NAME

create-sparse-file - Create sparse file

VERSION

This document describes version 0.03 of create-sparse-file (from Perl distribution App-CreateSparseFile), released on 2014-12-11.

SYNOPSIS

Usage:

 % create-sparse-file [options] <name> <size>

Examples:

Create a sparse file called file.bin with size of 30GB:

 % create-sparse-file file.bin 30G

DESCRIPTION

Sparse file is a file with a predefined size (sometimes large) but does not yet allocate all its (blank) data on disk. Sparse file is a feature of filesystem.

I usually create sparse file when I want to create a large disk image but do not want to preallocate its data yet. Creating a sparse file should be virtually instantaneous.

OPTIONS

* marks required options.

--config-path=s

Set path to configuration file.

Can be specified multiple times.

--config-profile=s

Set configuration profile to use.

--format=s

Set output format.

--help, -h, -?

Show help message.

--json

Set output format to json.

--naked-res

When outputing as JSON, strip result envelope.

By default, when outputing as JSON, the full enveloped result is returned, e.g.:

    [200,"OK",[1,2,3],{"func.extra"=>4}]

The reason is so you can get the status (1st element), status message (2nd element) as well as result metadata/extra result (4th element) instead of just the result (3rd element). However, sometimes you want just the result, e.g. when you want to pipe the result for more post-processing:

    [1,2,3]

In this case, you can use `--naked-res`.

--name=s*

--no-config

Do not use any configuration file.

--no-interactive

If set to false then will not prompt interactively and usually will proceed (unless for dangerous stuffs, in which case will bail immediately.

--override

Whether to override existing file.

If se to true then will override existing file without warning. The default is to prompt, or bail (if not interactive).

--size=s*, -s

Size (e.g. 10K, 22.5M).

--version, -v

Show program version.

FILES

/etc/create-sparse-file.conf

~/create-sparse-file.conf

COMPLETION

This script has shell tab completion capability with support for several shells.

bash

To activate bash completion for this script, put:

 complete -C create-sparse-file create-sparse-file

in your bash startup (e.g. ~/.bashrc). Your next shell session will then recognize tab completion for the command. Or, you can also directly execute the line above in your shell to activate immediately.

You can also install App::BashCompletionProg which makes it easy to add completion for Getopt::Long::Complete-based scripts. After you install the module and put . ~/.bash-complete-prog (or . /etc/bash-complete-prog), you can just run bash-completion-prog and the complete command will be added to your ~/.bash-completion-prog. Your next shell session will then recognize tab completion for the command.

fish

To activate fish completion for this script, execute:

 begin; set -lx COMP_SHELL fish; set -lx COMP_MODE gen_command; create-sparse-file; end > $HOME/.config/fish/completions/create-sparse-file.fish

Or if you want to install globally, you can instead write the generated script to /etc/fish/completions/create-sparse-file.fish or /usr/share/fish/completions/create-sparse-file.fish. The exact path might be different on your system. Please check your fish_complete_path variable.

tcsh

To activate tcsh completion for this script, put:

 complete create-sparse-file 'p/*/`create-sparse-file`/'

in your tcsh startup (e.g. ~/.tcshrc). Your next shell session will then recognize tab completion for the command. Or, you can also directly execute the line above in your shell to activate immediately.

zsh

To activate zsh completion for this script, put:

 _create_sparse_file() { read -l; local cl="$REPLY"; read -ln; local cp="$REPLY"; reply=(`COMP_SHELL=zsh COMP_LINE="$cl" COMP_POINT="$cp" create-sparse-file`) }

 compctl -K _create_sparse_file create-sparse-file

in your zsh startup (e.g. ~/.zshrc). Your next shell session will then recognize tab completion for the command. Or, you can also directly execute the line above in your shell to activate immediately.

HOMEPAGE

Please visit the project's homepage at https://metacpan.org/release/App-CreateSparseFile.

SOURCE

Source repository is at https://github.com/perlancar/perl-App-CreateSparseFile.

BUGS

Please report any bugs or feature requests on the bugtracker website https://rt.cpan.org/Public/Dist/Display.html?Name=App-CreateSparseFile

When submitting a bug or request, please include a test-file or a patch to an existing test-file that illustrates the bug or desired feature.

AUTHOR

perlancar <perlancar@cpan.org>

COPYRIGHT AND LICENSE

This software is copyright (c) 2014 by perlancar@cpan.org.

This is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as the Perl 5 programming language system itself.

cpanm App::CreateSparseFile

perl -MCPAN -e shell
install App::CreateSparseFile