SYNC(1)

📦
version 9.12 · 23 versions
, in arch rolling

💅 SYNC — the sync(1) page, but make it make sense

okay bestie, welcome to sync(1) from the User Commands corner of the manual. this is the page you pull up when you're like "wait. why is my file not on disk yet 😭" and honestly? iconic question. let's get into it 🫶

✨ NAME ✨

sync — synchronize cached writes to persistent storage

like. it takes all those cute little writes chillin' in cache and it's like "okay babe, we're committing now, actually going to disk, no takebacks" 💖

🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

sync [OPTION] [FILE]...

👑 DESCRIPTION 👑

Synchronize cached writes to persistent storage.

if you hand it one or more files, it only syncs those files — or the file systems that contain them. so it's not out here doing the whole system's homework, it's just doing yours 🎀

  • -d, --data — sync only the file data, skip the unneeded metadata. like, we're not doing extra credit here, just the data, thank you 💅
  • -f, --file-system — sync the file systems that contain the files. the whole vibe of the containing filesystem gets flushed ✨
  • --help — display this help and exit. the classic "just tell me what you do" button 🙈
  • --version — output version information and exit. for when you need to know which one of these you're talking to 🌈

💀 BUGS 💀

persistence guarantees vary per system. not me breaking the news but like… it's not a universal promise, okay? see the system calls below for more details 🔥 (they're in SEE ALSO, keep scrolling bestie)

🦋 AUTHOR 🦋

Written by Jim Meyering and Giuseppe Scrivano. kings. absolute icons 👑

😭 REPORTING BUGS 😭

found something cursed? tell the people:

don't be shy, they actually want to know 🫶

Copyright © 2026 Free Software Foundation, Inc. License GPLv3+: GNU GPL version 3 or later <https://gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html>.

This is free software: you are free to change and redistribute it.

There is NO WARRANTY, to the extent permitted by law.

like yes bestie you can remix it, but there's no warranty, periodt 💅

🌟 SEE ALSO 🌟

Full documentation <https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/sync> or available locally via: info '(coreutils) sync invocation'

okay that's the whole page, you ate that 💖 this one's from GNU coreutils 9.12, dated September 2026 — so when you see SYNC(1) chilling at the bottom of your terminal, that's the whole era of it right there ✨ mwah, go flush something 🧚

📦 where this page comes from