Name

shred - destroy a file with its content on disk

Synopsis

$ shred [options...] [path...]

Description

shred destroys files' content on disk.

Options

• --help: Display this message
• -v, --verbose: Show progress during the shred operation
• -n, --iterations: Iterations count of shred operation
• -u: Deallocate and remove file after overwriting
• --random-source: Get random bytes from a file other than /dev/random

Arguments

• path: Files to shred

Examples

# shred a file and remove it aftewards
$ shred -u /tmp/FILE_TO_BE_SHREDDED_AND_REMOVED
# shred a file with 10 iterations
$ shred --iterations 10 /tmp/FILE_TO_BE_SHREDDED
# shred a file with verbose progress and 10 iterations
$ shred -v --iterations 10 /tmp/FILE_TO_BE_SHREDDED

See also

• rm(1) to delete a file or directory without overwriting the content first