GIO() GIO()
NAME
gio - GIO commandline tool
SYNOPSIS
gio help [COMMAND]
gio version
gio cat LOCATION…
gio copy [OPTION…] SOURCE… DESTINATION
gio info [OPTION…] LOCATION…
gio launch DESKTOP-FILE [FILE-ARG…]
gio list [OPTION…] [LOCATION…]
gio mime MIME-TYPE [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 tra-
ditional utilities, but let you use GIO locations instead of local
files: for example you can use something like smb://server/re-
source/file.txt as a location.
Plain filenames which contain a colon will be interpreted as URIs with
an unknown protocol. To avoid this, prefix them with a path such as ./,
or with the file: protocol.
Volumes, drives and mounts are limited to the ones which are considered
interesting to the user, such as removable drives. System mounts will
not be shown, meaning the output from gio mount is not equivalent to the
output from tools like fdisk, and gio monitor --mounts will only list
events relevant to selected mounts.
COMMANDS
help COMMAND
Displays a short synopsis of the available commands or provides de-
tailed 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.
Mote: 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.
--default-permissions
Use the default permissions of the current process for the desti-
nation file, rather than copying the permissions of the source
file.
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. stan-
dard::icon, or just by namespace, e.g. unix, or by *, which
matches all attributes. Several attributes or groups of attrib-
utes can be specified, separated by commas.
By default, all attributes are listed.
-n, --nofollow-symlinks
Don’t follow symbolic links.
launch DESKTOP-FILE [FILE-ARG…]
Launch a desktop file from any location given.
The launch command extends the behavior of the open command by allow-
ing any desktop file to be launched, not only those registered as
file handlers.
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. stan-
dard::icon, or just by namespace, e.g. unix, or by *, which
matches all attributes. Several attributes or groups of attrib-
utes can be specified, separated by commas.
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.
-d, --print-display-names
Print display names.
-u, --print-uris
Print full URIs.
mime MIME-TYPE [HANDLER]
If no handler is given, the mime command lists the registered and
recommended applications for the MIME type. If a handler is given, it
is set as the default handler for the MIME type.
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 af-
fecting 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 as a file or as a
directory.
-f, --file=<LOCATION>
Monitor the given location as a file. Normally, the file type is
used to determine whether to monitor as a file or as a directory.
-D, --direct=<LOCATION>
Monitor the file directly. This allows changes made via hardlinks
to be captured.
-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 GIO’s 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 controlled by the mount utility. GIO ex-
pands 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=<ID>
Mount volume with device file, or other identifier.
-u, --unmount
Unmount the location.
-e, --eject
Eject the location.
-t, --stop=<DEVICE>
Stop drive with device file.
-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.
--tcrypt-pim
The numeric PIM when unlocking a VeraCrypt volume.
--tcrypt-hidden
Mount a TCRYPT hidden volume.
--tcrypt-system
Mount a TCRYPT system volume.
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.
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.
-b, --backup
Create backups of existing destination files.
-C, --no-copy-fallback
Don’t use copy and delete fallback.
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/applica-
tions/mimeapps.list.
The mime command can be used to change the default handler for a MIME
type.
Environment variables will not be set on the application, as it may
be an existing process which is activated to handle the new file.
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 tradi-
tional shell syntax, but the save command allows saving to location
that GIO can write to.
Options
-b, --backup
Back up 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 [OPTION…] LOCATION ATTRIBUTE VALUE…
Sets a file attribute on a file.
File attributes can be specified with their GIO name, e.g stan-
dard::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.
-d, --delete
Unsets an attribute (same as setting its type to unset).
-n, --nofollow-symlinks
Don’t follow symbolic links.
trash [OPTION…] [LOCATION…]
Sends files or directories to the ‘Trashcan’ or restore them from
‘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 user’s 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 trash --list or gio list trash://.
Options
-f, --force
Ignore non-existent and non-deletable files.
--empty
Empty the trash.
--list
List files in the trash with their original locations.
--restore
Restore a file from trash to its original location. A URI begin-
ning with trash:// is expected here. If the original directory
doesn’t exist, it will be recreated.
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 direc-
tory.
The tree command is similar to the traditional tree utility.
Options
-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)>
GIO()
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