NVME-ID-CTRL-LIST(1)

📦 version 3.2, in arch rolling

💅 nvme-id-ctrl-list — the NVMe Manual girlie is here

okay bestie, welcome to the nvme-id-ctrl-list era ✨ this is a subcommand of nvme, and it's literally about asking your NVMe device "hey who are your controllers" and getting the receipts back 🎀

🌸 NAME 🌸

nvme-id-ctrl-list — send the NVMe Identify List Controllers command, then hand you back the result and the structure. no cap, both 💖

✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

nvme [<global-options>] id ctrl-list <device> [--cntid=<cntid> | -c <cntid>]
                        [--namespace-id=<nsid> | -n <nsid>]

🦋 DESCRIPTION 🦋

So here's the vibe: for the NVMe device you give it, this sends an identify command for the controller list and gives you back both the result and the returned structure. 🫶 It's lowkey doing the lord's work. Depending on the namespace identifier you ask for, it uses either mode 12h or 13h — that's the whole "which mode" thing, iykyk.

The <device> parameter is mandatory (not optional, bestie, don't come for me) and it can be either the NVMe character device — like /dev/nvme0 — or a namespace block device — like /dev/nvme0n1. 💫

The starting controller in the list always begins with 0, unless you pass the --cntid option to override it. so like, 0 by default, but you can flex 💅

On success, the controller array gets printed for each index and controller identifier. slay. ✨

🎀 OPTIONS 🎀

  • -c <cntid>, --cntid=<cntid> — retrieve the identify list structure starting with the given controller id. this is your "start here actually" button 🦋
  • -n <nsid>, --namespace-id=<nsid> — if you provide it, it'll request the controllers attached to that specified namespace. if you don't give a namespace, or you set it to 0, then the command requests the controller list for the entire subsystem — whether or not those controllers are attached to namespace(s) 👑 and listen: the broadcast value 0xffffffff can also be given, as all or -1 💀 (yes all three, no I'm not joking)

🌈 GLOBAL OPTIONS 🌈

these are defined up at the top-level nvme command, and they're available to this subcommand too. main character energy from the parent command honestly 🫶

  • --dry-run — print the command that would be executed, but don't actually execute it. it's giving manifestation ✨
  • --no-ioctl-probing — disable probing for 64-bit IOCTL support.
  • --no-retries — disable retry logic on transient errors. one shot, one opportunity 😭
  • -o <fmt>, --output-format=<fmt> — set the reporting format to normal, tabular, json, or binary. only one output format at a time, bestie, we do not mix 🎀
  • --output-format-version=<version> — select the output format version. version 1 uses the original field naming, while version 2 (the default) provides more consistent and script-friendly field names. other versions are rejected — sorry, no custom versions, the door is closed 💅
  • --quiet — suppress informational messages. errors are still reported, and --quiet cancels any --verbose for the library log level. they literally cannot coexist, it's a vibe check 🦋
  • --set-options=<key=value>[,<key=value>...] — set libnvme library options for this invocation. supported keys are force-4k, mi-probe-enabled, test-base-dir and test-sysfs-dir. that's the whole list, don't try anything cute 🙈
  • --timeout=<ms> — set the timeout for the command in milliseconds. infinite or -1 waits without a time limit (0xffffffff). time is a construct etc etc ⭐
  • -v, --verbose — increase the level of detail in the output. may be specified multiple times to further increase verbosity. stack it, queen 👑
also note: these options can be set as machine-wide defaults in nvme-cli.conf(5). and a command-line flag always overrides the file. always. periodt. 🔥

💜 EXAMPLES 💜

No examples yet. 😭 (tragic, I know — somebody get on that fr fr)

🧚 NVME 🧚

Part of the nvme-user suite 🌸

that's the whole page bestie, go identify some controllers 💖✨🎀

sign-off time: this lil gem comes from the NVMe manual, dated 10/30/2026 — screenshot it, cite it, live by it 🦋💅

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