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PV package

This edition of the PV manual, last updated 29 June 2004, documents pv version 0.8.6.

1. Overview  Overview of pv.
2. Invocation  Invoking pv.

Concept Index  Index of concepts.

 -- The Detailed Node Listing ---

2.1 Display switches  Options to change which information is shown.
2.2 Output modifiers  Options altering the way this information is given.
2.3 General options  Everything that's left over.


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1. Overview

This is the documentation for pv, a terminal-based tool for monitoring the progress of data through a pipeline. It can be inserted into any normal pipeline between two processes to give a visual indication of how quickly data is passing through, how long it has taken, how near to completion it is, and an estimate of how long it will be until completion.


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2. Invocation

Summary: pv [OPTION] [FILE]...

To use pv, insert it in a pipeline between two processes, with the appropriate options. Its standard input will be passed through to its standard output and progress will be shown on standard error.

pv will copy each supplied FILE in turn to standard output (- means standard input), or if no FILEs are specified just standard input is copied. This is the same behaviour as cat.

A simple example to watch how quickly a file is transferred using nc:

 
pv file | nc -w 1 somewhere.com 3000

A similar example, transferring a file from another process and passing the expected size to pv:

 
cat file | pv -s 12345 | nc -w 1 somewhere.com 3000

A more complicated example using numeric output to feed into the dialog program for a full-screen progress display:

 
(tar cf - . \
 | pv -n -s `du -sb . | awk '{print $1}'` \
 | gzip -9 > out.tgz) 2>&1 \
| dialog --gauge 'Progress' 7 70

Frequent use of this third form is not recommended as it may cause the programmer to overheat.

pv takes many options, which are divided into display switches, output modifiers, and general options.

2.1 Display switches  Options to change which information is shown.
2.2 Output modifiers  Options altering the way this information is given.
2.3 General options  Everything that's left over.


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2.1 Display switches

If no display switches are specified, pv behaves as if -p, -t, -e, -r, and -b had been given (i.e. everything is switched on). Otherwise, only those display types that are explicitly switched on will be shown.

-p
--progress
Turn the progress bar on. If standard input is not a file and no size was given (with the -s modifier), the progress bar cannot indicate how close to completion the transfer is, so it will just move left and right to indicate that data is moving.

-t
--timer
Turn the timer on. This will display the total elapsed time that pv has been running for.

-e
--eta
Turn the ETA timer on. This will attempt to guess, based on previous transfer rates and the total data size, how long it will be before completion. This option will have no effect if the total data size cannot be determined.

-r
--rate
Turn the rate counter on. This will display the current rate of data transfer.

-b
--bytes
Turn the total byte counter on. This will display the total amount of data transferred so far.

-n
--numeric
Numeric output. Instead of giving a visual indication of progress, pv will give an integer percentage, one per line, on standard error, suitable for piping (via convoluted redirection) into the dialog program. Note that -f is not required if -n is being used.

-q
--quiet
No output. Useful if the -L option is being used on its own to just limit the transfer rate of a pipe.


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2.2 Output modifiers

-L RATE
--rate-limit RATE
Limit the transfer to a maximum of RATE bytes per second. A suffix of "k", "m", "g", or "t" can be added to denote kilobytes (*1024), megabytes, and so on.

-W
--wait
Wait until the first byte has been transferred before showing any progress information or calculating any ETAs. Useful if the program you are piping to or from requires extra information before it starts, eg piping data into gpg or mcrypt which require a passphrase before data can be processed.

-s SIZE
--size SIZE
Assume the total amount of data to be transferred is SIZE bytes when calculating percentages and ETAs. The same suffixes of "k", "m" etc can be used as with -L.

-i SEC
--interval SEC
Wait SEC seconds between updates. The default is to update every second. Note that this can be a decimal such as 0.1.

-w WIDTH
--width WIDTH
Assume the terminal is WIDTH characters wide, instead of trying to work it out (or assuming 80 if it cannot be guessed).

-H HEIGHT
--height HEIGHT
Assume the terminal is HEIGHT rows high, instead of trying to work it out (or assuming 25 if it cannot be guessed).

-N NAME
--name NAME
Prefix the output information with NAME. Useful in conjunction with -c if you have a complicated pipeline and you want to be able to tell different parts of it apart.

-f
--force
Force output. Normally, pv will not output any visual display if standard error is not a terminal. This option forces it to do so.

-c
--cursor
Use cursor positioning escape sequences instead of just using carriage returns. This is useful in conjunction with -N (name) if you are using multiple pv invocations in a single, long, pipeline.


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2.3 General options

-h
--help
Print a usage message on standard output and exit successfully.

-l
--license
Print details of the program's license on standard output and exit successfully.

-V
--version
Print version information on standard output and exit successfully.


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Concept Index

Jump to:   B   C   D   E   F   H   I   L   N   O   P   Q   R   S   T   U   W  

Index Entry Section

B
Bytes transferred2.1 Display switches

C
Completion time2.1 Display switches
Cursor positioning2.2 Output modifiers

D
Data size2.2 Output modifiers
Dialog, output to2.1 Display switches

E
Elapsed time2.1 Display switches
ETA2.1 Display switches
Example, using dialog2. Invocation
Example, using nc2. Invocation

F
Force terminal output2.2 Output modifiers

H
Height2.2 Output modifiers

I
Interval2.2 Output modifiers

L
Limiting transfer rate2.2 Output modifiers

N
Name2.2 Output modifiers
No output2.1 Display switches
Numeric output2.1 Display switches

O
Output height2.2 Output modifiers
Output width2.2 Output modifiers

P
Percentage only output2.1 Display switches
Prefix2.2 Output modifiers
Progress bar2.1 Display switches

Q
Quiet (no output)2.1 Display switches

R
Rate2.1 Display switches
Rate limiting2.2 Output modifiers

S
Silent (no output)2.1 Display switches
Size2.2 Output modifiers

T
Terminal columns2.2 Output modifiers
Terminal height2.2 Output modifiers
Terminal rows2.2 Output modifiers
Terminal width2.2 Output modifiers
Time, elapsed2.1 Display switches
Time, until completion2.1 Display switches
Timer2.1 Display switches
Transfer rate2.1 Display switches

U
Update interval2.2 Output modifiers

W
Wait2.2 Output modifiers
Wait until transfer starts2.2 Output modifiers
Width2.2 Output modifiers

Jump to:   B   C   D   E   F   H   I   L   N   O   P   Q   R   S   T   U   W  


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Table of Contents


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Short Table of Contents

1. Overview
2. Invocation
Concept Index

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