CP(1) | General Commands Manual | CP(1) |
cp
—
cp |
[-R [-H |
-L | -P ]]
[-f | -i ]
[-alNpv ] source_file
target_file |
cp |
[-R [-H |
-L | -P ]]
[-f | -i ]
[-alNpv ] source_file ...
target_directory |
cp
utility copies the
contents of the source_file to the
target_file. In the second synopsis form, the contents
of each named source_file is copied to the destination
target_directory. The names of the files themselves are
not changed. If cp
detects an attempt to copy a file
to itself, the copy will fail.
The following options are available:
-a
-RpP
.-f
-i
option
is ignored if the -f
option is specified.)-H
-R
option is specified, symbolic links on
the command line are followed. (Symbolic links encountered in the tree
traversal are not followed.)-i
cp
to write a prompt to the standard error
output before copying a file that would overwrite an existing file. If the
response from the standard input begins with the character
‘y
’, the file copy is
attempted.-L
-R
option is specified, all symbolic links
are followed.-l
-N
-p
, don't copy file flags.-P
-p
cp
to preserve in the copy as many of the
modification time, access time, file flags, file mode, user ID, group ID,
and extended attributes, as allowed by permissions.
If the user ID and group ID cannot be preserved due to insufficient permissions, no error message is displayed and the exit value is not altered.
If the source file has its set user ID bit on and the user ID cannot be preserved, the set user ID bit is not preserved in the copy's permissions. If the source file has its set group ID bit on and the group ID cannot be preserved, the set group ID bit is not preserved in the copy's permissions. If the source file has both its set user ID and set group ID bits on, and either the user ID or group ID cannot be preserved, neither the set user ID or set group ID bits are preserved in the copy's permissions.
Extended attributes from all accessible namespaces are copied;
others are ignored. If an error occurs during this copy, a message is
displayed and cp
skips the other extended
attributes for that file.
-R
cp
copies the directory and the entire subtree
connected at that point. This option also causes symbolic links to be
copied, rather than followed, and for cp
to create
special files rather than copying them as normal files. Created
directories have the same mode as the corresponding source directory,
unmodified by the process's umask.
Note that cp
copies hard linked files
as separate files. If you need to preserve hard links, consider using a
utility like pax(1)
instead.
-v
cp
to be verbose, showing files as they are
copied.For each destination file that already exists, its contents are overwritten if permissions allow, but its mode, user ID, and group ID are unchanged.
In the second synopsis form,
target_directory must exist unless there is only one
named source_file which is a directory and the
-R
flag is specified.
If the destination file does not exist, the mode of the source
file is used as modified by the file mode creation mask
(umask
, see
csh(1)). If the source file has
its set user ID bit on, that bit is removed unless both the source file and
the destination file are owned by the same user. If the source file has its
set group ID bit on, that bit is removed unless both the source file and the
destination file are in the same group and the user is a member of that
group. If both the set user ID and set group ID bits are set, all of the
above conditions must be fulfilled or both bits are removed.
Appropriate permissions are required for file creation or overwriting.
Symbolic links are always followed unless the
-R
flag is set, in which case symbolic links are not
followed, by default. The -H
or
-L
flags (in conjunction with the
-R
flag), as well as the -P
flag cause symbolic links to be followed as described above. The
-H
and -L
options are
ignored unless the -R
option is specified. In
addition, these options override each other and the command's actions are
determined by the last one specified. The default is as if the
-P
option had been specified.
cp
utility exits 0 on success,
and >0 if an error occurs.
cp
utility had a
-r
option. This implementation supports that option,
however, its use is strongly discouraged, as it does not correctly copy
special files, symbolic links, or FIFOs.
cp
utility is expected to be IEEE
Std 1003.2 (“POSIX.2”) compatible.
The -a
and -l
flags are non-standard extensions. They are intended to be compatible with
the same options which other implementations, namely GNU coreutils and
FreeBSD, of this utility have.
The -v
option is an extension to
IEEE Std 1003.2 (“POSIX.2”).
cp
utility appeared in
Version 1 AT&T UNIX.
December 22, 2018 | NetBSD 9.4 |