Standard Multiplicative Suffixes

Several utilities allow you to use the suffixes listed in Table VI-1 following byte counts. You can precede a multiplicative suffix with a number that is a multiplier. For example, 5K means 5 x 2¹⁰. The absence of a multiplier indicates that the multiplicative suffix is to be multiplied by 1. The utilities that allow these suffixes are marked as such. Utilities that accept only some of these suffixes or accept similar suffixes are identified in the text.

Table VI-1. Multiplicative suffixes

Suffix	Multiplicative value
KB	1,000 (103)
K	1,024 (210)
PB	1015
P	250
MB	1,000,000 (106)
M	1,048,576 (220)
GB	1,000,000,000 (109)
G	1,073,741,824 (230)
TB	1012
T	240
EB	1018
E	260
ZB	1021
Z	270
YB	1024
Y	280

BLOCKSIZE

Some utilities use the BLOCKSIZE environment variable to set a default block size. You can set BLOCKSIZE to a value that is a number of bytes or to a value that uses one of the K, M, or G suffixes. The text identifies utilities that use BLOCKSIZE.