SYSCTL(8)SYSCTL(8)NAME
sysctl - configure kernel parameters at runtime
SYNOPSIS
sysctl [-n] [-e] variable ...
sysctl [-n] [-e] [-q] -w variable=value ...
sysctl [-n] [-e] [-q] -p <filename>
sysctl [-n] [-e] -a
sysctl [-n] [-e] -A
DESCRIPTION
sysctl is used to modify kernel parameters at runtime. The parameters
available are those listed under /proc/sys/. Procfs is required for
sysctl(8) support in Linux. You can use sysctl(8) to both read and
write sysctl data.
PARAMETERS
variable
The name of a key to read from. An example is kernel.ostype.
The '/' separator is also accepted in place of a '.'.
variable=value
To set a key, use the form variable=value, where variable is the
key and value is the value to set it to. If the value contains
quotes or characters which are parsed by the shell, you may need
to enclose the value in double quotes. This requires the -w
parameter to use.
-n Use this option to disable printing of the key name when print‐
ing values.
-e Use this option to ignore errors about unknown keys.
-N Use this option to only print the names. It may be useful with
shells that have programmable completion.
-q Use this option to not display the values set to stdout.
-w Use this option when you want to change a sysctl setting.
-p Load in sysctl settings from the file specified or
/etc/sysctl.conf if none given. Specifying - as filename means
reading data from standard input.
-a Display all values currently available.
-A Display all values currently available in table form.
EXAMPLES
/sbin/sysctl -a
/sbin/sysctl -n kernel.hostname
/sbin/sysctl -w kernel.domainname="example.com"
/sbin/sysctl -p /etc/sysctl.conf
FILES
/proc/sys /etc/sysctl.conf
SEE ALSOsysctl.conf(5)BUGS
The -A parameter behaves just as -a does.
AUTHOR
George Staikos, <staikos@0wned.org>
21 Sep 1999 SYSCTL(8)
