Command Line Interface

Most anything you can do with the graphical user interface, you can do with BleachBit’s command line interface which serves two needs:

  • Automating cleaning in scripts, batch files, and scheduled tasks
  • Running BleachBit headless in terminal-only connections.

This page includes some examples.

Video

This video introduces the command line interface for Microsoft Windows.

Microsoft Windows

In Windows, use the executable bleachbit_console.exe to show the console output. The directory isn’t added automatically to the path, so you use the full path C:\Program Files (x86)\BleachBit\bleachbit_console.exe. Where acceptable, it is best to substitute the environment variable %ProgramFiles(x86)% for C:\Program Files (x86)\.

Linux

Running bleachbit (which is in the path) with arguments runs BleachBit in command line mode. Without arguments, BleachBit runs in graphical mode. The clipboard can only be cleaned under an X session (which is generally not available over SSH or in cron).

Listing options

To see a list of cleaners and their options, run:

bleachbit --list-cleaners

Aliases are -l and --list.

Preview

To preview deleting Firefox cache, run:

bleachbit --preview firefox.cache

An alias is --p.

Deleting files

When you are ready to delete files and make other permanent changes, replace --preview with --clean. To delete Firefox cache, for example, run:

bleachbit --clean firefox.vacuum

An alias is --c.

Including multiple cleaners and options

Preview and cleaning modes accept the same options for including and excluding cleaners and options.

Multiple arguments are allowed. To preview deleting Firefox cache and Opera cache, list them separated by a space:

bleachbit --preview firefox.cache opera.cache

Wildcards are allowed for options, so to preview deleting all options for Opera, run:

bleachbit --preview opera.*

Wildcards are not allowed for cleaners, so do not run bleachbit --preview *.*.

To select the same options as in the GUI, use --preset, which may be combined with other options:

bleachbit --preview --preset firefox.cache

To enable all cleaners and options that do not have a warning, use --all-but-warning, which may be combined with other options. Use this with caution, as it will delete many files.

bleachbit --preview --all-but-warning firefox.cache

Excluding options

To except cleaning options, combine --except with inclusion options. The following previews all of Firefox except cookies.

bleachbit --preview firefox.* --except firefox.cookies

These three commands are equivalent: they include all Firefox and Chromium options except their passwords. The first option demonstrates that --except accepts multiple cleaner options, separated by commas.

bleachbit --clean firefox.* chromium.* --except firefox.passwords,chromium.passwords
bleachbit --clean firefox.* chromium.* --except firefox.passwords --except chromium.passwords
bleachbit --clean chromium.* --except firefox.passwords firefox.*  --except chromium.passwords

However, the following command will delete passwords in Chromium.

bleachbit --clean firefox.* chromium.* --except firefox.passwords chromium.passwords

Notes:

  • The order of positive and negative options does not matter.
  • --except is processed after positive options.
  • Each --except accepts exactly one string, which may be comma delimited.
  • --except can be used multiple times.
  • --except can be combined with --preset.
  • --except does not accept wildcards.
  • --except was introduced after BleachBit 5.0.2.

Overwriting files

To overwrite the contents of files, so they cannot be undeleted later, add --overwrite:

bleachbit --overwrite --clean firefox.vacuum

Without --overwrite, BleachBit checks the configuration set in the graphical user interface.

Shredding files

To shred any file, so its contents cannot be recovered, use --shred. While --overwrite refers to the files identified by --clean, the option --shred shreds any file anywhere. For example, this shreds one file named yoga_emails.txt:

bleachbit --shred ~/yoga_email.txt

To shred all files under a directory, pass the name of the directory like this:

bleachbit --shred "C:\Microsoft Exchange\Top Secret Emails\"

Wiping empty space

When files are deleted without shredding, the contents might be recoverable from the disk’s empty free space. To prevent recovery from empty space, you can wipe the empty space. Unlike wiping specific files, wiping empty space takes a long time.

You might want to wipe empty space for each logical drive. For example, on Windows you might wipe C: and D:, if you write sensitive files to both. On Linux, you might want to wipe / and /home if they are separate partitions and if you write sensitive information to both.

To wipe any partition, pass any writable directory in that partition to --wipe-empty-space. For example:

bleachbit --wipe-empty-space ~/.cache/

Wiping free empty space does not change how much free space is left, when the process is done. For example, if you start with 10GB free, then you will still have 10GB free when the process is done.

BleachBit 5.0.2 and earlier used --wipe-free-space instead of --wipe-empty-space.

cron example (Linux)

To vacuum Firefox each night at 03:00, run this to edit cron jobs:

crontab -e

and add this line:

0 3 * * * bleachbit --clean firefox.vacuum

Windows Task Scheduler

To vacuum Firefox each night at 03:00:

  • Open the Control Panel.
  • Open Scheduled Tasks.
  • Click Add Scheduled Task.
  • Click Next.
  • Click Browse.
  • Choose C:\Program Files (x86)\BleachBit\bleachbit_console.exe.
  • Choose Daily.
  • Set the start time.
  • Click Next.
  • Click Next.
  • Check Advanced Properties.
  • At the end of Run, add –clean firefox.vacuum.
  • Click OK.