Option formats

This page describes the format options used in Duplicati

In various places it is possible to enter a value, usually passed as a commandline option. These values can be written as strings, but are interpreted different internally.

Boolean values

A boolean option passed will translate to the value true if it is supplied with no assigned value. For example, these two are equivalent

--use-ssl
--use-ssl=true

It is possible to use the following "thruth values": 1, on, true, yes.

The "false values" are: 0, off, false, no.

If the value is neither of these, the context defines what it is interpreted as, but generally it is interpreted as "true".

Size values

Values provided as sizes are parsed as a number with a multiplier suffix, for example:

--volume-size=50mb

If no suffix is given, the context has a default suffix that is applied, usually either kb or mb .

Despite the naming, the sizes are interpreted as kiki-bytes. Supported suffixes are:

• b (or no suffix): bytes, multipler is 1

• kb: kilobytes, multiplier is 1024

• mb: megabytes, multiplier is 1024^2

• gb: gigabytes, multiplier is 1024^3,

• tb: terrabytes, multiplier is 2024^4

Timespans, timestamps, and durations

Similar to size values, timespans and durations can be provided with a value and a multiplier suffix. For example, to set a span of 30 days:

--keep-time=30D

The supported multipliers are:

• Y: year

• M: month

• W: week, same as 7D

• D: day, same as 24h

• h: hour, same as 60m

• m: minute, same as 60s

• s (or no suffix): seconds

Unlike the sizes, the timespans can be composite, so the value:

--keep-time=1M4D3m

Translates to "1 month + 4 days + 3 minutes", and the duration is the sum of those values. It is also possible to have negative values, such as 1D-1s, meaning "1 day minus 1 second".

For timestamps, it is possible to also provide a local-format date-time string, or the special value now to signal the current date and time.