---
name: "collectl2pcp"
section: "1"
platform: "linux"
package: "pcp"
version: "7.2.2-2"
release: "Arch Linux 2026-11-01"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/collectl2pcp"
---

# collectl2pcp(1)

import collectl data to a PCP archive

## NAME

**collectl2pcp** - import collectl data to a PCP archive

## SYNOPSIS

**collectl2pcp** \[**-fv?**\] \[**-D** *debug*\] *file* \[*file* ...\] *archive*

## DESCRIPTION

**collectl2pcp** reads raw [**collectl**(1)](/collectl/1.md) data from each *file* and creates a new PCP archive with basename *archive*. Each input *file* may be gzipped (with **.gz** suffix). The PCP *archive* and at least one input *file* are required arguments.

## OPTIONS

The available command line options are:

- **-f**, **--force**

  Overwrite *archive* (and the index and meta files) if it already exists.

- **-v**, **--verbose**

  Report progress and errors verbosely. This also reports a count of unsupported metric data in the [**collectl**(1)](/collectl/1.md) input file(s), which is normally silently skipped.

- **-?**, **--help**

  Display usage message and exit.

- *file* \[*file* ...\]

  These are the [**collectl**(1)](/collectl/1.md) input files. If more than one is given, they must contain data for the same host and be given in time-stamp chronological order on the command line. Note that when [**collectl**(1)](/collectl/1.md) is run as a service, it normally creates files with date based names that will sort chronologically (e.g. **/var/log/collectl/\*.gz** will be sorted correctly).

## PCP ENVIRONMENT

Environment variables with the prefix **PCP\_** are used to parameterize the file and directory names used by PCP. On each installation, the file */etc/pcp.conf* contains the local values for these variables. The **$PCP\_CONF** variable may be used to specify an alternative configuration file, as described in [**pcp.conf**(5)](/pcp.conf/5.md).

For environment variables affecting PCP tools, see [**pmGetOptions**(3)](/pmGetOptions/3.md).

## DEBUGGING OPTIONS

The **-D** or **--debug** option enables the output of additional diagnostics on *stderr* to help triage problems, although the information is sometimes cryptic and primarily intended to provide guidance for developers rather than for end-users. *debug* is a comma separated list of debugging options; use [**pmdbg**(1)](/pmdbg/1.md) with the **-l** option to obtain a list of the available debugging options and their meaning.

## SEE ALSO

[**collectl**(1)](/collectl/1.md), [**PCPIntro**(1)](/PCPIntro/1.md), [**LOGIMPORT**(3)](/LOGIMPORT/3.md), [**pcp.conf**(5)](/pcp.conf/5.md), [**pcp.env**(5)](/pcp.env/5.md) and [**PMNS**(5)](/PMNS/5.md).