pvs Command in Linux

---

---

The pvs command in Linux displays information about the physical volume. It provides a summary of all physical volumes in a system, showing details such as the volume name, volume group, size, and usage. It is a part of LVM (Logical Volume Manager) and is useful for monitoring storage and managing logical volumes efficiently.

Table of Contents

Here is a comprehensive guide to the options available with the pvs command −

• Syntax of pvs Command
• pvs Command Options
• Examples of pvs Command in Linux

Syntax of pvs Command

The syntax of the pvs command in Linux is as follows −

pvs [options] [physical_volume…]

In the above syntax, the [options] field is used to specify the options the modify output format, filter data, or provide additional details. The [physical_volume…] is used to specify one or more PV or device paths.

pvs Command Options

The options of the Linux pvs command are listed below −

Examples of pvs Command in Linux

In the section, the usage of the pvs command in Linux will be discussed with examples −

• Displaying all Physical Volumes (PVs)
• Displaying Physical Volumes (PVs) without Column Headers
• Displaying a Specific Field
• Displaying All Devices not Initialized as PVs
• Sorting Physical Volumes (PVs)
• Displaying Output in JSON Format
• Displaying Segment Allocation Details
• Displaying Output in a Specific Unit
• Suppressing Unit Suffix
• Displaying Physical Volumes (PVs) with Field Names Prefixed
• Displaying Output in Rows
• Displaying Usage Help

Displaying all Physical Volumes (PVs)

To display all physical volumes, use the pvs command without any option −

sudo pvs

Displaying Physical Volumes (PVs) without Column Headers

To display all physical volumes without column headings, use the --noheadings option −

sudo pvs --noheadings

The above command removes the first line of headers from the output, useful for scripts.

Display Specific Fields

To display a specific field, use the -o or --option with the pvs command. For example, to show only the PV name and size columns.

sudo pvs -o pv_name,pv_size

To display all the available options, run the following command −

sudo pvs -o help

Displaying All Devices not Initialized as PVs

To show information about devices that are not initialized as physical volumes (PVs), use the -a or --all option with the psv command −

sudo pvs -a

Sorting Physical Volumes (PVs)

Use the -O or --sort option to sort the physical volumes. For example, to sort the PVs by size in ascending order, use the following command −

sudo pvs -O pv_size

To sort in descending or use a dash (- reverses the order) with pv_size option −

sudo pvs -O -pv_size

Displaying Output in JSON Format

To display the output in JSON format, use the --reportformat option −

sudo pvs --reportformat json

Displaying Segment Allocation Details

To display the segment allocation details, use the --segments option with the pvs command −

sudo pvs --segments

Displaying Output in a Specific Unit

To display the output in a specific unit, use the --units options. To display output in gigabytes, use g with the --units option −

sudo pvs --units g

Other units that can be used are listed below −

• b (bytes), s (sectors), k (kilobytes), m (megabytes), t (terabytes), p (petabytes), e (exabytes)
• Capitalized versions (K, M, G, etc.) use SI units (base 1000 instead of 1024).

Suppressing Unit Suffix

To suppress the unit suffix from the output, use the --nosuffix option −

sudo pvs --nosuffix --units M

The above command outputs sizes in megabytes without unit symbols.

Displaying Physical Volumes (PVs) with Field Names Prefixed

To display the PVs with field names prefixed, use the --nameprefixes option −

sudo pvs --nameprefixes

The above command displays fields as LVM2_field=value, useful for parsing in scripts.

Displaying Output in Rows

By default, the output is displayed in the columns. To display the output in row format, use the --rows options

sudo pvs --rows

Displaying Usage Help

To display usage help of the pvs command, use the -h or --help option −

pvs -h

Conclusion

The pvs command in Linux is used to display information about physical volumes in a system, providing details such as volume name, volume group, size, and usage. It is an essential tool for managing and monitoring storage in a system using LVM (Logical Volume Manager). Various options and syntax allow customization of the output, such as sorting, filtering, and displaying in different formats.