btrfs-filesystem(8), btrfs-inspect-internal(8),
btrfs-property(8), btrfs-qgroup(8), btrfs-quota(8),
btrfs-receive(8), btrfs-replace(8), btrfs-rescue(8),
btrfs-restore(8), btrfs-scrub(8), btrfs-send(8),
btrfs-subvolume(8), btrfstune(8), mkfs.btrfs(8)
This page is part of the btrfs-progs (btrfs filesystem tools)
project. Information about the project can be found at
⟨https://btrfs.wiki.kernel.org/index.php/Btrfs_source_repositories⟩.
If you have a bug report for this manual page, see
⟨https://btrfs.wiki.kernel.org/index.php/Problem_FAQ#How_do_I_report_bugs_and_issues.3F⟩.
This page was obtained from the project's upstream Git repository
⟨git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/kdave/btrfs-progs.git⟩
on 2025-08-11. (At that time, the date of the most recent commit
that was found in the repository was 2025-06-23.) If you discover
any rendering problems in this HTML version of the page, or you
believe there is a better or more up-to-date source for the page,
or you have corrections or improvements to the information in this
COLOPHON (which is not part of the original manual page), send a
mail to man-pages@man7.org
Btrfs v5.16.1 02/06/2022 BTRFS(8)
Pages that refer to this page: importctl(1), systemd-nspawn(1), org.freedesktop.import1(5), repart.d(5), fsck.btrfs(8), mkfs.btrfs(8), systemd-gpt-auto-generator(8)
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HTML rendering created 2025-09-06 by Michael Kerrisk, author of The Linux Programming Interface. For details of in-depth Linux/UNIX system programming training courses that I teach, look here. Hosting by jambit GmbH. |
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