---
name: "getcap"
section: "8"
platform: "linux"
package: "libcap"
version: "2.78-1"
release: "Arch Linux 2026-11-01"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/getcap/8"
---

# getcap(8)

examine file capabilities

## NAME

getcap - examine file capabilities

## SYNOPSIS

**getcap** \[-v\] \[-n\] \[-r\] \[-h\] *filename* \[ ... \]

## DESCRIPTION

**getcap** displays the name and capabilities of each specified file.

## OPTIONS

- **-h**

  prints quick usage.

- **-n**

  prints any non-zero user namespace root user ID value found to be associated with a file's capabilities.

- **-r**

  enables recursive search.

- **-v**

  display all searched entries, even if the have no file-capabilities.

NOTE: an *empty* value of **'='** is **not** equivalent to an omitted (or removed) capability on a file. This is most significant with respect to the Ambient capability vector, since a process with Ambient capabilities will lose them when executing a file having **'='** capabilities, but will retain the Ambient inheritance of privilege when executing a file with an omitted file capability. This special *empty* setting can be used to prevent a binary from executing with privilege. For some time, the kernel honored this suppression for root executing the file, but the kernel developers decided after a number of years that this behavior was unexpected for the superuser and reverted it just for that user identity. Suppression of root privilege, for a process tree, is possible, using the [**capsh**(1)](/capsh/1.md) **--mode** option.

- *filename*

  One file per line.

## REPORTING BUGS

Please report bugs via:

- https://bugzilla.kernel.org/buglist.cgi?component=libcap&list\_id=1090757

  ## SEE ALSO

[**capsh**(1)](/capsh/1.md), [**cap\_get\_file**(3)](/cap_get_file/3.md), [**cap\_to\_text**(3)](/cap_to_text/3.md), [**capabilities**(7)](/capabilities/7.md), [**user\_namespaces**(7)](/user_namespaces/7.md), [**captree**(8)](/captree/8.md), [**getpcaps**(8)](/getpcaps/8.md) and [**setcap**(8)](/setcap/8.md).