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GIO

Section: User Commands (1)
Updated:
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NAME

gio - GIO commandline tool  

SYNOPSIS

gio help [COMMAND]
gio version
gio cat LOCATION...
gio copy [OPTION...] SOURCE... DESTINATION
gio info [OPTION...] LOCATION...
gio list [OPTION...] [LOCATION...]
gio mime MIMETYPE [HANDLER]
gio mkdir [OPTION...] LOCATION...
gio monitor [OPTION...] [LOCATION...]
gio mount [OPTION...] [LOCATION...]
gio move [OPTION...] SOURCE... DESTINATION
gio open LOCATION...
gio rename LOCATION NAME
gio remove [OPTION...] LOCATION...
gio save [OPTION...] DESTINATION
gio set [OPTION...] LOCATION ATTRIBUTE VALUE...
gio trash [OPTION...] [LOCATION...]
gio tree [OPTION...] [LOCATION...]
 

DESCRIPTION

gio

is a utility that makes many of the GIO features available from the commandline. In doing so, it provides commands that are similar to traditional utilities, but let you use GIO locations instead of local files: for example you can use something like smb://server/resource/file.txt as location.  

COMMANDS

help [COMMAND]

Displays a short synopsis of the available commands or provides detailed help on a specific command.

version

Prints the GLib version to which gio belongs.

cat LOCATION...

Concatenates the given files and prints them to the standard output.

The cat command works just like the traditional cat utility.

Note: just pipe through cat if you need its formatting options like -n, -T or other.

copy [OPTION...] SOURCE... DESTINATION

Copies one or more files from SOURCE to DESTINATION. If more than one source is specified, the destination must be a directory.

The copy command is similar to the traditional cp utility.


Options

-T, --no-target-directory

Don't copy into DESTINATION even if it is a directory.

-p, --progress

Show progress.

-i, --interactive

Prompt for confirmation before overwriting files.

--preserve

Preserve all attributes of copied files.

-b, --backup

Create backups of existing destination files.

-P, --no-dereference

Never follow symbolic links.

info [OPTION...] LOCATION...

Shows information about the given locations.

The info command is similar to the traditional ls utility.


Options

-w, --query-writable

List writable attributes.

-f, --filesystem

Show information about the filesystem that the given locations reside on.

-a --attributes=ATTRIBUTES

The attributes to get.

Attributes can be specified with their GIO name, e.g. standard::icon, or just by namespace, e.g. unix, or by '*', which matches all attributes. Several attributes or groups of attributes can be specified, separated by comma.

By default, all attributes are listed.

-n, --nofollow-symlinks

Don't follow symbolic links.

list [OPTION...] [LOCATION...]

Lists the contents of the given locations. If no location is given, the contents of the current directory are shown.

The list command is similar to the traditional ls utility.


Options

-a --attributes=ATTRIBUTES

The attributes to get.

Attributes can be specified with their GIO name, e.g. standard::icon, or just by namespace, e.g. unix, or by '*', which matches all attributes. Several attributes or groups of attributes can be specified, separated by comma.

By default, all attributes are listed.

-h, --hidden

Show hidden files.

-l, --long

Use a long listing format.

-n, --nofollow-symlinks

Don't follow symbolic links.

-u, --print-uris

Print full URIs.

mime MIMETYPE [HANDLER]

If no handler is given, the mime command lists the registered and recommended applications for the mimetype. If a handler is given, it is set as the default handler for the mimetype.

Handlers must be specified by their desktop file name, including the extension. Example: org.gnome.gedit.desktop.

mkdir [OPTION...] LOCATION...

Creates directories.

The mkdir command is similar to the traditional mkdir utility.


Options

-p, --parent

Create parent directories when necessary.

monitor [OPTION...] [LOCATION...]

Monitors files or directories for changes, such as creation deletion, content and attribute changes, and mount and unmount operations affecting the monitored locations.

The monitor command uses the GIO file monitoring APIs to do its job. GIO has different implementations for different platforms. The most common implementation on Linux uses inotify.


Options

-d, --dir=LOCATION

Monitor the given location as a directory. Normally, the file type is used to determine whether to monitor a file or directory.

-f, --file=LOCATION

Monitor the given location as a file. Normally, the file type is used to determine whether to monitor a file or directory.

-D, --direct=LOCATION

Monitor the file directly. This allows to capture changes made via hardlinks.

-s, --silent=LOCATION

Monitor the file directly, but don't report changes.

-n, --no-moves

Report moves and renames as simple deleted/created events.

-m, --mounts

Watch for mount events.

mount [OPTION...] [LOCATION...]

Provides commandline access to various aspects of GIOs mounting functionality.

Mounting refers to the traditional concept of arranging multiple file systems and devices in a single tree, rooted at /. Classical mounting happens in the kernel and is controlle by the mount utility. GIO expands this concept by introducing mount daemons that can make file systems available to GIO applications without kernel involvement.

GIO mounts can require authentication, and the mount command may ask for user IDs, passwords, and so on, when required.


Options

-m, --mountable

Mount as mountable.

-d, --device=DEVICE

Mount volume with device file.

-u, --unmount

Unmount the location.

-e, --eject

Eject the location.

-s, --unmount-scheme=SCHEME

Unmount all mounts with the given scheme.

-f, --force

Ignore outstanding file operations when unmounting or ejecting.

-a, --anonymous

Use an anonymous user when authenticating.

-l, --list

List all GIO mounts.

-o, --monitor

Monitor mount-related events.

-i, --detail

Show extra information.

move [OPTION...] SOURCE... DESTINATION

Moves one or more files from SOURCE to DESTINATION. If more than one source is specified, the destination must be a directory.

The move command is similar to the traditional mv utility.

open LOCATION...

Opens files with the default application that is registered to handle files of this type.

GIO obtains this information from the shared-mime-info database, with per-user overrides stored in $XDG_DATA_HOME/applications/mimeapps.list.

The mime command can be used to change the default handler for a mimetype.

rename LOCATION NAME

Renames a file.

The rename command is similar to the traditional rename utility.

remove [OPTION...] LOCATION...

Deletes each given file.

This command removes files irreversibly. If you want a reversible way to remove files, see the trash command.

Note that not all URI schemes that are supported by GIO may allow deletion of files.

The remove command is similar to the traditional rm utility.


Options

-f, --force

Ignore non-existent and non-deletable files.

save [OPTION...] DESTINATION

Reads from standard input and saves the data to the given location.

This is similar to just redirecting output to a file using traditional shell syntax, but the save command allows saving to location that GIO can write to.


Options

-b, --backup

Backup existing destination files.

-c, --create

Only create the destination if it doesn't exist yet.

-a, --append

Append to the end of the file.

-p, --private

When creating, restrict access to the current user.

-u, --unlink

When replacing, replace as if the destination did not exist.

-v, --print-etag

Print the new etag in the end.

-e, --etag=ETAG

The etag of the file that is overwritten.

set LOCATION ATTRIBUTE VALUE...

Allows to set a file attribute on a file.

File attributes can be specified with their GIO name, e.g standard::icon. Note that not all GIO file attributes are writable. Use the --query-writable option of the info command to list writable file attributes.

If the TYPE is unset, VALUE does not have to be specified. If the type is stringv, multiple values can be given.


Options

-t, --type=TYPE

Specifies the type of the attribute. Supported types are string, stringv, bytestring, boolean, uint32, int32, uint64, int64 and unset.

If the type is not specified, string is assumed.

-n, --nofollow-symlinks

Don't follow symbolic links.

trash [OPTION...] [LOCATION...]

Sends files or directories to the "Trashcan". This can be a different folder depending on where the file is located, and not all file systems support this concept. In the common case that the file lives inside a users home directory, the trash folder is $XDG_DATA_HOME/Trash.

Note that moving files to the trash does not free up space on the file system until the "Trashcan" is emptied. If you are interested in deleting a file irreversibly, see the remove command.

Inspecting and emptying the "Trashcan" is normally supported by graphical file managers such as nautilus, but you can also see the trash with the command: gio list trash://.


Options

-f, --force

Ignore non-existent and non-deletable files.

--empty

Empty the trash.

tree [OPTION...] [LOCATION...]

Lists the contents of the given locations recursively, in a tree-like format. If no location is given, it defaults to the current directory.

The tree command is similar to the traditional tree utility.


Options

-h, --hidden

Show hidden files.

-h, --hidden

Show hidden files.

-l, --follow-symlinks

Follow symbolic links.
 

EXIT STATUS

On success 0 is returned, a non-zero failure code otherwise.  

SEE ALSO

cat(1), cp(1), ls(1), mkdir(1), mv(1), rm(1), tree(1).

 

Index

NAME
SYNOPSIS
DESCRIPTION
COMMANDS
EXIT STATUS
SEE ALSO