STDBUF(1)

📦 version 0.12.0, in arch rolling

🦋 STDBUF(1) — the one where your streams stop being so mysterious

okay bestie, so this is stdbuf, from the General Commands Manual girlies. she runs a command but ✨rearranges✨ how its standard streams buffer stuff. it's giving backstage-pass energy for your I/O.

✨ NAME ✨

stdbuf — Run COMMAND, with modified buffering operations for its standard streams.

no cap, that's literally the whole pitch. 💅

🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

stdbuf [OPTION]... COMMAND

🎀 DESCRIPTION 🎀

Run COMMAND, with modified buffering operations for its standard streams.

that's it. that's the vibe. you point her at a command, you tell her how you want the streams buffered, and she makes it happen. main character energy for your pipes. 🫶

💖 OPTIONS 💖

  • -i, --input <MODE> — adjust standard input stream buffering
  • -o, --output <MODE> — adjust standard output stream buffering
  • -e, --error <MODE> — adjust standard error stream buffering
  • -h, --help — Print help
  • -V, --version — Print version

🔥 EXTRA 🔥

okay so this is the part where MODE actually means something, and honestly it's the whole personality of the page, so pay attention bestie 👑

If MODE is 'L' the corresponding stream will be line buffered. This option is invalid with standard input. like, -i L is not the move, she will not accept it, periodt.

If MODE is '0' the corresponding stream will be unbuffered. instant. no waiting. feral little stream. 💀

Otherwise, MODE is a number which may be followed by one of the following:

  • KB 1000
  • K 1024
  • MB 1000*1000
  • M 1024*1024

and so on for G, T, P, E, Z, Y. 🌀 In this case the corresponding stream will be fully buffered with the buffer size set to MODE bytes.

NOTE: If COMMAND adjusts the buffering of its standard streams (tee does for e.g.) then that will override corresponding settings changed by stdbuf. Also some filters (like dd and cat etc.) don't use streams for I/O, and are thus unaffected by stdbuf settings.

so yeah — if the command has opinions about its own buffering, her opinions lose. and if the filter doesn't even use streams for I/O, stdbuf is just standing there like 🧍‍♀️. not her fault, she tried. 🙈

⭐ VERSION ⭐

v(uutils coreutils) 0.12.0

and that's the whole page bestie, you ate that 🍓 fr fr — this cutie is from uutils coreutils version 0.12.0, dated 2026-09-17, and I'm obsessed with her, ngl 💜🌈✨

📦 where this page comes from