---
date: 2017-03-18T11:19:45Z
title: "rclone dedupe"
slug: rclone_dedupe
url: /commands/rclone_dedupe/
---
## rclone dedupe

Interactively find duplicate files delete/rename them.

### Synopsis

By default `dedup` interactively finds duplicate files and offers to
delete all but one or rename them to be different. Only useful with
Google Drive which can have duplicate file names.

The `dedupe` command will delete all but one of any identical (same
md5sum) files it finds without confirmation. This means that for most
duplicated files the `dedupe` command will not be interactive. You
can use `--dry-run` to see what would happen without doing anything.

Here is an example run.

Before - with duplicates

$ rclone lsl drive:dupes
6048320 2016-03-05 16:23:16.798000000 one.txt
6048320 2016-03-05 16:23:11.775000000 one.txt
564374 2016-03-05 16:23:06.731000000 one.txt
6048320 2016-03-05 16:18:26.092000000 one.txt
6048320 2016-03-05 16:22:46.185000000 two.txt
1744073 2016-03-05 16:22:38.104000000 two.txt
564374 2016-03-05 16:22:52.118000000 two.txt

Now the `dedupe` session

$ rclone dedupe drive:dupes
2016/03/05 16:24:37 Google drive root 'dupes': Looking for duplicates using interactive mode.
one.txt: Found 4 duplicates - deleting identical copies
one.txt: Deleting 2/3 identical duplicates (md5sum "1eedaa9fe86fd4b8632e2ac549403b36")
one.txt: 2 duplicates remain
1: 6048320 bytes, 2016-03-05 16:23:16.798000000, md5sum 1eedaa9fe86fd4b8632e2ac549403b36
2: 564374 bytes, 2016-03-05 16:23:06.731000000, md5sum 7594e7dc9fc28f727c42ee3e0749de81
s) Skip and do nothing
k) Keep just one (choose which in next step)
r) Rename all to be different (by changing file.jpg to file-1.jpg)
s/k/r> k
Enter the number of the file to keep> 1
one.txt: Deleted 1 extra copies
two.txt: Found 3 duplicates - deleting identical copies
two.txt: 3 duplicates remain
1: 564374 bytes, 2016-03-05 16:22:52.118000000, md5sum 7594e7dc9fc28f727c42ee3e0749de81
2: 6048320 bytes, 2016-03-05 16:22:46.185000000, md5sum 1eedaa9fe86fd4b8632e2ac549403b36
3: 1744073 bytes, 2016-03-05 16:22:38.104000000, md5sum 851957f7fb6f0bc4ce76be966d336802
s) Skip and do nothing
k) Keep just one (choose which in next step)
r) Rename all to be different (by changing file.jpg to file-1.jpg)
s/k/r> r
two-1.txt: renamed from: two.txt
two-2.txt: renamed from: two.txt
two-3.txt: renamed from: two.txt

The result being

$ rclone lsl drive:dupes
6048320 2016-03-05 16:23:16.798000000 one.txt
564374 2016-03-05 16:22:52.118000000 two-1.txt
6048320 2016-03-05 16:22:46.185000000 two-2.txt
1744073 2016-03-05 16:22:38.104000000 two-3.txt

Dedupe can be run non interactively using the `--dedupe-mode` flag or by using an extra parameter with the same value

* `--dedupe-mode interactive` - interactive as above.
* `--dedupe-mode skip` - removes identical files then skips anything left.
* `--dedupe-mode first` - removes identical files then keeps the first one.
* `--dedupe-mode newest` - removes identical files then keeps the newest one.
* `--dedupe-mode oldest` - removes identical files then keeps the oldest one.
* `--dedupe-mode rename` - removes identical files then renames the rest to be different.

For example to rename all the identically named photos in your Google Photos directory, do

rclone dedupe --dedupe-mode rename "drive:Google Photos"

rclone dedupe rename "drive:Google Photos"

```
rclone dedupe [mode] remote:path
```

### Options

### Options inherited from parent commands

```
--acd-templink-threshold int Files >= this size will be downloaded via their tempLink. (default 9G)
--acd-upload-wait-per-gb duration Additional time per GB to wait after a failed complete upload to see if it appears. (default 3m0s)
--ask-password Allow prompt for password for encrypted configuration. (default true)
--b2-chunk-size int Upload chunk size. Must fit in memory. (default 96M)
--b2-test-mode string A flag string for X-Bz-Test-Mode header.
--b2-upload-cutoff int Cutoff for switching to chunked upload (default 190.735M)
--b2-versions Include old versions in directory listings.
--backup-dir string Make backups into hierarchy based in DIR.
--buffer-size int Buffer size when copying files. (default 16M)
--bwlimit BwTimetable Bandwidth limit in kBytes/s, or use suffix b|k|M|G or a full timetable.
--checkers int Number of checkers to run in parallel. (default 8)
-c, --checksum Skip based on checksum & size, not mod-time & size
--config string Config file. (default "/home/ncw/.rclone.conf")
--contimeout duration Connect timeout (default 1m0s)
-L, --copy-links Follow symlinks and copy the pointed to item.
--cpuprofile string Write cpu profile to file
--crypt-show-mapping For all files listed show how the names encrypt.
--delete-after When synchronizing, delete files on destination after transfering
--delete-before When synchronizing, delete files on destination before transfering
--delete-during When synchronizing, delete files during transfer (default)
--delete-excluded Delete files on dest excluded from sync
--drive-auth-owner-only Only consider files owned by the authenticated user. Requires drive-full-list.
--drive-chunk-size int Upload chunk size. Must a power of 2 >= 256k. (default 8M)
--drive-formats string Comma separated list of preferred formats for downloading Google docs. (default "docx,xlsx,pptx,svg")
--drive-full-list Use a full listing for directory list. More data but usually quicker. (obsolete)
--drive-list-chunk int Size of listing chunk 100-1000. 0 to disable. (default 1000)
--drive-skip-gdocs Skip google documents in all listings.
--drive-upload-cutoff int Cutoff for switching to chunked upload (default 8M)
--drive-use-trash Send files to the trash instead of deleting permanently.
--dropbox-chunk-size int Upload chunk size. Max 150M. (default 128M)
-n, --dry-run Do a trial run with no permanent changes
--dump-auth Dump HTTP headers with auth info
--dump-bodies Dump HTTP headers and bodies - may contain sensitive info
--dump-filters Dump the filters to the output
--dump-headers Dump HTTP headers - may contain sensitive info
--exclude stringArray Exclude files matching pattern
--exclude-from stringArray Read exclude patterns from file
--files-from stringArray Read list of source-file names from file
-f, --filter stringArray Add a file-filtering rule
--filter-from stringArray Read filtering patterns from a file
--ignore-checksum Skip post copy check of checksums.
--ignore-existing Skip all files that exist on destination
--ignore-size Ignore size when skipping use mod-time or checksum.
-I, --ignore-times Don't skip files that match size and time - transfer all files
--include stringArray Include files matching pattern
--include-from stringArray Read include patterns from file
--log-file string Log everything to this file
--log-level string Log level DEBUG|INFO|NOTICE|ERROR (default "INFO")
--low-level-retries int Number of low level retries to do. (default 10)
--max-age string Don't transfer any file older than this in s or suffix ms|s|m|h|d|w|M|y
--max-depth int If set limits the recursion depth to this. (default -1)
--max-size int Don't transfer any file larger than this in k or suffix b|k|M|G (default off)
--memprofile string Write memory profile to file
--min-age string Don't transfer any file younger than this in s or suffix ms|s|m|h|d|w|M|y
--min-size int Don't transfer any file smaller than this in k or suffix b|k|M|G (default off)
--modify-window duration Max time diff to be considered the same (default 1ns)
--no-check-certificate Do not verify the server SSL certificate. Insecure.
--no-gzip-encoding Don't set Accept-Encoding: gzip.
--no-traverse Don't traverse destination file system on copy.
--no-update-modtime Don't update destination mod-time if files identical.
--old-sync-method Temporary flag to select old sync method
-x, --one-file-system Don't cross filesystem boundaries.
--onedrive-chunk-size int Above this size files will be chunked - must be multiple of 320k. (default 10M)
--onedrive-upload-cutoff int Cutoff for switching to chunked upload - must be <= 100MB (default 10M)
-q, --quiet Print as little stuff as possible
--retries int Retry operations this many times if they fail (default 3)
--s3-acl string Canned ACL used when creating buckets and/or storing objects in S3
--s3-storage-class string Storage class to use when uploading S3 objects (STANDARD|REDUCED_REDUNDANCY|STANDARD_IA)
--size-only Skip based on size only, not mod-time or checksum
--stats duration Interval between printing stats, e.g 500ms, 60s, 5m. (0 to disable) (default 1m0s)
--stats-unit string Show data rate in stats as either 'bits' or 'bytes'/s (default "bytes")
--suffix string Suffix for use with --backup-dir.
--swift-chunk-size int Above this size files will be chunked into a _segments container. (default 5G)
--syslog Use Syslog for logging
--syslog-facility string Facility for syslog, eg KERN,USER,... (default "DAEMON")
--timeout duration IO idle timeout (default 5m0s)
--track-renames When synchronizing, track file renames and do a server side move if possible
--transfers int Number of file transfers to run in parallel. (default 4)
-u, --update Skip files that are newer on the destination.
-v, --verbose count[=-1] Print lots more stuff (repeat for more)
```

### SEE ALSO
* [rclone](/commands/rclone/) - Sync files and directories to and from local and remote object stores - v1.36

###### Auto generated by spf13/cobra on 18-Mar-2017