As mentioned in the online manual at <a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;gnu.org&#x2F;software&#x2F;coreutils&#x2F;dd" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;gnu.org&#x2F;software&#x2F;coreutils&#x2F;dd</a> that command line syntax is inspired by the DD (data definition) statement of OS&#x2F;360 JCL