NAME

cp, fcp, mv  − copy, move files

SYNOPSIS

­cp [ ­-gux ] ­file1 file2
­cp [ ­-gux ] ­file ... directory

­fcp [ ­-gux ] ­file1 file2
­fcp [ ­-gux ] ­file ... directory

­mv ­file1 file2
­mv ­file ... directory

DESCRIPTION

In the first form ­file1 is any name and ­file2 is any name except an existing directory.  In the second form the commands copy or move one or more ­files into a ­directory under their original file names, as if by a sequence of commands in the first form.  Thus ­cp f1 f2 dir is equivalent to cp f1 dir/f1; cp f2 dir/f2. 

­Cp copies the contents of plain ­file1 to file2. The mode and owner of ­file2 are preserved if it already exists; the mode of ­file1 is used otherwise.  The ­-x option sets the mode and modified time of ­file2 from file1; ­-g sets the group id; and ­-u sets the group id and user id (which is usually only possible if the file server is in an administrative mode). 

­Fcp behaves like ­cp but transfers multiple blocks in parallel while copying; it is noticeably faster than ­cp when the files involved are stored on servers connected over long-distance lines.  It is only appropriate to use ­fcp with file servers that respect the ­offset in read(5) and ­write messages.  This includes the disk-based file systems and ramfs but excludes most device file systems. 

­Mv moves ­file1 to file2. If the files are in the same directory, ­file1 is just renamed; otherwise ­mv behaves like ­cp ­-x followed by ­rm file1. ­Mv will rename directories, but it refuses to move a directory into another directory. 

SOURCE

­/sys/src/cmd/cp.c
­/sys/src/cmd/fcp.c
­/sys/src/cmd/mv.c

SEE ALSO

cat(1), stat(2), read(5)

DIAGNOSTICS

Cp, fcp, and ­mv refuse to copy or move files onto themselves. 

Plan 9  —  March 14, 2005