CPIO(1) BSD Reference Manual CPIO(1)
NAME
cpio - copy file archives in and out
SYNOPSIS
cpio -i [-BcdmrtuvfsSb6] [patterns]
cpio -o [-acBv]
cpio -p [-adlmruv] directory
DESCRIPTION
Cpio has three functional modes; copy out, copy in and pass.
Functional Options:
-i 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, meta-characters `?',
`*', and `[...]' match the slash `/' character. Multiple patterns
may be specified and if no patterns are specified, the default for
patterns is `*' (i.e., select all files). The extracted files are
conditionally created and copied into the current directory tree
based upon the options described below. The permissions of the
files will be those of the previous cpio -o. The owner and group of
the files will be that of the current user unless the user is su-
per-user, which causes cpio to retain the owner and group of the
files of the previous cpio -o.
-o Copy out. Reads the standard input to obtain a list of path names
and copies those files onto the standard output together with path
name and status information. Output is padded to a 512-byte bound-
ary.
-p Pass. Reads the standard input to obtain a list of path names of
files that are conditionally created and copied into the destina-
tion directory tree based upon the options described below.
Options for the above functional options:
-B Input/output is to be blocked 5,120 bytes to the record (does not
apply to the pass options; meaningful only with data directed to or
from /dev/rmt/??).
-S Swap halfwords. Use only with the -i option.
-a Reset access times of input files after they have been copied.
-b halfwords. Use only with the -i option.
-c Write header information in ASCII character form for portability.
-d Directories are to be created as needed.
-f Copy in all files except those in patterns.
-l Whenever possible, link files rather than copying them. Usable on-
ly with the -p option.
-m Retain previous file modification time. This option is ineffective
on directories that are being copied.
-r Interactively rename files. If the user types a null line, the
files is skipped.
-s Swap bytes. Use only with the -i option.
-t Print a table of contents of the input. No files are created.
-u Copy unconditionally (normally, an older file will not replace a
newer file with the same name).
-v Verbose: causes a list of file names 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)).
-6 Process an old (i.e., UNIX System Sixth Edition format) file. Only
useful with -i (copy in).
EXAMPLES
The first example below copies the contents of a directory into an
archive; the second duplicates a directory hierarchy:
ls | cpio -o > edev/rmt/0m
cd olddir
find . -depth -print | cpio -pdl newdir
The trivial case
find . -depth -print | cpio -oB >/dev/fmt/0m
can be handled more efficiently by:
find . -cpio /dev/rmt/0m
SEE ALSO
ar(1), find(1), ls(1), cpio(4)
HISTORY
The cpio command appeared in System V AT&T UNIX. This program is derived
from the System V AT&T sources which were contributed to the public do-
main by AT&T.
BUGS
Path names are restricted to 128 characters. If there are too many
unique linked files, the program runs out of memory to keep track of them
and, thereafter, linking information is lost. Only the super-user can
copy special files. The -B option does not work with certain magnetic
tape drives.
BSDI BSD/386 March 27, 1993 2