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blkid – View the file system type, LABEL, UUID and other information of the block device

The blkid command is used to view the file system type, LABEL, UUID, and other information of the block device. It is a very useful command for Linux system administrators to identify the block devices and their attributes.

Overview

The blkid command is used to display the attributes of block devices, such as the file system type, UUID, and LABEL. The command is very easy to use and can be executed with the following syntax:

blkid [options] [device...]

To view the information of all the block devices, simply execute the command without any options or arguments:

blkid

The output of the command will display the attributes of all the block devices, such as the device name, file system type, UUID, and LABEL.

To view the information of a specific block device, specify the device name as an argument:

blkid /dev/sda1

This will display the attributes of the block device /dev/sda1.

Options

The blkid command has several options available to customize its behavior. The following table lists the available options:

Option Description
-c Use the specified cache file instead of the default cache file
-p Print the output in a parsable format
-s Specify the attribute to display (e.g. -s TYPE)
-t Specify the device type (e.g. -t LABEL)
-o Specify the output format (e.g. -o export)
-h Display help information

Troubleshooting Tips

If you are having trouble viewing the attributes of a block device, make sure that the device is mounted and that you have the necessary permissions to access it. If the device is not mounted, you can use the mount command to mount it. If you do not have the necessary permissions, you can use the sudo command to run the blkid command with administrative privileges.

Notes

  • The blkid command uses a cache file to store the attributes of block devices. By default, the cache file is located at /run/blkid/blkid.tab. You can use the -c option to specify a different cache file.
  • The blkid command can be used in scripts to automate tasks that require the attributes of block devices.
  • The blkid command can be used in conjunction with other commands, such as lsblk and fdisk, to obtain a complete picture of the block devices on a system.

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