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Kubectl Commands

Introduction
In this article, I am going to present a comprehensive cheat sheet of commonly used Kubectl
commands with examples.

Kubectl is the command line configuration tool for Kubernetes that communicates with a
Kubernetes API server. Using Kubectl allows you to create, inspect, update, and delete Kubernetes
objects.

Installing Kubectl
Use the following commands to install kubectl on Linux, macOS, and Windows.

# Linux
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install -y kubectl

# MacOS (using Homebrew):

brew install kubectl

# Windows OS (using Choco)

choco install kubernetes-cli

# verify the installation by running

kubectl version

Connection to Kubernetes cluster

We need to establish a connection to a Kubernetes cluster before we can utilize the power of
kubectl commands. In this article, I will demonstrate the process using Azure Kubernetes Service
(AKS), but keep in mind that you can connect to any Kubernetes cluster like Amazon Elastic
Kubernetes Service (EKS), Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE), or any other Kubernetes platform to
execute kubectl commands."

# login into azure first

az login

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az account list
# or
az account list --output table

# Select the subscription

az account set -s "anji.keesari"

# Display information about the currently logged-in Azure subscription

az account show
# or
az account show --output table

# Connect to Cluster

# Connect to Azure Kubernetes Service Cluster with User Role

az aks get-credentials -g "rg-rgname-dev" -n "aks-clustername-dev"

# Connect to Azure Kubernetes Service Cluster with Admin Role

az aks get-credentials -g "rg-rgname-dev" -n "aks-clustername-dev" --admin

# Display detailed information about an AKS cluster

az aks show -g "rg-rgname-dev" -n "aks-clustername-dev"

Cluster Information
This command provides an overview of the cluster information, including the cluster endpoint,
certificate authority, and other relevant details.

kubectl cluster-info

Version
Retrieves the Kubernetes version information for the client, server, and other components.

kubectl version
kubectl version --short
kubectl version --short --client

kubectl --help
This command provides a comprehensive overview of the kubectl command-line tool's usage,
available commands, and options. It displays a detailed help message that guides you through the
various functionalities and usage patterns of kubectl

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kubectl --help
kubectl logs --help
kubectl exec --help
kubectl describe --help
kubectl port-forward --help

Set an Alias for kubectl

Set an alias for kubectl in Powershell

# set Alias
New-Alias -Name 'k' -Value 'kubectl'

# Verify
k get pods -n sample

Set an alias for kubectl in Bash

alias k=kubectl

Context and configuration

Kubernetes context and configuration are crucial concepts for managing multiple clusters and
switching between them using kubectl.

Configuration file

Kubectl uses a configuration file, usually located at ~/.kube/config by default, to store cluster
information, authentication details, and other settings. The configuration file is written in YAML
format and can contain multiple contexts, each representing a different cluster.

# Show Merged kubeconfig settings.

kubectl config view

# display the first user

kubectl config view -o jsonpath='{.users[].name}'

# get a list of users

kubectl config view -o jsonpath='{.users[*].name}'

# display list of contexts

kubectl config get-contexts

# display the current-context

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kubectl config current-context

# set the default context to my-cluster-name

kubectl config use-context my-cluster-name

# set a cluster entry in the kubeconfig

kubectl config set-cluster my-cluster-name

# delete a cluster entry in the kubeconfig

kubectl config delete-context my-cluster-name

Listing resources
Use the kubectl get command followed by the resource type you want to list.

# List all pods in the default namespace:

kubectl get pods

# List all pods in a specific namespace:

kubectl get pods -n sample

# List all pods in all namespaces:

kubectl get pods --all-namespaces
# or
kubectl get pods -A

# List all services in the default namespace:

kubectl get services

# List all nodes in the cluster:

kubectl get nodes

# List all deployments in a namespace:

kubectl get deployments -n sample

# List all replica sets:

kubectl get replicasets

# List all persistent volumes:

kubectl get pv

# List all persistent volume claims in a namespace:

kubectl get pvc -n sample

# List all config maps in a namespace:

kubectl get configmaps -n sample

# List all secrets in a namespace:

kubectl get secrets -n sample

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# List all namespaces:

kubectl get namespaces

# List all events in a namespaces:

kubectl get events -n sample

# List all ingress in a namespaces:

kubectl get ingress -n sample

Creating a Resource
Create a resource such as a service, deployment, job, or namespace using the kubectl create
command.

# create a new namespace

kubectl create namespace sample

# Create a Deployment
kubectl create deployment nginx-deployment --image=nginx -n sample

# Create a Service
kubectl create service clusterip my-service --tcp=80:8080

# Create a Secret from literal values:

kubectl create secret generic my-secret --from-literal=username=admin
--from-literal=password=pass123

# Create a PersistentVolume
kubectl create persistentvolume my-pv --capacity=1Gi --host-path=/data

# Create a PersistentVolumeClaim
kubectl create persistentvolumeclaim my-pvc --namespace=my-namespace
--storageClassName=standard --request=1Gi

# Create a resource from a YAML file

kubectl create -f my-filename.yaml
# or
kubectl apply -f my-filename.yaml

Applying and Updating a Resource

# Create a resource from a YAML file
kubectl apply -f my-filename.yaml

# create from multiple files

kubectl apply -f ./file1.yaml -f ./file1.yaml

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# create resource(s) in all manifest files in folder

kubectl apply -f ./folder1

Creating vs Apply
kubectl create is used for creating new resources, while kubectl apply is used for creating
and updating resources. kubectl apply provides a more flexible and incremental approach to
managing resource configurations.

Viewing and finding resources

# List all pods in the current namespace, with more details
kubectl get pods -o wide
# Get a pod's YAML
kubectl get pod my-pod -o yaml

# List Services Sorted by Name

kubectl get services -n my-namespace --sort-by=.metadata.name

# List pods Sorted by Restart Count

kubectl get pods -n my-namespace
--sort-by='.status.containerStatuses[0].restartCount'

# List PersistentVolumes sorted by capacity

kubectl get pv -n my-namespace --sort-by=.spec.capacity.storage

# Get all worker nodes (use a selector to exclude results that have a label
# named 'node-role.kubernetes.io/control-plane')
kubectl get node --selector='!node-role.kubernetes.io/control-plane'

# List Events sorted by timestamp

kubectl get events -n my-namespace --sort-by=.metadata.creationTimestamp

# List all warning events

kubectl events -n my-namespace --types=Warning

Updating resources
# Rolling update "www" containers of "frontend" deployment, updating the image
kubectl set image deployment/frontend www=image:v2
# Check the history of deployments including the revision
kubectl rollout history deployment/frontend
# Rollback to the previous deployment
kubectl rollout undo deployment/frontend
# Rollback to a specific revision

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kubectl rollout undo deployment/frontend --to-revision=2

# Watch rolling update status of "frontend" deployment until completion
kubectl rollout status -w deployment/frontend
# Rolling restart of the "frontend" deployment
kubectl rollout restart deployment/frontend

Patching resources
# Update a container's image; spec.containers[*].name is required because it's a
merge key
kubectl patch pod my-pod -n my-namespace -p '{"spec":{"containers":
[{"name":"kubernetes-serve-hostname","image":"new image"}]}}'

# Update a container's image using a json patch with positional arrays

kubectl patch pod my-pod -n my-namespace --type='json' -p='[{"op": "replace",
"path": "/spec/containers/0/image", "value":"new image"}]'

# Disable a deployment livenessProbe using a json patch with positional arrays

kubectl patch deployment my-deployment -n my-namespace --type json -p='[{"op":
"remove", "path": "/spec/template/spec/containers/0/livenessProbe"}]'

Editing resources

# Edit the service named my-service

kubectl edit svc/my-service -n my-namespace

Scaling resources
# Scale a replicaset named 'my-rs' to 3
kubectl scale --replicas=2 rs/my-rs -n my-namespace

# Scale a resource specified in "my-file.yaml" to 3

kubectl scale --replicas=3 -f my-file.yaml

# If the deployment named my-deployment's size is 2, scale my-deployment to 3

kubectl scale --current-replicas=1 --replicas=3 deployment/nginx-deployment -n
sample
kubectl scale --current-replicas=3 --replicas=1 deployment/nginx-deployment -n
sample
kubectl get deployments -n sample # use this for verify

# Scale multiple replication controllers

kubectl scale --replicas=5 rc/my-rc1 rc/my-rc1 rc/my-rc1

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Deleting resources
# Delete pods and services with same names "aspnet-api" and "aspnet-api"
kubectl delete pod,service aspnet-api aspnet-api -n sample

# Delete a pod with no grace period

kubectl delete pod unwanted --now

# Delete pods and services with same names "baz" and "foo"
kubectl delete pod,service my-pod1, my-pod2

# Delete pods and services with label name=my-Label

kubectl delete pods,services -l name=my-Label

# Delete all pods and services in namespace my-namespace,

kubectl -n my-namespace delete pod,svc --all

kubectl logs
kubectl logs pod/my-pod -n my-namespace
kubectl logs svc/my-svc -n my-namespace

kubectl logs pods/sample-server-f486b9bd7-wtw9f -n sample

# fetches the logs generated by the pod in the last 2 minutes.
kubectl logs --since=2m pods/sample-server-f486b9bd7-wtw9f -n sample

# logs from all the pods

kubectl get pods -n sample --no-headers=true | ForEach-Object { kubectl logs
$_.Split()[0] -n sample }

## logs from all the pods since 5 hours

kubectl get pods -n sample --no-headers=true | ForEach-Object { kubectl logs --
since=5h $_.Split()[0] -n sample }

# show log output if any word "exception" in it

kubectl get pods -n sample --no-headers=true | ForEach-Object { kubectl logs --
since=5m $_.Split()[0] -n sample } | Select-String "exception"

Port-forward

kubectl port-forward my-pod 5000:6000

kubectl port-forward service/aspnet-api 80:80 -n sample
kubectl port-forward svc/pgadmin4 -n pgadmin4 80:80

# listen on local port 5000 and forward to port 5000 on Service backend
kubectl port-forward svc/my-service 5000

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# listen on local port 5000 and forward to Service target port with name <my-
service-port>
kubectl port-forward svc/my-service 5000:my-service-port

Interacting with running Pods

kubectl exec -n my-namespace -it my-pod -- bash
kubectl exec -n my-namespace -it my-pod -- ls /

# list files
# root@my-pod:/app# ls
# root@my-pod:/app# exit

# print environment variables

kubectl exec -n my-namespace my-pod -- printenv

# describe pod
kubectl describe pod/nginx-deployment-9456bbbf9-ngv7f -n sample

Show metrics
# Show node metrics:
kubectl top nodes

# Show pod metrics:

kubectl top pods

# --sort-by flag with the memory

kubectl top nodes --sort-by=memory
kubectl top pods --sort-by=memory -n sample

Formatting output
You can format the output of commands to customize the information displayed.

kubectl get pods -n sample -o=custom-

columns=NAME:.metadata.name,STATUS:.status.phase,NODE:.spec.nodeName

# all pods
kubectl get pods -n sample -o=yaml
kubectl get pods -n sample -o=json
kubectl get pods -n sample -o=name

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# single pod
kubectl get pod/aspnet-api-6699db6d4b-66d7m -n sample -o=yaml

kubectl describe pod/aspnet-api-6699db6d4b-66d7m -o go-template='{{range

.status.containerStatuses}}{{.name}}:{{.restartCount}}{{"\n"}}{{end}}'

# Show labels of all pods

kubectl get pods --show-labels

kubectl get pods -n sample -o wide

# All images running in a cluster

kubectl get pods -A -o=custom-columns='IMAGE:spec.containers[*].image'

# All images running in a namespace

kubectl get pods -n sample -o=custom-columns='IMAGE:spec.containers[*].image'

# All container name running in a namespace

kubectl get pods -n sample -o=custom-columns='NAME:spec.containers[*].name'

# All images running in namespace: sample, grouped by Pod

kubectl get pods -n sample --output=custom-
columns="NAME:.metadata.name,IMAGE:.spec.containers[*].image"

# This will get all container with the namespace in a pretty format:
kubectl get pods --all-namespaces -o=custom-
columns=NameSpace:.metadata.namespace,NAME:.metadata.name,CONTAINERS:.spec.contai

# kubectl describe pod aspnet-api-6699db6d4b-66d7m -n sample | grep "Container I

# or
kubectl describe pod aspnet-api-6699db6d4b-66d7m -n sample | Select-String "Cont

# all pods in a namespace

kubectl describe pods -n sample | Select-String "name|Container ID"

# display NAME and CONTAINERID

kubectl get pods -n sample -o=custom-
columns='NAME:.metadata.name,CONTAINERID:.status.containerStatuses[*].containerID

kubectl logs aspnet-api-6699db6d4b-66d7m -n sample

kubectl logs azure-vote-back-6dbbb4bccc-dnwmg -n sample

Command invoke
Use command invoke to access a private Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) cluster, reference -
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/aks/command-invoke

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az aks command invoke --resource-group 'rg-rgname-dev' --name 'aks-aksname-dev'

--command "kubectl get namespaces"
az aks command invoke --resource-group 'rg-rgname-dev' --name 'aks-aksname-dev'
--command "kubectl create namespace test"

kubectl api-resources
The kubectl api-resources command allows you to view the available resource types in your
Kubernetes cluster. It provides a list of the supported resource types along with their short names,
API group, and whether they are namespaced or not.

# All namespaced resources

kubectl api-resources --namespaced=true
kubectl api-resources -o name
kubectl api-resources -o wide
kubectl api-resources --verbs=list,get
kubectl api-resources | more
# use ctlr + c to exit

NAME SHORTNAMES APIVERSION

NAMESPACED KIND
bindings v1
true Binding
componentstatuses cs v1
false ComponentStatus
configmaps cm v1
true ConfigMap
endpoints ep v1
true Endpoints
events ev v1
true Event
limitranges limits v1
true LimitRange
namespaces ns v1
false Namespace
nodes no v1
false Node
persistentvolumeclaims pvc v1
true PersistentVolumeClaim
persistentvolumes pv v1
false PersistentVolume
pods po v1
true Pod
podtemplates v1
true PodTemplate
replicationcontrollers rc v1
true ReplicationController

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resourcequotas quota v1
true ResourceQuota
secrets v1
true Secret
serviceaccounts sa v1
true ServiceAccount
services svc v1
true Service
azureassignedidentities
aadpodidentity.k8s.io/v1 true AzureAssignedIdentity
azureidentities
aadpodidentity.k8s.io/v1 true AzureIdentity
azureidentitybindings
aadpodidentity.k8s.io/v1 true AzureIdentityBinding
azurepodidentityexceptions
aadpodidentity.k8s.io/v1 true AzurePodIdentityException
challenges acme.cert-
manager.io/v1 true Challenge
orders acme.cert-
manager.io/v1 true Order
mutatingwebhookconfigurations
admissionregistration.k8s.io/v1 false MutatingWebhookConfiguration
validatingwebhookconfigurations
admissionregistration.k8s.io/v1 false
ValidatingWebhookConfiguration
customresourcedefinitions crd,crds
apiextensions.k8s.io/v1 false CustomResourceDefinition
apiservices
apiregistration.k8s.io/v1 false APIService
controllerrevisions apps/v1
true ControllerRevision
daemonsets ds apps/v1
true DaemonSet
deployments deploy apps/v1
true Deployment
replicasets rs apps/v1
true ReplicaSet
statefulsets sts apps/v1
true StatefulSet
tokenreviews
authentication.k8s.io/v1 false TokenReview
localsubjectaccessreviews
authorization.k8s.io/v1 true LocalSubjectAccessReview
selfsubjectaccessreviews
authorization.k8s.io/v1 false SelfSubjectAccessReview
selfsubjectrulesreviews
authorization.k8s.io/v1 false SelfSubjectRulesReview
subjectaccessreviews
authorization.k8s.io/v1 false SubjectAccessReview
horizontalpodautoscalers hpa autoscaling/v2
true HorizontalPodAutoscaler
cronjobs cj batch/v1
true CronJob

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jobs batch/v1
true Job
certificaterequests cr,crs cert-manager.io/v1
true CertificateRequest
certificates cert,certs cert-manager.io/v1
true Certificate
clusterissuers cert-manager.io/v1
false ClusterIssuer
issuers cert-manager.io/v1
true Issuer
certificatesigningrequests csr
certificates.k8s.io/v1 false CertificateSigningRequest
configs config
config.gatekeeper.sh/v1alpha1 true Config
k8sazurev1blockdefault
constraints.gatekeeper.sh/v1beta1 false K8sAzureV1BlockDefault
k8sazurev1ingresshttpsonly
constraints.gatekeeper.sh/v1beta1 false K8sAzureV1IngressHttpsOnly
k8sazurev1serviceallowedports
constraints.gatekeeper.sh/v1beta1 false K8sAzureV1ServiceAllowedPorts
k8sazurev2blockautomounttoken
constraints.gatekeeper.sh/v1beta1 false K8sAzureV2BlockAutomountToken
k8sazurev2blockhostnamespace
constraints.gatekeeper.sh/v1beta1 false K8sAzureV2BlockHostNamespace
k8sazurev2containerallowedimages
constraints.gatekeeper.sh/v1beta1 false
K8sAzureV2ContainerAllowedImages
k8sazurev2noprivilege
constraints.gatekeeper.sh/v1beta1 false K8sAzureV2NoPrivilege
k8sazurev3allowedcapabilities
constraints.gatekeeper.sh/v1beta1 false K8sAzureV3AllowedCapabilities
k8sazurev3allowedusersgroups
constraints.gatekeeper.sh/v1beta1 false K8sAzureV3AllowedUsersGroups
k8sazurev3containerlimits
constraints.gatekeeper.sh/v1beta1 false K8sAzureV3ContainerLimits
k8sazurev3disallowedcapabilities
constraints.gatekeeper.sh/v1beta1 false
K8sAzureV3DisallowedCapabilities
k8sazurev3enforceapparmor
constraints.gatekeeper.sh/v1beta1 false K8sAzureV3EnforceAppArmor
k8sazurev3hostfilesystem
constraints.gatekeeper.sh/v1beta1 false K8sAzureV3HostFilesystem
k8sazurev3hostnetworkingports
constraints.gatekeeper.sh/v1beta1 false K8sAzureV3HostNetworkingPorts
k8sazurev3noprivilegeescalation
constraints.gatekeeper.sh/v1beta1 false
K8sAzureV3NoPrivilegeEscalation
k8sazurev3readonlyrootfilesystem
constraints.gatekeeper.sh/v1beta1 false
K8sAzureV3ReadOnlyRootFilesystem
leases
coordination.k8s.io/v1 true Lease

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endpointslices discovery.k8s.io/v1
true EndpointSlice
events ev events.k8s.io/v1
true Event
flowschemas
flowcontrol.apiserver.k8s.io/v1beta2 false FlowSchema
prioritylevelconfigurations
flowcontrol.apiserver.k8s.io/v1beta2 false PriorityLevelConfiguration
clustertriggerauthentications cta,clustertriggerauth keda.sh/v1alpha1
false ClusterTriggerAuthentication
scaledjobs sj keda.sh/v1alpha1
true ScaledJob
scaledobjects so keda.sh/v1alpha1
true ScaledObject
triggerauthentications ta,triggerauth keda.sh/v1alpha1
true TriggerAuthentication
nodes
metrics.k8s.io/v1beta1 false NodeMetrics
pods
metrics.k8s.io/v1beta1 true PodMetrics
ingressclasses networking.k8s.io/v1
false IngressClass
ingresses ing networking.k8s.io/v1
true Ingress
networkpolicies netpol networking.k8s.io/v1
true NetworkPolicy
runtimeclasses node.k8s.io/v1
false RuntimeClass
poddisruptionbudgets pdb policy/v1
true PodDisruptionBudget
clusterrolebindings
rbac.authorization.k8s.io/v1 false ClusterRoleBinding
clusterroles
rbac.authorization.k8s.io/v1 false ClusterRole
rolebindings
rbac.authorization.k8s.io/v1 true RoleBinding
roles
rbac.authorization.k8s.io/v1 true Role
priorityclasses pc scheduling.k8s.io/v1
false PriorityClass
secretproviderclasses secrets-store.csi.x-
k8s.io/v1 true SecretProviderClass
secretproviderclasspodstatuses secrets-store.csi.x-
k8s.io/v1 true SecretProviderClassPodStatus
volumesnapshotclasses vsclass,vsclasses
snapshot.storage.k8s.io/v1 false VolumeSnapshotClass
volumesnapshotcontents vsc,vscs
snapshot.storage.k8s.io/v1 false VolumeSnapshotContent
volumesnapshots vs
snapshot.storage.k8s.io/v1 true VolumeSnapshot
constraintpodstatuses
status.gatekeeper.sh/v1beta1 true ConstraintPodStatus

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constrainttemplatepodstatuses
status.gatekeeper.sh/v1beta1 true ConstraintTemplatePodStatus
csidrivers storage.k8s.io/v1
false CSIDriver
csinodes storage.k8s.io/v1
false CSINode
csistoragecapacities storage.k8s.io/v1
true CSIStorageCapacity
storageclasses sc storage.k8s.io/v1
false StorageClass
volumeattachments storage.k8s.io/v1
false VolumeAttachment
constrainttemplates constraints
templates.gatekeeper.sh/v1 false ConstraintTemplate

Help summary
Basic Commands (Beginner):
create Create a resource from a file or from stdin
expose Take a replication controller, service, deployment or pod and
expose it as a new Kubernetes service
run Run a particular image on the cluster
set Set specific features on objects

Basic Commands (Intermediate):

explain Get documentation for a resource
get Display one or many resources
edit Edit a resource on the server
delete Delete resources by file names, stdin, resources and names, or
by resources and label selector

Deploy Commands:
rollout Manage the rollout of a resource
scale Set a new size for a deployment, replica set, or replication
controller
autoscale Auto-scale a deployment, replica set, stateful set, or
replication controller

Cluster Management Commands:

certificate Modify certificate resources.
cluster-info Display cluster information
top Display resource (CPU/memory) usage
cordon Mark node as unschedulable
uncordon Mark node as schedulable
drain Drain node in preparation for maintenance
taint Update the taints on one or more nodes

Troubleshooting and Debugging Commands:

describe Show details of a specific resource or group of resources
logs Print the logs for a container in a pod

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attach Attach to a running container

exec Execute a command in a container
port-forward Forward one or more local ports to a pod
proxy Run a proxy to the Kubernetes API server
cp Copy files and directories to and from containers
auth Inspect authorization
debug Create debugging sessions for troubleshooting workloads and
nodes
events List events

Advanced Commands:
diff Diff the live version against a would-be applied version
apply Apply a configuration to a resource by file name or stdin
patch Update fields of a resource
replace Replace a resource by file name or stdin
wait Experimental: Wait for a specific condition on one or many
resources
kustomize Build a kustomization target from a directory or URL.

Settings Commands:
label Update the labels on a resource
annotate Update the annotations on a resource
completion Output shell completion code for the specified shell (bash,
zsh, fish, or powershell)

Other Commands:
alpha Commands for features in alpha
api-resources Print the supported API resources on the server
api-versions Print the supported API versions on the server, in the form of
"group/version"
config Modify kubeconfig files
plugin Provides utilities for interacting with plugins
version Print the client and server version information

References
https://kubernetes.io/docs/reference/kubectl/cheatsheet/

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