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cp(1) General Commands Manual cp(1) NAME cp - Copies files SYNOPSIS cp [-fhip] [--] source_file destination_file cp [-fhip] [--] source_file... destination_directory cp [-fhip] [-r|-R] [--] [source_file|source_directory]... destina- tion_directory The cp command copies a source file or the files in a source directory to a destination file or directory. If your source and destination are directories, the source is copied to the destination and created with the same name. STANDARDS Interfaces documented on this reference page conform to industry stan- dards as follows: cp: XPG4, XPG4-UNIX Refer to the standards(5) reference page for more information about in- dustry standards and associated tags. OPTIONS [DIGITAL] The cp command does not prompt you when an existing file is to be overwritten. (If both -f and -i are specified on the command line--for example, because an alias includes one of them--whichever ap- pears last overrides the other.) [DIGITAL] Together with the -R op- tion, the same as the -r option. Prompts you with the name of the file whenever the copy would cause an existing file to be overwritten. An answer beginning with y, or the locale's equivalent of y, causes cp to continue. Any other answer prevents it from overwriting the file. Pre- serves for the copy the modification time, access time, file mode, user ID, and group ID of the original, as allowed by permissions. If the user ID and group ID cannot be preserved, no error message is displayed and the exit value is not altered. If the original is set-user-ID or set-group-ID, and either the user ID or the group ID cannot be pre- served, the set-user-ID and set-group-ID bits are not preserved in the copy's permissions. [DIGITAL] Preserves the extended file attributes (property list), including the access control list (ACL) if any. When the source is a directory, copies the directory and the entire subtree connected at that point. Special file types, such as symbolic links, named pipes (FIFOs), and block and character devices, are opened and their contents are copied to regular files having the same name. (This may be desired for links but is probably not desired for disk, tape, or network devices.) For example, if a is a symbolic link to file z and a is copied to b with the -r option, b is not a symbolic link to file z but is a copy of it. As with -r, when the source is a directory, copies the directory and the entire subtree connected at that point. However, destination_files are created with the same file types as source_files, for instance symbolic links, named pipes (FIFOs), or block or character devices. As an example, if a is a symbolic link to file z and a is copied to b with the -R option, b will also be a sym- bolic link to file z. If source_file is a FIFO, the file permission bits of destination_file are set to those of source_file modified by the file creation mask of the user if the -p option is not used. Indi- cates that the arguments following this option are to be interpreted as file names. This null option allows the specification of file names that start with a minus. DESCRIPTION If a destination file already exists, its contents are overwritten if permissions allow, but cp does not change its mode, user ID, or group ID. However, if the file is not being copied by the root user, writing the file may clear the set-user-ID or set-group-ID permission bits. If the destination file does not exist, the mode of the source file is used, as modified by the file mode creation mask (umask). If the source file is either set-user-ID or set-group-ID, those bits are removed un- less the -p option is used. Appropriate permissions are always required for file creation or over- writing. [DIGITAL] You can also copy special device files. If the file is a named pipe, the data in the pipe is copied into a regular file. If the file is a device, the file is read until the end of file, and that data is copied into a regular file. The LC_MESSAGES variable determines the locale's equivalent of y or n (for yes/no queries). If the source_file is a directory, the following is true: If neither the -R or -r option was specified, an error message is displayed and source_file is not copied. If the target specified exists and is a file, not a directory, an error message is displayed and source_file is not copied. If the target does not exist and the -p option is speci- fied, the permission bits of the target directory are set equal to the source directory bitwise inclusively ORed with S_IRWXU (0700 octal). This means the newly created directory will always allow the owner read, write and execute permission. If the target does not exist and the -p option is not specified, the permission bits of the target di- rectory are set equal to the source directory bits, modified by the file creation mask of the user (shuts off the corresponding permission bits specified in the umask). The resulting permission bits are then ORed with S_IRWXU (0700 octal) which gives the owner read, write and execute permission. If the target does not exist and cannot be cre- ated, an error message is displayed and source_file is not copied. NOTES Do not give the destination the same name as one of the source files. If you specify a directory as the destination, the directory must al- ready exist. If you are using the -r option to copy the contents of one directory to another, and source_directory contains subdirectories that do not exist in destination_directory, the subdirectories are cre- ated. EXIT STATUS The following exit values are returned: Successful completion. An er- ror occurred. EXAMPLES To copy one file to another, enter: cp file1 file2 If file2 exists (and is writable), it is replaced by file1. To copy files to a directory, enter: cp file1 file2 dir1 The dir1 directory must exist. To copy all files in a directory and preserve their modification times, enter: cp -p dir1/* dir2 To copy a directory tree to another directory, enter: cp -r dir1/* dir2 The dir1 tree is created in dir2. ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES The following environment variables affect the execution of cp: Pro- vides a default value for the internationalization variables that are unset or null. If LANG is unset or null, the corresponding value from the default locale is used. If any of the internationalization vari- ables contain an invalid setting, the utility behaves as if none of the variables had been defined. If set to a non-empty string value, over- rides the values of all the other internationalization variables. De- termines the locale for the interpretation of sequences of bytes of text data as characters (for example, single-byte as opposed to multi- byte characters in arguments). Determines the locale for the format and contents of diagnostic messages written to standard error. Deter- mines the location of message catalogues for the processing of LC_MES- SAGES. SEE ALSO Commands: cpio(1), find(1), link(1), ln(1), mv(1), pax(1), tar(1), umask(1) Functions: umask(2) Files: proplist(4), acl(4) Standards: standards(5) cp(1)