SHRED(1)			  User Commands				SHRED(1)

NAME
     shred - overwrite a file to hide its contents, and optionally delete it

SYNOPSIS
     shred [OPTION]... FILE...

DESCRIPTION
     Overwrite	the specified FILE(s) repeatedly, in order to make it harder for
     even very expensive hardware probing to recover the data.

     If FILE is -, shred standard output.

     Mandatory arguments to long options are mandatory for short options too.

     -f, --force
	    change permissions to allow writing if necessary

     -n, --iterations=N
	    overwrite N times instead of the default (3)

     --random-source=FILE
	    get random bytes from FILE

     -s, --size=N
	    shred this many bytes (suffixes like K, M, G accepted)

     -u	    deallocate and remove file after overwriting

     --remove[=HOW]
	    like -u but give control on HOW to delete;	See below

     -v, --verbose
	    show details of data and metadata operations performed

     -x, --exact
	    do not round file sizes up to the next full block; this is	the  de-
	    fault for non-regular files

     -z, --zero
	    add a final overwrite with zeros to hide shredding

     --help
	    display this help and exit

     --version
	    output version information and exit

     Delete FILE(s) if --remove (-u) is specified.  The default is not to remove
     the  files	 because  it is common to operate on device files like /dev/hda,
     and those files usually should not be removed.  The optional HOW  parameter
     indicates	how  to remove a directory entry: 'unlink' => use a standard un-
     link call.	 'wipe' => also first obfuscate bytes in the  name.   'wipesync'
     =>	 also  sync  each  obfuscated  byte  to the device.  The default mode is
     'wipesync', but note it can be expensive.

     CAUTION: shred assumes the file  system  and  hardware  overwrite	data  in
     place.   Although	this is common, many platforms operate otherwise.  Also,
     backups and mirrors may contain unremovable copies that will let a shredded
     file be recovered later.  See the GNU coreutils manual for details.

AUTHOR
     Written by Colin Plumb.

REPORTING BUGS
     Report bugs to: bug-coreutils@gnu.org
     GNU coreutils home page: <https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/>
     General help using GNU software: <https://www.gnu.org/gethelp/>
     Report any translation bugs to <https://translationproject.org/team/>

COPYRIGHT
     Copyright (C) 2026 Free Software Foundation, Inc.	License GPLv3+: GNU  GPL
     version 3 or later <https://gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html>.
     This  is  free software: you are free to change and redistribute it.  There
     is NO WARRANTY, to the extent permitted by law.

SEE ALSO
     Full documentation <https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/shred>
     or available locally via: info '(coreutils) shred invocation'

GNU coreutils 9.11		   April 2026				SHRED(1)