Article · Wikipedia archive · Last revised Jun 10, 2026

Dump (Unix)

The dump command is a program on Unix and Unix-like operating systems used to back up file systems. It operates on blocks, below filesystem abstractions such as files and directories. Dump can back up a file system to a tape or another disk. It is often used across a network by piping its output through bzip2 then SSH.

Last revised
Jun 10, 2026
Read time
≈ 1 min
Length
161 w
Citations
2
Source
Wikipedia ↗
dump
DeveloperAT&T Bell Laboratories
Initial releaseNovember 1973 (1973-11)
Operating systemUnix and Unix-like, MSX-DOS
TypeCommand

The dump command is a program on Unix and Unix-like operating systems used to back up file systems. It operates on blocks, below filesystem abstractions such as files and directories. Dump can back up a file system to a tape or another disk. It is often used across a network by piping its output through bzip2 then SSH.

A dump utility first appeared in Version 6 AT&T UNIX.1 A dump command is also part of ASCII's MSX-DOS2 Tools for MSX-DOS version 2.2

Usage

dump [-0123456789acLnSu] [-B records] [-b blocksize] [-C cachesize]
[-D dumpdates] [-d density] [-f file | -P pipecommand] [-h level]
[-s feet] [-T date] filesystem

$ dump -W | -w
See also

See also

References

References

  1. "dump.c". Bitsavers' Software Archive. Retrieved 8 March 2013.
  2. ASCII Corporation (1993-04-01). MSX-DOS2 Tools User's Manual by ASCII Corporation.
External links