---
name: "quotaon"
section: "8"
platform: "macos"
package: "diskdev_cmds"
version: "757"
release: "macOS 26.5"
platforms: ["linux", "freebsd", "openbsd", "macos"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/quotaon"
---

# quotaon(8)

turn filesystem quotas on and off

## NAME

**quotaon**, **quotaoff** – turn filesystem quotas on and off

## SYNOPSIS

**quotaon** \[**-g**\] \[**-u**\] \[**-v**\] *filesystem* *...*

**quotaon** \[**-g**\] \[**-u**\] \[**-v**\] **-a**

**quotaoff** \[**-g**\] \[**-u**\] \[**-v**\] *filesystem* *...*

**quotaoff** \[**-g**\] \[**-u**\] \[**-v**\] **-a**

## DESCRIPTION

**Quotaon** announces to the system that disk quotas should be enabled on one or more filesystems. **Quotaoff** announces to the system that the specified filesystems should have disk quotas turned off. The filesystem must be mounted and it must have the appropriate mount option file located at its root, the *.quota.ops.user* file for user quota configuration, and the *.quota.ops.group* file for group quota configuration. **Quotaon** also expects each filesystem to have the appropriate quota data files located at its root, the *.quota.user* file for user data, and the *.quota.group* file for group data. These filenames and their root location cannot be overridden. By default,  **quotaon** will attempt to enable both  user and group quotas. By default,  **quotaoff** will disable both user and group quotas.

Available options:

- **-a**

  If the **-a** flag is supplied in place of any filesystem names, **quotaon**/**quotaoff** will enable/disable any filesystems with an existing mount option file at its root.  The mount option file specifies the types of quotas that are to be configured.

- **-g**

  Only group quotas will be enabled/disabled. The mount option file, *.quota.ops.group*, must exist at the root of the filesystem.

- **-u**

  Only user quotas will be enabled/disabled. The mount option file, *.quota.ops.user*, must exist at the root of the filesystem.

- **-v**

  Causes **quotaon** and **quotaoff** to print a message for each filesystem where quotas are turned on or off.

Specifying both **-g** and **-u** is equivalent to the default.

Quotas for both users and groups will automatically be turned on at filesystem mount if the appropriate mount option file and binary data file is in place at its root.

## FILES

Each of the following quota files is located at the root of the mounted filesystem.  The mount option files are empty files whose existence indicates that quotas are to be enabled for that filesystem.

- *.quota.user*

  data file containing user quotas

- *.quota.group*

  data file containing group quotas

- *.quota.ops.user*

  mount option file used to enable user quotas

- *.quota.ops.group*

  mount option file used to enable group quotas

## SEE ALSO

[quota(1)](/quota/1.md), [quotactl(2)](/quotactl/2.md), [edquota(8)](/edquota/8.md), [quotacheck(8)](/quotacheck/8.md), [repquota(8)](/repquota/8.md)

## HISTORY

The **quotaon** command appeared in 4.2BSD.