SHUF

Section: User Commands (1)
Updated: February 2026
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NAME

shuf - generate random permutations  

SYNOPSIS

shuf [,OPTION/]... [,FILE/]
shuf ,-e /[,OPTION/]... [,ARG/]...
shuf ,-i L-HI /[,OPTION/]...  

DESCRIPTION

Write a random permutation of the input lines to standard output.

With no FILE, or when FILE is -, read standard input.

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

X'tty: link https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/manual/coreutils.html#shu-e'-e, --echoX'tty: link'

treat each ARG as an input line

X'tty: link https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/manual/coreutils.html#shu-i'-i, --input-range=,LO-HIX'tty: link'/

treat each number LO through HI as an input line

X'tty: link https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/manual/coreutils.html#shu-n'-n, --head-count=,COUNTX'tty: link'/

output at most COUNT lines

X'tty: link https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/manual/coreutils.html#shu-o'-o, --output=,FILEX'tty: link'/

write result to FILE instead of standard output

X'tty: link https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/manual/coreutils.html#shu-rando-source'--random-source=FILEX'tty: link'

get random bytes from FILE

X'tty: link https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/manual/coreutils.html#shu-r'-r, --repeatX'tty: link'

output lines can be repeated

X'tty: link https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/manual/coreutils.html#shu-z'-z, --zero-terminatedX'tty: link'

line delimiter is NUL, not newline

X'tty: link https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/shuf#shu-help'--helpX'tty: link'

display this help and exit

X'tty: link https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/shuf#shu-version'--versionX'tty: link'

output version information and exit

 

AUTHOR

Written by Paul Eggert.  

REPORTING BUGS

Report bugs to: bug-coreutils@gnu.org

Report Gentoo bugs to: https://bugs.gentoo.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/>  

SEE ALSO

Full documentation <https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/shuf>
or available locally via: info aq(coreutils) shuf invocationaq

Packaged by Gentoo (9.10 (p0))
Copyright © 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.

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Index

NAME

SYNOPSIS

DESCRIPTION

AUTHOR

REPORTING BUGS

SEE ALSO