cp(1)
NAME
cp - copy files
SYNOPSIS
/usr/bin/cp [-fip@] source_file target_file
/usr/bin/cp [-fip@] source_file... target
/usr/bin/cp -r | -R [-fip@] source_dir... target
/usr/xpg4/bin/cp [-fip@] source_file target_file
/usr/xpg4/bin/cp [-fip@] source_file... target
/usr/xpg4/bin/cp -r | -R [-fip@] source_dir... target
DESCRIPTION
In the first synopsis form, neither source_file nor
target_file are directory files, nor can they have the same
name. The cp utility will copy the contents of source_file
to the destination path named by target_file. If target_file
exists, cp will overwrite its contents, but the mode (and
ACL if applicable), owner, and group associated with it are
not changed. The last modification time of target_file and
the last access time of source_file are set to the time the
copy was made. If target_file does not exist, cp creates a
new file named target_file that has the same mode as
source_file except that the sticky bit is not set unless the
user is super-user. In this case, the owner and group of
target_file are those of the user, unless the setgid bit is
set on the directory containing the newly created file. If
the directory's setgid bit is set, the newly created file
will have the group of the containing directory rather than
of the creating user. If target_file is a link to another
file, cp will overwrite the link destination with the con-
tents of source_file; the link(s) from target_file will
remain.
In the second synopsis form, one or more source_files are
copied to the directory specified by target. For each
source_file specified, a new file with the same mode (and
ACL if applicable), is created in target; the owner and
group are those of the user making the copy. It is an error
if any source_file is a file of type directory, if target
either does not exist or is not a directory.
In the third synopsis form, one or more directories speci-
fied by source_dir are copied to the directory specified by
target. Either -r or -R must be specified. For each
source_dir, cp will copy all files and subdirectories.
OPTIONS
The following options are supported for both /usr/bin/cp and
/usr/xpg4/bin/cp:
-f Unlink. If a file descriptor for a destination file
cannot be obtained, attempt to unlink the destination
file and proceed.
-i Interactive. cp will prompt for confirmation whenever
the copy would overwrite an existing target. A y
answer means that the copy should proceed. Any other
answer prevents cp from overwriting target.
-r Recursive. cp will copy the directory and all its
files, including any subdirectories and their files to
target.
-R Same as -r, except pipes are replicated, not read
from.
-@ Preserves extended attributes. cp will attempt to copy
all of the source file's extended attributes along
with the file data to the destination file.
/usr/bin/cp
The following option is supported for /usr/bin/cp only:
-p Preserve. cp duplicates not only the contents of
source_file, but also preserves the owner and group
id, permission modes, modification and access time,
ACLs, and extended attributes, if applicable. Notice
that the command may fail if ACLs are copied to a file
system without appropriate support. The command will
not fail if unable to preserve extended attributes,
modification and access time, or permission modes. If
unable to preserve owner and group id, cp will not
fail, and it will clear S_ISUID and S_ISGID bits in
the target. cp will print a diagnostic message to
stderr and return a non-zero exit status if unable to
clear these bits.
In order to preserve the owner and group id, permis-
sion modes, and modification and access times, users
must have the appropriate file access permissions.
This includes being superuser or the same owner id as
the destination file.
/usr/xpg4/bin/cp
The following option is supported for /usr/xpg4/bin/cp only:
-p Preserve. cp duplicates not only the contents of
source_file, but also preserves the owner and group
id, permission modes, modification and access time,
ACLs, and extended attributes, if applicable. Notice
that the command may fail if ACLs or extended attri-
butes are copied to a file system without appropriate
support. If unable to duplicate the modification and
access time or the permission modes, cp will print a
diagnostic message to stderr and return a non-zero
exit status. If unable to preserve owner and group id,
cp will not fail, and it will clear S_ISUID and
S_ISGID bits in the target. cp will print a diagnostic
message to stderr and return a non-zero exit status if
unable to clear these bits.
In order to preserve the owner and group id, permis-
sion modes, and modification and access times, users
must have the appropriate file access permissions.
This includes being superuser or the same owner id as
the destination file.
OPERANDS
The following operands are supported:
source_file
A pathname of a regular file to be copied.
source_dir
A pathname of a directory to be copied.
target_file
A pathname of an existing or non-existing file, used
for the output when a single file is copied.
target
A pathname of a directory to contain the copied files.
USAGE
See largefile(5) for the description of the behavior of cp
when encountering files greater than or equal to 2 Gbyte ( 2
**31 bytes).
EXAMPLES
Example 1: Copying a file
example% cp goodies goodies.old
example% ls goodies*
goodies goodies.old
Example 2: Copying a list of files to a destination direc-
tory
example% cp ~/src/* /tmp
Example 3: Copying a directory, first to a new, and then to
an existing destination directory
example% ls ~/bkup
/usr/example/fred/bkup not found
example% cp -r ~/src ~/bkup
example% ls -R ~/bkup
x.c y.c z.sh
example% cp -r ~/src ~/bkup
example% ls -R ~/bkup
src x.c y.c z.sh
src:
x.c y.c z.s
ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES
See environ(5) for descriptions of the following environment
variables that affect the execution of cp: LANG, LC_ALL,
LC_COLLATE, LC_CTYPE, LC_MESSAGES, and NLSPATH.
EXIT STATUS
The following exit values are returned:
0 All files were copied successfully.
>0 An error occurred.
ATTRIBUTES
See attributes(5) for descriptions of the following attri-
butes:
/usr/bin/cp
____________________________________________________________
| ATTRIBUTE TYPE | ATTRIBUTE VALUE |
|_____________________________|_____________________________|
| Availability | SUNWcsu |
|_____________________________|_____________________________|
| CSI | Enabled |
|_____________________________|_____________________________|
| Interface Stability | Stable |
|_____________________________|_____________________________|
/usr/xpg4/bin/cp
____________________________________________________________
| ATTRIBUTE TYPE | ATTRIBUTE VALUE |
|_____________________________|_____________________________|
| Availability | SUNWxcu4 |
|_____________________________|_____________________________|
| CSI | Enabled |
|_____________________________|_____________________________|
| Interface Stability | Standard |
|_____________________________|_____________________________|
SEE ALSO
chmod(1), chown(1), setfacl(1), utime(2), attributes(5),
environ(5), fsattr(5), largefile(5), standards(5)
NOTES
The permission modes of the source file are preserved in the
copy.
A -- permits the user to mark the end of any command line
options explicitly, thus allowing cp to recognize filename
arguments that begin with a -.
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