cp(1) cp(1)NAME cp - copies files SYNOPSIS cp [-i] [-r] file1 file2 cp [-i] [-r] file... directory ARGUMENTS directory Specifies the directory into which file will be placed. file Specifies the file that will be copied into directory. file1 Specifies the file to be copied onto file2. file2 Specifies the file into which file1 will be copied. -i Prompts the user with the name of the file whenever the copy will cause an old file to be overwritten. An answer of y will cause cp to continue. Any other answer will prevent it from overwriting the file. -r Copies each subtree rooted at that name (if any of the source files are directories). The destination must be a directory. DESCRIPTION cp copies file1 onto file2. The mode and owner of file2 are preserved if it already existed; otherwise, the mode of the source file is used (all bits set in the current umask value are cleared). In the second form, one or more files are copied into the directory with their original filenames. The cp command refuses to copy a file onto itself. WARNINGS The cp command does not copy the description of special files, but attempts to copy the contents of the special files. This often occurs when using the -r option for a recursive copy. For example, cp will hang when trying to copy a named pipe or tty device. When a disk node is being copied, the contents of the disk partition will be copied. To copy the description of the special files, use cpio(1). FILES /bin/cp Executable file January 1992 1
cp(1) cp(1)SEE ALSO cat(1), pr(1), mv(1), rcp(1C) 2 January 1992