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GDAL-VECTOR-CLIP(1) GDAL GDAL-VECTOR-CLIP(1)

NAME

gdal-vector-clip - Clip a vector dataset

Added in version 3.11.

SYNOPSIS

Usage: gdal vector clip [OPTIONS] <INPUT> <OUTPUT>
Clip a vector dataset.
Positional arguments:


  -i, --input <INPUT>                                  Input vector datasets [required] [not available in pipelines]


  -o, --output <OUTPUT>                                Output vector dataset [required] [not available in pipelines]
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]


  -q, --quiet                                          Quiet mode (no progress bar or warning message) [not available in pipelines]
Options:


  -l, --layer, --input-layer <INPUT-LAYER>             Input layer name(s) [may be repeated] [not available in pipelines]


  -f, --of, --format, --output-format <OUTPUT-FORMAT>  Output format ("GDALG" allowed) [not available in pipelines]


  --co, --creation-option <KEY>=<VALUE>                Creation option [may be repeated] [not available in pipelines]


  --lco, --layer-creation-option <KEY>=<VALUE>         Layer creation option [may be repeated] [not available in pipelines]


  --overwrite                                          Whether overwriting existing output dataset is allowed [not available in pipelines]


  --update                                             Whether to open existing dataset in update mode [not available in pipelines]


  --overwrite-layer                                    Whether overwriting existing output layer is allowed [not available in pipelines]


  --append                                             Whether appending to existing layer is allowed [not available in pipelines]


                                                       Mutually exclusive with --upsert


  --output-layer <OUTPUT-LAYER>                        Output layer name [not available in pipelines]


  --skip-errors                                        Skip errors when writing features [not available in pipelines]


  --active-layer <ACTIVE-LAYER>                        Set active layer (if not specified, all)


  --bbox <BBOX>                                        Clipping bounding box as xmin,ymin,xmax,ymax


                                                       Mutually exclusive with --geometry, --like


  --bbox-crs <BBOX-CRS>                                CRS of clipping bounding box


  --geometry <GEOMETRY>                                Clipping geometry (WKT or GeoJSON)


                                                       Mutually exclusive with --bbox, --like


  --geometry-crs <GEOMETRY-CRS>                        CRS of clipping geometry


  --like <DATASET>                                     Dataset to use as a template for bounds


                                                       Mutually exclusive with --bbox, --geometry


  --like-sql <SELECT-STATEMENT>                        SELECT statement to run on the 'like' dataset


                                                       Mutually exclusive with --like-where


  --like-layer <LAYER-NAME>                            Name of the layer of the 'like' dataset


  --like-where <WHERE-EXPRESSION>                      WHERE SQL clause to run on the 'like' dataset


                                                       Mutually exclusive with --like-sql
Advanced Options:


  --if, --input-format <INPUT-FORMAT>                  Input formats [may be repeated] [not available in pipelines]


  --oo, --open-option <KEY>=<VALUE>                    Open options [may be repeated] [not available in pipelines]


  --output-oo, --output-open-option <KEY>=<VALUE>      Output open options [may be repeated] [not available in pipelines]


  --upsert                                             Upsert features (implies 'append') [not available in pipelines]


                                                       Mutually exclusive with --append


DESCRIPTION

gdal vector clip can be used to clip a vector dataset using georeferenced coordinates.

Either --bbox, --geometry or --like must be specified.

clip can also be used as a step of gdal vector pipeline.

Clipping sometimes results in geometries that are of a type not compatible with the geometry type. This program splits multi-geometries or geometry collections into their parts for layers that are of a single geometry type (such as point, linestring, polygon) and only keeps the parts that are of that type. It also promotes single geometry types (e.g. polygons) to multi geometry types (e.g. multi-polygons). If the user needs to preserve any type of intersection, the layer must use the wkbUnknown (any geometry) type.

PROGRAM-SPECIFIC OPTIONS

Bounds to which to clip the dataset. They are assumed to be in the CRS of the input dataset, unless --bbox-crs is specified. The X and Y axis are the "GIS friendly ones", that is X is longitude or easting, and Y is latitude or northing. Mutually exclusive with --like and --geometry.

CRS in which the <xmin>,<ymin>,<xmax>,<ymax> values of --bbox are expressed. If not specified, it is assumed to be the CRS of the input dataset. Note that specifying --bbox-crs does not involve doing vector reprojection. Instead, the bounds are reprojected from the bbox-crs to the CRS of the input dataset.

Geometry as a WKT or GeoJSON string to which to clip the dataset. If the input geometry is GeoJSON, its CRS is assumed to be WGS84, unless there is a CRS defined in the GeoJSON geometry or --geometry-crs is specified. If the input geometry is WKT, its CRS is assumed to be the one of the input dataset, unless --geometry-crs is specified. The X and Y axis are the "GIS friendly ones", that is X is longitude or easting, and Y is latitude or northing. Mutually exclusive with --bbox and --like.

CRS in which the coordinates values of --geometry are expressed. If not specified, it is assumed to be the CRS of the input dataset. Note that specifying --geometry-crs does not involve doing vector reprojection. Instead, the bounds are reprojected from the geometry-crs to the CRS of the input dataset.

Vector or raster dataset to use as a template for bounds. If the specified dataset is a raster, its rectangular bounds are used as the clipping geometry. If the specified dataset is a vector dataset, its polygonal geometries are unioned together to form the clipping geometry (beware that the result union might not be perfect if there are gaps between individual polygon features). If several layers are present, --like-sql or --like-layer must be specified. Mutually exclusive with --bbox and --geometry.

Select the named layer from the vector clip dataset. Mutually exclusive with --like-sql

Select desired geometries from the vector clip dataset using an SQL query. e.g SELECT geom FROM my_layer WHERE country = 'France'. Mutually exclusive with --like-layer and --like-where

Restrict desired geometries from vector clip dataset layer based on an attribute query. e.g country = 'France'.

STANDARD OPTIONS

Set the active layer. When it is specified, only the layer specified by its name will be subject to the processing. Other layers will be not modified. If this option is not specified, all layers will be subject to the processing.

Whether appending features to existing layer(s) is allowed. This also creates the output dataset if it does not exist yet.

Many formats have one or more optional dataset creation options that can be used to control particulars about the file created. For instance, the GeoPackage driver supports creation options to control the version.

May be repeated.

The dataset creation options available vary by format driver, and some simple formats have no creation options at all. A list of options supported for a format can be listed with the --formats command line option but the documentation for the format is the definitive source of information on driver creation options. See Vector drivers format specific documentation for legal creation options for each format.

Note that dataset creation options are different from layer creation options.


Format/driver name to be attempted to open the input file(s). It is generally not necessary to specify it, but it can be used to skip automatic driver detection, when it fails to select the appropriate driver. This option can be repeated several times to specify several candidate drivers. Note that it does not force those drivers to open the dataset. In particular, some drivers have requirements on file extensions.

May be repeated.


Specifies the name of one or more layers to process. By default, all layers will be processed. To read and write all layers but only process a subset, use --active-layer.

Many formats have one or more optional layer creation options that can be used to control particulars about the layer created. For instance, the GeoPackage driver supports layer creation options to control the feature identifier or geometry column name, setting the identifier or description, etc.

May be repeated.

The layer creation options available vary by format driver, and some simple formats have no layer creation options at all. A list of options supported for a format can be listed with the --formats command line option but the documentation for the format is the definitive source of information on driver creation options. See Vector drivers format specific documentation for legal creation options for each format.

Note that layer creation options are different from dataset creation options.


Dataset open option (format specific).

May be repeated.


Which output vector format to use. Allowed values may be given by gdal --formats | grep vector | grep rw | sort

Specifies the name of the layer to which features will be written. If not specified, output layer names will be the same as input layer names.

Added in version 3.12.

Dataset open option for output dataset (format specific).

May be repeated.


Allow program to overwrite existing target file or dataset. Otherwise, by default, gdal errors out if the target file or dataset already exists.

--overwrite-layer
Whether overwriting the existing output vector layer is allowed.

Added in version 3.12.

Whether failures to write feature(s) should be ignored. Note that this option sets the size of the transaction unit to one feature at a time, which may cause severe slowdown when inserting into databases.


Whether to open an existing output dataset in update mode.

Added in version 3.12.

Variant of --append where the OGRLayer::UpsertFeature() operation is used to insert or update features instead of appending with OGRLayer::CreateFeature().

This is currently implemented only in a few drivers: GPKG -- GeoPackage vector, Elasticsearch: Geographically Encoded Objects for Elasticsearch and MongoDBv3 (drivers that implement upsert expose the GDAL_DCAP_UPSERT capability).

The upsert operation uses the FID of the input feature, when it is set (and the FID column name is not the empty string), as the key to update existing features. It is crucial to make sure that the FID in the source and target layers are consistent.

For the GPKG driver, it is also possible to upsert features whose FID is unset or non-significant (the --unset-fid option of gdal vector edit can be used to ignore the FID from the source feature), when there is a UNIQUE column that is not the integer primary key.


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: Clip a GeoPackage file to the bounding box from longitude 2, latitude 49, to longitude 3, latitude 50 in WGS 84

$ gdal vector clip --bbox=2,49,3,50 --bbox-crs=EPSG:4326 in.gpkg out.gpkg --overwrite


AUTHOR

Even Rouault <even.rouault@spatialys.com>

COPYRIGHT

1998-2026

May 8, 2026