Linux and Unix mkfs command
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About mkfs
Syntax
Examples
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Build a Linux file system, usually a hard disk partition. The filesys is either the device name (e.g. /dev/hda1, /dev/sdb2) or the mount point (e.g. /, /usr, /home) for the file system. blocks is the number of blocks to be used for the file system.
mkfs [ -V ] [ -t fstype ] [ fs-options ] filesys [ blocks ]
| -V | Produce verbose output, including all file system-specific commands that are executed. Specifying this option more than once inhibits execution of any file system-specific commands. This is really only useful for testing. |
| -t fstype | Specifies the type of file system to be built. If not specified, the default file system type (currently ext2) is used. |
| fs-options | File system-specific options to be passed to the real file system builder. Although not guaranteed, the following options are supported by most file system builders. |
| -c | Check the device for bad blocks before building the file system. |
| -l | Read the bad blocks list from filename |
| -v | Produce verbose output. |
mkfs -t ext2 /dev/fd0
The above example would create an ext2 filesystem on a floppy diskette in the first floppy drive.