fdupes.1

.TH FDUPES 1
.\" NAME should be all caps, SECTION should be 1-8, maybe w/ subsection
.\" other parms are allowed: see man(7), man(1)
.SH NAME
fdupes \- finds duplicate files in a given set of directories
.SH SYNOPSIS
.B fdupes
[
.I options
]
.I DIRECTORY
\|.\|.\|.

.SH "DESCRIPTION"
Searches the given path for duplicate files. Such files are found by
comparing file sizes and MD5 signatures, followed by a 
byte-by-byte comparison.

.SH OPTIONS
.TP
.B -r --recurse
for every directory given follow subdirectories encountered within
.TP
.B -R --recurse:
for each directory given after this option follow subdirectories
encountered within (note the ':' at the end of option; see the
Examples section below for further explanation)
.TP
.B -s --symlinks
follow symlinked directories
.TP
.B -H --hardlinks
normally, when two or more files point to the same disk area they are
treated as non-duplicates; this option will change this behavior
.TP
.B -G --minsize\fR=\fISIZE\fR
consider only files greater than or equal to SIZE
.TP
.B -L --maxsize=\fR=\fISIZE\fR
consider only files less than or equal to SIZE
.TP
.B -n --noempty
exclude zero-length files from consideration
.TP
.B -A --nohidden
exclude hidden files from consideration
.TP
.B -f --omitfirst
omit the first file in each set of matches
.TP
.B -1 --sameline
list each set of matches on a single line
.TP
.B -S --size
show size of duplicate files
.TP
.B  -t --time
show modification time of duplicate files
.TP
.B -m --summarize
summarize duplicate file information
.TP
.B -q --quiet
hide progress indicator
.TP
.B -d --delete
prompt user for files to preserve, deleting all others (see
.B CAVEATS
below)
.TP
.B -P --plain
with --delete, use line-based prompt (as with older versions of
fdupes) instead of screen-mode interface
.TP
.B -N --noprompt
when used together with \-\-delete, preserve the first file in each
set of duplicates and delete the others without prompting the user 
.TP
.B -I --immediate
delete duplicates as they are encountered, without
grouping into sets; implies --noprompt
.TP
.B -p --permissions
don't consider files with different owner/group or permission bits as duplicates
.TP
.B -o --order\fR=\fIWORD\fR
order files according to WORD:
time - sort by modification time, ctime - sort by status change time, name - sort by filename
.TP
.B -i --reverse
reverse order while sorting
.TP
.B -l --log\fR=\fILOGFILE\fR
log file deletion choices to LOGFILE
.TP
.B -v --version
display fdupes version
.TP
.B -h --help
displays help
.SH NOTES
Unless
.B -1
or
.B --sameline
is specified, duplicate files are listed
together in groups, each file displayed on a separate line. The
groups are then separated from each other by blank lines.

When
.B -1
or
.B --sameline
is specified, spaces and backslash characters  (\fB\e\fP) appearing
in a filename are preceded by a backslash character.

.SH EXAMPLES
.TP
.B fdupes a --recurse: b
will follow subdirectories under b, but not those under a.
.TP
.B fdupes a --recurse b
will follow subdirectories under both a and b.

.SH CAVEATS
When using
.B \-d
or
.BR \-\-delete ,
care should be taken to insure against
accidental data loss.

When used together with options
.B \-s
or
.BR \-\-symlink ,
a user could accidentally
preserve a symlink while deleting the file it points to.

Furthermore, when specifying a particular directory more than
once, all files within that directory will be listed as their
own duplicates, leading to data loss should a user preserve a
file without its "duplicate" (the file itself!).

.SH AUTHOR
Adrian Lopez <adrian2@caribe.net>