www.LinuxHowtos.org
SYNC
Section: User Commands (1)Updated: February 2026
Index Return to Main Contents
NAME
sync - Synchronize cached writes to persistent storageSYNOPSIS
sync [,OPTION/] [,FILE/]...DESCRIPTION
Synchronize cached writes to persistent storage
If one or more files are specified, sync only them, or their containing file systems.
- X'tty: link https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/manual/coreutils.html#syn-d'-d, --dataX'tty: link'
- sync only file data, no unneeded metadata
- X'tty: link https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/manual/coreutils.html#syn-f'-f, --file-systemX'tty: link'
- sync the file systems that contain the files
- X'tty: link https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/sync#syn-help'--helpX'tty: link'
- display this help and exit
- X'tty: link https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/sync#syn-version'--versionX'tty: link'
- output version information and exit
BUGS
Persistence guarantees vary per system. See the system calls below for more details.AUTHOR
Written by Jim Meyering and Giuseppe Scrivano.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
fdatasync(2), fsync(2), sync(2), syncfs(2)
Full documentation <https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/sync>
or available locally via: info aq(coreutils) sync 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.