tr
Translate, squeeze, or delete characters from standard input.
Synopsis
tr [OPTION]... SET1 [SET2]
Examples
echo 'hello' | tr 'a-z' 'A-Z'
tr -d '\n' < file.txt
tr -s ' ' < file.txt
tr -dc 'a-zA-Z0-9' < /dev/urandom | head -c 16
Common options
| Flag | Description |
|---|---|
| -d | Delete characters in SET1 |
| -s | Squeeze repeated characters |
| -c, -C | Complement SET1 |
About tr
The `tr` command translate, squeeze, or delete characters from standard input. Text viewing and editing commands are fundamental tools in any Linux user's toolkit.
Linux treats almost everything as a file, so the ability to quickly inspect, filter, transform, and edit file contents from the command line is critical. These commands are regularly combined with pipes and redirects to build powerful data-processing pipelines.
The command accepts 3 commonly used flags shown above, though the full set of options is available in the man page (`man tr`). The 4 examples on this page cover typical real-world usage patterns that you can copy and adapt for your own workflows.
Related commands
More File Viewing & Editing Commands
Other commands in the File Viewing & Editing category