gdal - Man Page
Name
gdal ā Main gdal entry point
Added in version 3.11.
Synopsis
Usage: gdal <COMMAND> [OPTIONS] where <COMMAND> is one of: - convert: Convert a dataset (shortcut for 'gdal raster convert' or 'gdal vector convert'). - dataset: Commands to manage datasets. - driver: Command for driver specific operations. - info: Return information on a dataset (shortcut for 'gdal raster info' or 'gdal vector info'). - mdim: Multidimensional commands. - pipeline: Process a dataset applying several steps. - raster: Raster commands. - vector: Vector commands. - vsi: GDAL Virtual System Interface (VSI) commands. Common Options: -h, --help Display help message and exit --json-usage Display usage as JSON document and exit --config <KEY>=<VALUE> Configuration option [may be repeated] Options: --version Display GDAL version and exit --drivers Display driver list as JSON document 'gdal <FILENAME>' can also be used as a shortcut for 'gdal info <FILENAME>'. And 'gdal read <FILENAME> ! ...' as a shortcut for 'gdal pipeline <FILENAME> ! ...'.
Return Status Code
The program returns status code 0 in case of success, and non-zero in case of error (non-blocking errors emitted as warnings are considered as a successful execution).
Examples
Example 1: Display the GDAL version
$ gdal --version GDAL 3.13.2 "Iowa City", released 2026/07/20 (debug build)
Example 2: Getting information on the file utm.tif (with JSON output)
$ gdal info utm.tif
Example 3: Converting file utm.tif to GeoPackage raster
$ gdal convert utm.tif utm.gpkg
Example 4: Getting information on all available commands and subcommands as a JSON document.
$ gdal --json-usage
Example 5: Getting list of all formats supported by the current GDAL build, as text
$ gdal --formats
Example 6: Search for Parquet in the list of all formats using jq
Bash
$ gdal --drivers | jq '.[] | select(.short_name == "Parquet")'
PowerShell
gdal --drivers | jq '.[] | select(.short_name == \"Parquet\")'
Author
Even Rouault <even.rouault@spatialys.com>
Copyright
1998-2026
Info
Jul 22, 2026 GDAL