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dmesg

The dmesg command is used to view or control the kernel ring buffer.

The kernel stores the kernel boot logs in the ring buffer. If you didn't have time to view the information during boot-up, you can use dmesg to view it.

Syntax​

dmesg [options]

dmesg -C / dmesg --clear
dmesg -c / dmesg --read-clear [options]

Option Explanation​

  • -c, --read-clear: Display the information and then clear the contents of the ring buffer.
  • -C, --clear: Clear the contents of the ring buffer.

Common Commands​

  • Display all kernel log content in the ring buffer
dmesg
  • Save the kernel log to a file
dmesg > kernel.log
  • Clear the cached logs; useful for reducing log content when debugging drivers
dmesg -C