cpio(1)                                                   cpio(1)



NAME
     cpio - copies files to or from a cpio archive

SYNOPSIS
     cpio -o [a] [c] [B] [F] [v]

     cpio -i [6] [b] [B] [c] [d] [f] [m] [r] [s] [S] [t] [u] [v]
     [patterns]

     cpio -p [a] [d] [l] [m] [u] [v] directory

ARGUMENTS
     -6   Processes an old (that is, UNIX System Sixth Edition
          format) file.  Useful only with -i option.

     -a   Resets access times of input files after they have been
          copied.

     -b   Swaps both bytes and halfwords.  Used only with the -i
          option.

     -B   Input/output is to be blocked 5,120 bytes to the record
          (does not apply to the -p option; meaningful only with
          data directed to or from 3.5-inch disks).

     -c   Writes header information in ASCII character form for
          portability.

     -d   Creates directories as needed.

     directory
          Specifies the directory to be copied.

     -f   Copies in all files except those in patterns.

     -F   Causes each floppy to be formatted after it is inserted
          into the drive, when used with the -o and when the
          output device is a Macintosh II floppy drive, the -F
          option.  This formatting is for 800K drives only, so
          only 800K floppy disk should be used.

     -i   Specifies copy-in; extracts files from the standard
          input, which is assumed to be the product of a previous
          cpio -o.  Only files with names that match patterns are
          selected.  patterns are given in the name-generating
          notation of sh(1).  In patterns, the meta-characters ?,
          *, and [...] match the slash / character.  Multiple
          patterns may be specified but if none are, the default
          for patterns is * (that is, select all files).  The
          extracted files are conditionally created and copied
          into the current directory tree based on the flag
          options described later.  The permissions of the files



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cpio(1)                                                   cpio(1)



          will be those of the previous cpio -o.  The owner and
          group assigned to the files will be that of the current
          user unless the user is the superuser, which causes
          cpio to retain the owner and group assigned to the
          files from the previous cpio -o.  When cpio -i prints a
          message xxx blocks, it indicates how many blocks were
          read from the collection.

     -l   Links files (whenever possible) rather than copying
          them.  Usable only with the -p option.

     -m   Retains previous file-modification time.  This option
          is ineffective on directories that are being copied.

     -o   Specifies copy out; reads the standard input to obtain
          a list of pathnames and copies those files onto the
          standard output together with pathname and status
          information.  The list of pathnames must contain only
          one file per line.  (Thus, only certain commands, such
          as find or ls without the -C option, will work in a
          pipeline to cpio.)  Output is padded to a 512-byte
          boundary.  When cpio -o prints a message xxx blocks, it
          indicates how many blocks were written.

     -p   Specifies pass; reads the standard input to obtain a
          list of pathnames of files that are conditionally
          created and copied into the destination directory tree
          based on the flag options described later.  When cpio
          -p prints a message xxx blocks, it indicates how many
          blocks were written.

     patterns
          Specifies a list of files that have special treatment.

     -r   Renames (interactively) files.  If the user types a
          null line, the file is skipped.

     -s   Swaps bytes.  Used only with the -i option.

     -S   Swaps halfwords.  Used only with the -i option.

     -t   Prints a table of contents of the input.  No files are
          created.

     -u   Copies unconditionally (normally, an older file will
          not replace a newer file with the same name).

     -v   Specifies verbose mode; causes a list of filenames to
          be printed.  When used with the -t option, the table of
          contents looks like the output of an ls -l command (see
          ls(1)).




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cpio(1)                                                   cpio(1)



DESCRIPTION
     cpio copies file and directories to or from a cpio archive.
     The cpio command does not follow symbolic links.

EXAMPLES
     The pipeline:

        ls | cpio -o > /dev/rdsk/c8d0s0

     copies the contents of a directory into an archive.

     The command:

        cd olddir
        find . -depth -print | cpio -pdl newdir

     duplicates a directory hierarchy.

     The simple case:

        find . -depth -print | cpio -oB > /dev/rdsk/c8d0s0

     may be handled more efficiently by:

        find . -cpio /dev/rdsk/c8d0s0


LIMITATIONS
     Pathnames are restricted to 128 characters.

     If there are too many uniquely linked files, the program
     runs out of the memory needed to keep track of them and,
     thereafter, linking information is lost.

     Only the superuser may copy special files.

FILES
     /bin/cpio
          Executable file

SEE ALSO
     ar(1), dd(1), find(1), ls(1), tar(1)

     cpio(4) in A/UX Programmer's Reference











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