HDFS Commands
Assignment needs to be submitted in the Microsoft Word. The file should contain the
following points:
1. Usage
2. Example
3. Syntax which you have used to execute the HDFS commands
4. Screenshot of the output (As shown in Example 1.1)
1.1 count
Usage: hdfs dfs -count [-q] <paths>
Count the number of directories, files and bytes under the paths that match the specified file
pattern. The output columns with -count are: DIR_COUNT, FILE_COUNT,
CONTENT_SIZE FILE_NAME
The output columns with -count -q are: QUOTA, REMAINING_QUATA, SPACE_QUOTA,
REMAINING_SPACE_QUOTA, DIR_COUNT, FILE_COUNT, CONTENT_SIZE,
FILE_NAME
Example:
• hdfs dfs -count hdfs://nn1.example.com/file1 hdfs://nn2.example.com/file2
• hdfs dfs -count -q hdfs://nn1.example.com/file1
Exit Code:
Returns 0 on success and -1 on error.
Output:
1.2 cat
Usage: hdfs dfs -cat URI [URI ...]
Copies source paths to stdout.
Example:
• hdfs dfs -cat hdfs://nn1.example.com/file1 hdfs://nn2.example.com/file2
• hdfs dfs -cat file:///file3 /user/hadoop/file4
Exit Code:
Returns 0 on success and -1 on error.
1.3 chmod
Usage: hdfs dfs -chmod [-R] <MODE[,MODE]... | OCTALMODE> URI [URI ...]
Change the permissions of files. With -R, make the change recursively through the directory
structure. The user must be the owner of the file, or else a super-user. Additional information
is in the Permissions Guide.
Options
The -R option will make the change recursively through the directory structure.
1.4 copyFromLocal
Usage: hdfs dfs -copyFromLocal <localsrc> URI
Similar to put command, except that the source is restricted to a local file reference.
Options:
• The -f option will overwrite the destination if it already exists.
1.5 copyToLocal
Usage: hdfs dfs -copyToLocal [-ignorecrc] [-crc] URI <localdst>
Similar to get command, except that the destination is restricted to a local file reference.
1.6 cp
Usage: hdfs dfs -cp [-f] URI [URI ...] <dest>
Copy files from source to destination. This command allows multiple sources as well in
which case the destination must be a directory.
Options:
• The -f option will overwrite the destination if it already exists.
Example:
• hdfs dfs -cp /user/hadoop/file1 /user/hadoop/file2
• hdfs dfs -cp /user/hadoop/file1 /user/hadoop/file2 /user/hadoop/dir
Exit Code:
Returns 0 on success and -1 on error.
1.7 du
Usage: hdfs dfs -du [-s] [-h] URI [URI ...]
Displays sizes of files and directories contained in the given directory or the length of a file in
case its just a file.
Options:
• The -s option will result in an aggregate summary of file lengths being displayed,
rather than the individual files.
• The -h option will format file sizes in a "human-readable" fashion (e.g 64.0m instead
of 67108864)
Example:
• hdfs dfs -du /user/hadoop/dir1 /user/hadoop/file1
hdfs://nn.example.com/user/hadoop/dir1
Exit Code: Returns 0 on success and -1 on error.
1.8 get
Usage: hdfs dfs -get [-ignorecrc] [-crc] <src> <localdst>
Copy files to the local file system. Files that fail the CRC check may be copied with the -
ignorecrc option. Files and CRCs may be copied using the -crc option.
Example:
• hdfs dfs -get /user/hadoop/file localfile
• hdfs dfs -get hdfs://nn.example.com/user/hadoop/file localfile
Exit Code:
Returns 0 on success and -1 on error.
1.9 ls
Usage: hdfs dfs -ls <args>
For a file returns stat on the file with the following format:
permissions number_of_replicas userid groupid filesize modification_date modification_time
filename
For a directory it returns list of its direct children as in Unix. A directory is listed as:
permissions userid groupid modification_date modification_time dirname
Example:
• hdfs dfs -ls /user/hadoop/file1
Exit Code:
Returns 0 on success and -1 on error.
1.10 lsr
Usage: hdfs dfs -lsr <args>
Recursive version of ls. Similar to Unix ls -R.
1.11 mkdir
Usage: hdfs dfs -mkdir [-p] <paths>
Takes path uri's as argument and creates directories.
Options:
• The -p option behavior is much like Unix mkdir -p, creating parent directories along
the path.
Example:
• hdfs dfs -mkdir /user/hadoop/dir1 /user/hadoop/dir2
• hdfs dfs -mkdir hdfs://nn1.example.com/user/hadoop/dir
hdfs://nn2.example.com/user/hadoop/dir
Exit Code:
Returns 0 on success and -1 on error.
1.12 moveFromLocal
Usage: dfs -moveFromLocal <localsrc> <dst>
Similar to put command, except that the source localsrc is deleted after it's copied.
1.13 moveToLocal
Usage: hdfs dfs -moveToLocal [-crc] <src> <dst>
Displays a "Not implemented yet" message.
1.14 mv
Usage: hdfs dfs -mv URI [URI ...] <dest>
Moves files from source to destination. This command allows multiple sources as well in
which case the destination needs to be a directory. Moving files across file systems is not
permitted.
Example:
• hdfs dfs -mv /user/hadoop/file1 /user/hadoop/file2
• hdfs dfs -mv hdfs://nn.example.com/file1 hdfs://nn.example.com/file2
hdfs://nn.example.com/file3 hdfs://nn.example.com/dir1
Exit Code:
Returns 0 on success and -1 on error.
1.15 put
Usage: hdfs dfs -put <localsrc> ... <dst>
Copy single src, or multiple srcs from local file system to the destination file system. Also
reads input from stdin and writes to destination file system.
• hdfs dfs -put localfile /user/hadoop/hadoopfile
• hdfs dfs -put localfile1 localfile2 /user/hadoop/hadoopdir
• hdfs dfs -put localfile hdfs://nn.example.com/hadoop/hadoopfile
• hdfs dfs -put - hdfs://nn.example.com/hadoop/hadoopfile Reads the input from stdin.
Exit Code:
Returns 0 on success and -1 on error.
1.16 rm
Usage: hdfs dfs -rm [-skipTrash] URI [URI ...]
Delete files specified as args. Only deletes non empty directory and files. If the -skipTrash
option is specified, the trash, if enabled, will be bypassed and the specified file(s) deleted
immediately. This can be useful when it is necessary to delete files from an over-quota
directory. Refer to rmr for recursive deletes.
Example:
• hdfs dfs -rm hdfs://nn.example.com/file /user/hadoop/emptydir
Exit Code:
Returns 0 on success and -1 on error.
1.17 rmr
Usage: hdfs dfs -rmr [-skipTrash] URI [URI ...]
Recursive version of delete. If the -skipTrash option is specified, the trash, if enabled, will be
bypassed and the specified file(s) deleted immediately. This can be useful when it is
necessary to delete files from an over-quota directory.
Example:
• hdfs dfs -rmr /user/hadoop/dir
• hdfs dfs -rmr hdfs://nn.example.com/user/hadoop/dir
Exit Code:
Returns 0 on success and -1 on error.
1.18 tail
Usage: hdfs dfs -tail [-f] URI
Displays last kilobyte of the file to stdout.
Options:
• The -f option will output appended data as the file grows, as in Unix.
Example:
• hdfs dfs -tail pathname
Exit Code: Returns 0 on success and -1 on error.
1.19 text
Usage: hdfs dfs -text <src>
Takes a source file and outputs the file in text format. The allowed formats are zip and
TextRecordInputStream.
1.20 touchz
Usage: hdfs dfs -touchz URI [URI ...]
Create a file of zero length.
Example:
• hadoop -touchz pathname
Exit Code: Returns 0 on success and -1 on error.
