SWAPLABEL(8) System Administration SWAPLABEL(8)

# [NAME](#NAME)

swaplabel - print or change the label or UUID of a swap area

# [SYNOPSIS](#SYNOPSIS)

**swaplabel** \[**-L** *label*] \[**-U** *UUID*] *device*

# [DESCRIPTION](#DESCRIPTION)

**swaplabel** will display or change the label or UUID of a swap partition located on *device* (or regular file).

If the optional arguments **-L** and **-U** are not given, **swaplabel** will simply display the current swap-area label and UUID of *device*.

If an optional argument is present, then **swaplabel** will change the appropriate value on *device*. These values can also be set during swap creation using [**mkswap**(8)](/man/os/util-linux/mkswap.8). The **swaplabel** utility allows changing the label or UUID on an actively used swap device.

# [OPTIONS](#OPTIONS)

**-L**, **--label** *label*

Specify a new *label* for the device. Swap partition labels can be at most 16 characters long. If *label* is longer than 16 characters, **swaplabel** will truncate it and print a warning message.

**-U**, **--uuid** *UUID*

Specify a new *UUID* for the device. The *UUID* must be in the standard 8-4-4-4-12 character format, such as is output by [**uuidgen**(1)](/man/os/util-linux/uuidgen.1).

**-h**, **--help**

Display help text and exit.

**-V**, **--version**

Display version and exit.

# [ENVIRONMENT](#ENVIRONMENT)

LIBBLKID\_DEBUG=all

enables libblkid debug output.

# [AUTHORS](#AUTHORS)

**swaplabel** was written by *Jason Borden* <jborden@bluehost.com> and *Karel Zak* <kzak@redhat.com>.

# [SEE ALSO](#SEE_ALSO)

[**uuidgen**(1)](/man/os/util-linux/uuidgen.1), [**mkswap**(8)](/man/os/util-linux/mkswap.8), [**swapon**(8)](/man/os/util-linux/swapon.8)

# [REPORTING BUGS](#REPORTING_BUGS)

For bug reports, use the *issue tracker* <https://github.com/util-linux/util-linux/issues>.

# [AVAILABILITY](#AVAILABILITY)

The **swaplabel** command is part of the util-linux package which can be downloaded from *Linux Kernel Archive* <https://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/utils/util-linux/>.

2026-10-19 util-linux 2.42.4

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Document: swaplabel(8) from util-linux 2.42.4-r1 (Chainguard OS)