The blkid command offers similar functionality to lsblk, but it simply prints each block device in a flat format and includes some additional information like device/ partition UUID and file system type. However, it is preferable to use lsblk -f if you want this additional information.
Syntax
The syntax of the blkid command is:
# blkid [options] [device name]
You can easily list the UUIDs of your volumes with the blkid command:
# blkid
The output will show you the UUID of each device attached to your system, and you can use this command any time you add new volumes to your server to list your UUIDs. This is also the first step in adding a new volume to your /etc/fstab file. While I did say that using UUIDs is not required, it’s definitely recommended and can save you from trouble later on.
If you encounter below error while running the blkid command:
blkid: command not found
you may try installing the below package as per your choice of distribution:
| Distribution | Command |
|---|---|
| OS X | brew install util-linux |
| Debian | apt-get install fdisk |
| Ubuntu | apt-get install fdisk |
| Alpine | apk add util-linux |
| Arch Linux | pacman -S util-linux |
| Kali Linux | apt-get install fdisk |
| CentOS | yum install util-linux |
| Fedora | dnf install util-linux |
| Raspbian | apt-get install util-linux |
You can also use the blkid utility to check the filesystem type, as shown in this snipped example from an Ubuntu system:
$ sudo blkid /dev/sda1: [...] TYPE="ext4" /dev/sda5: [...] TYPE="swap" /dev/sdb1: [...] TYPE="ext4" $
This output also shows that the filesystem on /dev/sdb1 is an ext4 filesystem.
blkid Command Examples
1. List all partitions:
$ sudo blkid
2. List all partitions in a table, including current mountpoints:
$ sudo blkid -o list
Conclusion
A UUID is a unique identification number assigned when the partition or volume is formatted using mkfs. You can determine a filesystem’s UUID using either the blkid or the lsblk -f command. Filesystems can be mounted either persistently in the /etc/fstab file using their UUID or temporarily using the -U uuid option on the mount command.