suse man page for fdupes

FDUPES(1)						      General Commands Manual							 FDUPES(1)

NAME
       fdupes - finds duplicate files in a given set of directories

SYNOPSIS
       fdupes [ options ] DIRECTORY ...

DESCRIPTION
       Searches  the  given  path for duplicate files. Such files are found by comparing file sizes and MD5 signatures, followed by a byte-by-byte
       comparison.

OPTIONS
       -r --recurse
	      include files residing in subdirectories

       -s --symlinks
	      follow symlinked directories

       -H --hardlinks
	      normally, when two or more files point to the same disk area they are treated as non-duplicates; this option will change this behav-
	      ior

       -n --noempty
	      exclude zero-length files from consideration

       -f --omitfirst
	      omit the first file in each set of matches

       -1 --sameline
	      list each set of matches on a single line

       -S --size
	      show size of duplicate files

       -q --quiet
	      hide progress indicator

       -d --delete
	      prompt user for files to preserve, deleting all others (see CAVEATS below)

       -v --version
	      display fdupes version

       -h --help
	      displays help

SEE ALSO
       md5sum(1)

NOTES
       Unless -1 or --sameline is specified, duplicate files are listed together in groups, each file displayed on a separate line. The groups are
       then separated from each other by blank lines.

       When -1 or --sameline is specified, spaces and backslash characters  () appearing in a filename are preceded by a backslash character.

CAVEATS
       If fdupes returns with an error message such as fdupes: error invoking md5sum it means the program has been compiled  to  use  an  external
       program	to calculate MD5 signatures (otherwise, fdupes uses interal routines for this purpose), and an error has occurred while attempting
       to execute it. If this is the case, the specified program should be properly installed prior to running fdupes.

       When using -d or --delete, care should be taken to insure against accidental data loss.

       When used together with options -s or --symlink, a user could accidentally preserve a symlink while deleting the file it points to.

       Furthermore, when specifying a particular directory more than once, all files within that directory will be listed as their own duplicates,
       leading to data loss should a user preserve a file without its "duplicate" (the file itself!).

AUTHOR
       Adrian Lopez <adrian2@caribe.net>

																	 FDUPES(1)