Pipe Viewer

Current version: 1.9.42 (11 October 2025) [src]

pv - Pipe Viewer - is a terminal-based tool for monitoring the progress of data through a pipeline and modifying its flow. It can be inserted into any normal pipeline between two processes to give a visual indication of how quickly data is passing through, how long it has taken, how near to completion it is, and an estimate of how long it will be until completion. Data flow rate, error handling strategy, buffer size, and cache interaction can all be adjusted.

Additional support is available for multiple instances working in tandem, to given a visual indicator of relative throughput in a complex pipeline:

3 PVs in a pipeline, showing progress reading a file, the rate of its decompression with bzcat, and the rate of its recompression with gzip.
Recompressing an archive in 2002
3 PVs in a pipeline using Unicode drawing characters, showing granular progress reading a file, a shaded gauge showing the current vs maximum rate of its decompression with xzcat, and the rate of its recompression with gzip.
Recompressing an archive in 2024

This software is distributed under the terms of the GNU General Public License version 3 or later.

Releases are signed with the signing key.

How to verify the signature of a download

Each release has an associated signature file. This is generated from the source archive using the private counterpart of the public signing key. Checking the signature using the public key allows you to confirm that the archive was signed by the author.

# Download the release's source archive
curl -O https://ivarch.com/s/pv-1.9.42.tar.gz
# Download the release's signature file
curl -O https://ivarch.com/s/pv-1.9.42.tar.gz.txt
# Use GnuPG to verify the signature
gpg --verify pv-1.9.42.tar.gz.txt pv-1.9.42.tar.gz

If you have installed the public signing key in your keyring, you will see confirmation like this:

gpg: Signature made Sat 11 Oct 2025 22:02:58 BST
gpg:                using RSA key D8FF44A79CC8A61EF694FA7EB883E01314DA8E84
gpg:                issuer "andrew.wood@ivarch.com"
gpg: Good signature from "Andrew Wood <andrew.wood@ivarch.com>" [unknown]
gpg: WARNING: This key is not certified with a trusted signature!
gpg:          There is no indication that the signature belongs to the owner.
Primary key fingerprint: D8FF 44A7 9CC8 A61E F694  FA7E B883 E013 14DA 8E84

To install pv, follow these steps:

curl -O https://ivarch.com/s/pv-1.9.42.tar.gz
tar xzf pv-1.9.42.tar.gz
cd pv-1.9.42
sh ./configure
make
sudo make install

If you do not want to build it from source yourself, several operating systems and Linux distributions carry pv. See the "Packages and ports" section below.

Comments, bug reports, and patches can be sent using the Issue tracker, or through the Contact Form.

Packages and ports

Debian and Ubuntu:Run "sudo apt-get install pv" to install the latest packaged version from "unstable" / "testing" (also see the Debian package tracker page).
Arch Linux:Run "sudo pacman -S pv" to install the latest packaged version (also see the Arch Linux package information page).
Cygwin:Available as a package. (Christian Franke)
Gentoo:Run "emerge sys-apps/pv" to get the latest version (also see the Gentoo package information page). (S. Lockwood-Childs; update from Peter Broadwell)
Slackware:Use this SlackBuild script.
openSUSE Leap 15.3:Run "sudo zypper install pv". (Keith Guitar)
FreeBSD:Listed on FreshPorts.
OpenBSD:Listed under ports.
NetBSD:Listed under pkgsrc.
Fedora:Run "yum install pv"; the "extras" repository may be required (also see the Fedora package information page).
Solaris:Download binary packages from OpenCSW.
OpenSolaris:Includes pv version 1.1.4 in the "/dev" repository (as of build 119). Install with "pkg install SUNWpipe-viewer". (Menno Lageman)
AIX:An RPM from Pawel Piatek is in the downloads section.
SerenityOS:Ported to SerenityOS. (Brian Gianforcaro)
MacPorts:Run "port install pv" to get the latest version. (Brandon Crawford)
Mac HomeBrew:Run "brew install pv" to get the latest version. (Justin Campbell)
Exherbo:Run "cave resolve -x app-misc/pv" to get the latest version. (Wulf C. Krueger)
IRIX Nekoware:Available in the Nekoware "beta" repository. (Mark Round)
Syabas PopcornHour:Someone posted this port in a forum.
Nix:Run "nix-env -i pv". (Erick Ochoa)
Spack:Run "spack install pv" to get the latest version. (Christoph Junghans)

Notes

News

1.9.42 - 11 October 2025

1.9.34 - 26 July 2025

1.9.31 - 28 January 2025

1.9.27 - 12 January 2025

1.9.25 - 22 December 2024

1.9.24 - 19 December 2024

1.9.15 - 8 December 2024

1.9.7 - 2 December 2024

1.9.0 - 15 October 2024

1.8.14 - 7 September 2024

1.8.13 - 18 August 2024

1.8.12 - 18 July 2024

1.8.10 - 15 June 2024

1.8.9 - 21 April 2024

1.8.5 - 19 November 2023

1.8.0 - 24 September 2023

Features

Security

Fixes

Cleanups

Dropped items

Other items

[Show full history]