---
name: "fc-cache"
section: "1"
platform: "linux"
package: "fontconfig"
version: "2:2.18.3-2"
release: "Arch Linux 2026-11-01"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/fc-cache"
---

# fc-cache(1)

build font information cache files

## NAME

fc-cache - build font information cache files

## SYNOPSIS

**fc-cache** \[ **-EfrsvVh** \] \[ **--error-on-no-fonts** \] \[ **--force** \] \[ **--really-force** \] \[ **-y** *dir* \| **--sysroot** *dir* \] \[ **--system-only** \] \[ **--verbose** \] \[ **--version** \] \[ **--help** \] \[ *dir ...* \]

## DESCRIPTION

**fc-cache** scans the font directories on the system and builds font information cache files for applications using fontconfig for their font handling.

If directory arguments are not given, **fc-cache** uses each directory in the current font configuration. Each directory is scanned for font files readable by FreeType.  A cache is created which contains properties of each font and the associated filename. This cache is used to speed up application startup when using the fontconfig library.

Note that **fc-cache** must be executed once per architecture to generate font information customized for that architecture.

## OPTIONS

This program follows the usual GNU command line syntax, with long options starting with two dashes (\`-').  A summary of options is included below.

- **-E --error-on-no-fonts**

  Raise an error if there are no fonts in *dir* or directories in the configuration if not given.

- **-f --force**

  Force re-generation of apparently up-to-date cache files, overriding the timestamp checking.

- **-r --really-force**

  Erase all existing cache files and rescan.

- **-s --system-only**

  Only scan system-wide directories, omitting the places located in the user's home directory.

- **-v --verbose**

  Display status information while busy.

- **-y -sysroot** *dir*

  Prepend *dir* to all paths for scanning.

- **-h --help**

  Show summary of options.

- **-V --version**

  Show version of the program and exit.

- *dir*

  Directory to scan for fonts.

## RETURN CODES

**fc-cache** returns zero if the caches successfully generated. otherwise non-zero.

## FILES

- *%cachedir%/\*-%arch%.cache-%version%*

  These files are generated by **fc-cache** and contain maps from file names to font properties. They are read by the fontconfig library at application startup to locate appropriate fonts.

## SEE ALSO

[**fc-cat**(1)](/fc-cat/1.md) [**fc-list**(1)](/fc-list/1.md) [**fc-match**(1)](/fc-match/1.md) [**fc-pattern**(1)](/fc-pattern/1.md) [**fc-query**(1)](/fc-query/1.md) [**fc-scan**(1)](/fc-scan/1.md)

The fontconfig user's guide \<URL:https://fontconfig.pages.freedesktop.org/fontconfig/fontconfig-user.html\>

## AUTHOR

This manual page was written by Keith Packard \<keithp@keithp.com\> and Josselin Mouette \<joss@debian.org\>.