NVME-ID-CTRL-LIST(1) NVMe Manual NVME-ID-CTRL-LIST(1)

nvme-id-ctrl-list - Send NVMe Identify List Controllers, return result and structure

nvme [<global-options>] id ctrl-list <device> [--cntid=<cntid> | -c <cntid>]
                        [--namespace-id=<nsid> | -n <nsid>]

For the NVMe device given, sends an identify command for controller list and provides the result and returned structure. This uses either mode 12h or 13h depending on the requested namespace identifier.

The <device> parameter is mandatory and may be either the NVMe character device (ex: /dev/nvme0), or a namespace block device (ex: /dev/nvme0n1). The starting controller in the list always begins with 0 unless the '--cntid' option is given to override.

On success, the controller array is printed for each index and controller identifier.

-c <cntid>, --cntid=<cntid>

Retrieve the identify list structure starting with the given controller id.

-n <nsid>, --namespace-id=<nsid>

If provided, will request the controllers attached to the specified namespace. If no namespace is given, or set to 0, the command requests the controller list for the entire subsystem, whether or not they are attached to namespace(s).

The following options are defined at the top-level nvme command and are available to this subcommand:

--dry-run

Print the command that would be executed, but do not actually execute it.

--no-ioctl-probing

Disable probing for 64-bit IOCTL support.

--no-retries

Disable retry logic on transient errors.

-o <fmt>, --output-format=<fmt>

Set the reporting format to normal, tabular, 'json, or binary. Only one output format may be used at a time.

--output-format-version=<version>

Select the output format version. Version 1 uses the original field naming, while version 2 (default) provides more consistent and script-friendly field names.

--timeout=<ms>

Set the timeout for the command in milliseconds.

-v, --verbose

Increase the level of detail in the output. May be specified multiple times to further increase verbosity.

These options can also be set as machine-wide defaults in nvme-cli.conf(5). A command-line flag always overrides the file.

No examples yet.

Part of the nvme-user suite

09/07/2026 NVMe