---
name: "hblock"
section: "1"
platform: "linux"
package: "hblock"
version: "3.5.1-1"
release: "Arch Linux 2026-11-01"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/hblock"
---

# hblock(1)

manual page for hBlock 3.5.1

## NAME

hBlock - manual page for hBlock 3.5.1

## SYNOPSIS

**hblock** \[*OPTION*\]...

## DESCRIPTION

hBlock is a POSIX-compliant shell script that gets a list of domains that serve ads, tracking scripts and malware from multiple sources and creates a hosts file, among other formats, that prevents your system from connecting to them.

## OPTIONS

**-O**, **--output** \<FILE\|-\>, ${HBLOCK\_OUTPUT\_FILE}

-

  Output file location.

-

  If equals "-", it is printed to stdout.

-

  (default: */etc/hosts*)

**-H**, **--header** \<FILE\|builtin\|none\|-\>, ${HBLOCK\_HEADER\_FILE}

-

  File to be included at the beginning of the output file.

-

  If equals "builtin", the built-in value is used.

-

  If equals "none", an empty value is used.

-

  If equals "-", the stdin content is used.

-

  If unspecified and any of the following files exists, its content is used.

-

  ${XDG\_CONFIG\_HOME}/hblock/header

-

  */etc/hblock/header*

-

  (default: builtin)

**-F**, **--footer** \<FILE\|builtin\|none\|-\>, ${HBLOCK\_FOOTER\_FILE}

-

  File to be included at the end of the output file.

-

  If equals "builtin", the built-in value is used.

-

  If equals "none", an empty value is used.

-

  If equals "-", the stdin content is used.

-

  If unspecified and any of the following files exists, its content is used.

-

  ${XDG\_CONFIG\_HOME}/hblock/footer

-

  */etc/hblock/footer*

-

  (default: builtin)

**-S**, **--sources** \<FILE\|builtin\|none\|-\>, ${HBLOCK\_SOURCES\_FILE}

-

  File with line separated URLs used to generate the blocklist.

-

  If equals "builtin", the built-in value is used.

-

  If equals "none", an empty value is used.

-

  If equals "-", the stdin content is used.

-

  If unspecified and any of the following files exists, its content is used.

-

  ${XDG\_CONFIG\_HOME}/hblock/sources.list

-

  */etc/hblock/sources.list*

-

  (default: builtin)

**-A**, **--allowlist** \<FILE\|builtin\|none\|-\>, ${HBLOCK\_ALLOWLIST\_FILE}

-

  File with line separated entries to be removed from the blocklist.

-

  If equals "builtin", the built-in value is used.

-

  If equals "none", an empty value is used.

-

  If equals "-", the stdin content is used.

-

  If unspecified and any of the following files exists, its content is used.

-

  ${XDG\_CONFIG\_HOME}/hblock/allow.list

-

  */etc/hblock/allow.list*

-

  (default: builtin)

**-D**, **--denylist** \<FILE\|builtin\|none\|-\>, ${HBLOCK\_DENYLIST\_FILE}

-

  File with line separated entries to be added to the blocklist.

-

  If equals "builtin", the built-in value is used.

-

  If equals "none", an empty value is used.

-

  If equals "-", the stdin content is used.

-

  If unspecified and any of the following files exists, its content is used.

-

  ${XDG\_CONFIG\_HOME}/hblock/deny.list

-

  */etc/hblock/deny.list*

-

  (default: builtin)

**-R**, **--redirection** \<REDIRECTION\>, ${HBLOCK\_REDIRECTION}

-

  Redirection for all entries in the blocklist.

-

  (default: 0.0.0.0)

**-W**, **--wrap** \<NUMBER\>, ${HBLOCK\_WRAP}

-

  Break blocklist lines after this number of entries.

-

  (default: 1)

**-T**, **--template** \<TEMPLATE\>, ${HBLOCK\_TEMPLATE}

-

  Template applied to each entry.

-

  %D = \<DOMAIN\>, %R = \<REDIRECTION\>

-

  (default: %R %D)

**-C**, **--comment** \<COMMENT\>, ${HBLOCK\_COMMENT}

-

  Character used for comments.

-

  (default: #)

**-l**, **--\[no-\]lenient**, ${HBLOCK\_LENIENT}

-

  Match all entries from sources regardless of their IP, instead of 0.0.0.0, 127.0.0.1, ::, ::1 or nothing.

-

  (default: false)

**-r**, **--\[no-\]regex**, ${HBLOCK\_REGEX}

-

  Use POSIX BREs in the allowlist instead of fixed strings.

-

  (default: false)

**-f**, **--\[no-\]filter-subdomains**, ${HBLOCK\_FILTER\_SUBDOMAINS}

-

  Do not include subdomains when the parent domain is also blocked. Useful for reducing the blocklist size in cases such as when DNS blocking makes these subdomains redundant.

-

  (default: false)

**-n**, **--retry** \<NUMBER\>, ${HBLOCK\_RETRY}

-

  Number of times to retry a failed download.

-

  (default: 0)

**-c**, **--\[no-\]continue**, ${HBLOCK\_CONTINUE}

-

  Do not abort if a download error occurs.

-

  (default: false)

**-p**, **--parallel**, ${HBLOCK\_PARALLEL}

-

  Maximum concurrency for parallel downloads.

-

  (default: 4)

**-q**, **--\[no-\]quiet**, ${HBLOCK\_QUIET}

-

  Suppress non-error messages.

-

  (default: false)

**-x**, **--color** \<auto\|true\|false\>, ${HBLOCK\_COLOR}

-

  Colorize the output.

-

  (default: auto)

**-v**, **--version**

-

  Show version number and quit.

**-h**, **--help**

-

  Show this help and quit.

## REPORTING BUGS

Report bugs to: \<https://github.com/hectorm/hblock/issues\>

Author: Héctor Molinero Fernández \<hector@molinero.dev\>\
 License: MIT, https://opensource.org/licenses/MIT\
 Repository: https://github.com/hectorm/hblock