TRUNCATE(1)

NAME
truncate - shrink or extend the size of a file to the specified size

SYNOPSIS
truncate OPTION... FILE...

DESCRIPTION

Shrink or extend the size of each FILE to the specified size

A FILE argument that does not exist is created.

If a FILE is larger than the specified size, the extra data is lost. If a FILE is shorter, it is extended and the extended part (hole) reads as zero bytes.

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

-c, --no-create
    do not create any files

-o, --io-blocks
    Treat SIZE as number of IO blocks instead of bytes

-r, --reference=FILE
    use this FILE's size

-s, --size=SIZE
    use this SIZE

--help
    display this help and exit

--version
    output version information and exit

SIZE may be (or may be an integer optionally followed by) one of following: KB 1000, K 1024, MB 1000*1000, M 1024*1024, and so on for G, T, P, E, Z, Y.

SIZE may also be prefixed by one of the following modifying characters: `+' extend by, `-' reduce by, `<' at most, `>' at least, `/' round down to multiple of, `%' round up to multiple of.

Note that the -r and -s options are mutually exclusive.

AUTHOR
Written by Padraig Brady.

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

COPYRIGHT
Copyright © 2010 Free Software Foundation, Inc. License GPLv3+: GNU GPL version 3 or later <http://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
dd(1), truncate(2), ftruncate(2)

The full documentation for truncate is maintained as a Texinfo manual. If the info and truncate programs are properly installed at your site, the command

    info coreutils 'truncate invocation'

should give you access to the complete manual.