CFDISK(8)                             System Administration                             CFDISK(8)



NAME
       cfdisk - display or manipulate a disk partition table

SYNOPSIS
       cfdisk [options] [device]

DESCRIPTION
       cfdisk  is  a  curses/slang-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.

       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 func‐
       tionality 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.

       -L, --color[=when]
              Colorize  the  output; enabled by default.  The optional argument when can be auto,
              never or always.  If the when argument is omitted, it defaults to auto.

       -V, --version
              Display version information and exit.

       -z, --zero
              Start with an in-memory zeroed partition table.  This option does not zero the par‐
              tition  table on the disk; rather, it simply starts the program without reading the
              existing partition table.


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  parti‐
              tion.   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 avail‐
              able 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.

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

       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 enter‐
              ing  `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.

       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 par‐
              titions by moving down (up) at the last (first) partition displayed on the screen.


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


COLORS
       Implicit  coloring  can  be  disabled  by  creating  the  empty  file   /etc/terminal-col‐
       ors.d/cfdisk.disable.

       See terminal-colors.d(5) for more details about colorization configuration.

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


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

AUTHOR
       Karel Zak <kzak AT redhat.com>

       The  current  cfdisk  implementation  is based on the original cfdisk from Kevin E. Martin
       (martin AT cs.edu).


AVAILABILITY
       The cfdisk command is part of the util-linux package and is available from  ftp://ftp.ker‐
       nel.org/pub/linux/utils/util-linux/.



util-linux                                  March 2014                                  CFDISK(8)