carta
ncheck_ffs(8)

ncheck_ffs8

Generate names from inode-numbers

Usage

ncheck_ffs [-ams] [-f format] [-i number ...] filesystem

Overview

ncheck_ffs generates a list of filenames and inode numbers for the given file system. Names of directories are followed by a ‘.’. ncheck_ffs may be invoked more simply as ncheck, with no change in behaviour.

The options are as follows:

-a

Print the file names ‘.’ and ‘..’, which are ordinarily skipped.

-f format

Use a custom output format when printing inode information. Characters from format are printed for each inode with the following escape sequences:

\a

Print a ⟨bell⟩ character.

\b

Print a ⟨backspace⟩ character.

\e

Print an ⟨escape⟩ character.

\f

Print a ⟨form-feed⟩ character.

\I

Print the inode number.

\n

Print a ⟨new-line⟩ character.

\P

Print the pathname to the file using the current inode number.

\r

Print a ⟨carriage return⟩ character.

\t

Print a ⟨tab⟩ character.

\v

Print a ⟨vertical tab⟩ character.

\'

Print a ⟨single quote⟩ character.

\\

Print a backslash character.

\0

Print a NUL character.

All other characters, when prefixed by a backslash, simply print the character following the backslash. The device name is not printed on the first line of output when the -f option is specified.

-i number ...

Report only those files whose inode numbers are as listed.

-m

Give more verbose information on inodes.

-s

Report only special files and files with set-user-ID or set-group-ID set. This is meant to find hidden violations of security policies.

The report is not sorted.

History

  • OpenBSD 8.0-current (2026-11-01) to OpenBSD 6.7: the text shown here
  • OpenBSD 6.6
  • OpenBSD 6.5 to OpenBSD 5.9
  • OpenBSD 5.8 to OpenBSD 5.4
  • OpenBSD 5.3 to OpenBSD 4.2
  • OpenBSD 4.1 to OpenBSD 3.5
  • OpenBSD 3.4
  • OpenBSD 3.3
  • OpenBSD 3.2 to OpenBSD 3.1
  • OpenBSD 3.0
  • OpenBSD 2.9
  • OpenBSD 2.8 to OpenBSD 2.7
  • OpenBSD 2.6
  • OpenBSD 2.5
  • OpenBSD 2.4
  • OpenBSD 2.3 to OpenBSD 2.1

-f since OpenBSD 3.3.

-i until OpenBSD 3.0.

History

An ncheck command appeared in Version 6 AT&T UNIX. The ncheck_ffs command was designed to be similar in functionality to the corresponding command in SunOS 4.1.3.

Authors

Thorsten Lockert ⟨[email protected]⟩

From man 8.0-current-20261101 in OpenBSD 8.0-current (2026-11-01). Parsed by carta from the page's mdoc source.