---
name: "zum"
section: "1"
platform: "linux"
package: "perforate"
version: "1.2-6"
release: "Debian 13 (Trixie)"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/zum"
---

# zum(1)

free disk space by making holes in files

## NAME

zum - free disk space by making holes in files

## SYNOPSIS

**zum** \[*FILE*\]...

## DESCRIPTION

**zum** reads a files list on the command line and attempts to perforate these files. Perforation means, that series of \`0' bytes are replaced by [**lseek**(2)](/lseek/2.md)s, thus giving the file system a chance of not allocating real disk space for those bytes.

## EXAMPLE

-

  **find . -type f -print0 \| xargs -0 zum**

If you zum under /boot, where your kernel image lives, your system will become unbootable unless you run lilo again.

## AUTHOR

Oleg Kibirev \<oleg@gd.cs.CSUFresno.edu\>.

Manual page by Heiko Schlittermann \<heiko@lotte.sax.de\>.