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48 .TH CP 1 "May 17, 2020"
49 .SH NAME
50 cp \- copy files
51 .SH SYNOPSIS
52 .nf
53 \fB/usr/bin/cp\fR [\fB-afip@/\fR] \fIsource_file\fR \fItarget_file\fR
54 .fi
55
56 .LP
57 .nf
58 \fB/usr/bin/cp\fR [\fB-afip@/\fR] \fIsource_file\fR... \fItarget\fR
59 .fi
60
61 .LP
62 .nf
63 \fB/usr/bin/cp\fR [\fB-r\fR | \fB-R\fR [\fB-H\fR | \fB-L\fR | \fB-P\fR]] [\fB-afip@/\fR] \fIsource_dir\fR... \fItarget\fR
64 .fi
65
66 .LP
67 .nf
68 \fB/usr/bin/cp\fR [\fB-R\fR | \fB-R\fR [\fB-H\fR | \fB-L\fR | \fB-P\fR]] [\fB-afip@/\fR] \fIsource_dir\fR... \fItarget\fR
69 .fi
70
71 .LP
72 .nf
73 \fB/usr/xpg4/bin/cp\fR [\fB-afip@/\fR] \fIsource_file\fR \fItarget_file\fR
74 .fi
75
76 .LP
77 .nf
78 \fB/usr/xpg4/bin/cp\fR [\fB-afip@/\fR] \fIsource_file\fR... \fItarget\fR
79 .fi
80
81 .LP
82 .nf
83 \fB/usr/xpg4/bin/cp\fR [\fB-r\fR | \fB-R\fR [\fB-H\fR | \fB-L\fR | \fB-P\fR]] [\fB-afip@/\fR] \fIsource_dir\fR... \fItarget\fR
84 .fi
85
86 .LP
87 .nf
88 \fB/usr/xpg4/bin/cp\fR [\fB-R\fR | \fB-R\fR [\fB-H\fR | \fB-L\fR | \fB-P\fR]] [\fB-afip@/\fR] \fIsource_dir\fR... \fItarget\fR
89 .fi
90
91 .SH DESCRIPTION
92 In the first synopsis form, neither \fIsource_file\fR nor \fItarget_file\fR are
93 directory files, nor can they have the same name. The \fBcp\fR utility copies
94 the contents of \fIsource_file\fR to the destination path named by
95 \fItarget_file\fR. If \fItarget_file\fR exists, \fBcp\fR overwrites its
96 contents, but the mode (and \fBACL\fR if applicable), owner, and group
97 associated with it are not changed. The last modification time of
98 \fItarget_file\fR and the last access time of \fIsource_file\fR are set to the
99 time the copy was made. If \fItarget_file\fR does not exist, \fBcp\fR creates a
100 new file named \fItarget_file\fR that has the same mode as \fIsource_file\fR
101 except that the sticky bit is not set unless the user is super-user. In this
102 case, the owner and group of \fItarget_file\fR are those of the user, unless
103 the setgid bit is set on the directory containing the newly created file. If
104 the directory's setgid bit is set, the newly created file has the group of the
105 containing directory rather than of the creating user. If \fItarget_file\fR is
106 a link to another file, \fBcp\fR overwrites the link destination with the
107 contents of \fIsource_file\fR; the link(s) from \fItarget_file\fR remains.
108 .sp
109 .LP
110 In the second synopsis form, one or more \fIsource_file\fRs are copied to the
111 directory specified by \fItarget\fR. It is an error if any \fIsource_file\fR is
112 a file of type directory, if \fItarget\fR either does not exist or is not a
113 directory.
114 .sp
115 .LP
116 In the third or fourth synopsis forms, one or more directories specified by
117 \fIsource_dir\fR are copied to the directory specified by \fItarget\fR. Either
118 the \fB-r\fR or \fB-R\fR must be specified. For each \fIsource_dir\fR, \fBcp\fR
119 copies all files and subdirectories.
120 .SH OPTIONS
121 The following options are supported for both \fB/usr/bin/cp\fR and
122 \fB/usr/xpg4/bin/cp\fR:
123 .sp
124 .ne 2
125 .na
126 \fB\fB-a\fR\fR
127 .ad
128 .RS 6n
129 Archive mode. Same as -RpP.
130 .RE
131
132 .sp
133 .ne 2
134 .na
135 \fB\fB-f\fR\fR
136 .ad
137 .RS 6n
138 Unlink. If a file descriptor for a destination file cannot be obtained, this
139 option attempts to unlink the destination file and proceed.
140 .RE
141
142 .sp
143 .ne 2
144 .na
145 \fB\fB-H\fR\fR
146 .ad
147 .RS 6n
148 Takes actions based on the type and contents of the file referenced by any
149 symbolic link specified as a \fIsource_file\fR operand.
150 .sp
151 If the \fIsource_file\fR operand is a symbolic link, then \fBcp\fR copies the
152 file referenced by the symbolic link for the \fIsource_file\fR operand. All
153 other symbolic links encountered during traversal of a file hierarchy are
154 preserved.
155 .RE
156
157 .sp
158 .ne 2
159 .na
160 \fB\fB-i\fR\fR
161 .ad
162 .RS 6n
163 Interactive. \fBcp\fR prompts for confirmation whenever the copy would
164 overwrite an existing \fItarget\fR. An affirmative response means that the copy
165 should proceed. Any other answer prevents \fBcp\fR from overwriting
166 \fItarget\fR.
167 .RE
168
169 .sp
170 .ne 2
171 .na
172 \fB\fB-L\fR\fR
173 .ad
174 .RS 6n
175 Takes actions based on the type and contents of the file referenced by any
176 symbolic link specified as a \fIsource_file\fR operand or any symbolic links
177 encountered during traversal of a file hierarchy.
178 .sp
179 Copies files referenced by symbolic links. Symbolic links encountered during
180 traversal of a file hierarchy are not preserved.
181 .RE
182
183 .sp
184 .ne 2
185 .na
186 \fB\fB-p\fR\fR
187 .ad
188 .RS 6n
189 Preserve. The \fBcp\fR utility duplicates not only the contents of
190 \fIsource_file\fR, but also attempts to preserve its ACL, access and
191 modification times, extended attributes, extended system attributes, file mode,
192 and owner and group ids.
193 .sp
194 If \fBcp\fR is unable to preserve the access and modification times, extended
195 attributes, or the file mode, \fBcp\fR does not consider it a failure. If
196 \fBcp\fR is unable to preserve the owner and group id, the copy does not fail,
197 but \fBcp\fR silently clears the \fBS_ISUID\fR and \fBS_ISGID\fR bits from the
198 file mode of the target. The copy fails if \fBcp\fR is unable to clear these
199 bits. If \fBcp\fR is unable to preserve the ACL or extended system attributes,
200 the copy fails. If the copy fails, then a diagnostic message is written to
201 \fBstderr\fR and (after processing any remaining operands) \fBcp\fR exits with
202 a \fBnon-zero\fR exit status.
203 .RE
204
205 .sp
206 .ne 2
207 .na
208 \fB\fB-P\fR\fR
209 .ad
210 .RS 6n
211 Takes actions on any symbolic link specified as a \fIsource_file\fR operand or
212 any symbolic link encountered during traversal of a file hierarchy.
213 .sp
214 Copies symbolic links. Symbolic links encountered during traversal of a file
215 hierarchy are preserved.
216 .RE
217
218 .sp
219 .ne 2
220 .na
221 \fB\fB-r\fR\fR
222 .ad
223 .RS 6n
224 Recursive. \fBcp\fR copies the directory and all its files, including any
225 subdirectories and their files to \fItarget\fR. Unless the \fB-H\fR, \fB-L\fR,
226 or \fB-P\fR option is specified, the \fB-L\fR option is used as the default
227 mode.
228 .RE
229
230 .sp
231 .ne 2
232 .na
233 \fB\fB-R\fR\fR
234 .ad
235 .RS 6n
236 Same as \fB-r\fR, except pipes are replicated, not read from.
237 .RE
238
239 .sp
240 .ne 2
241 .na
242 \fB\fB-@\fR\fR
243 .ad
244 .RS 6n
245 Preserves extended attributes. \fBcp\fR attempts to copy all of the source
246 file's extended attributes along with the file data to the destination file.
247 .RE
248
249 .sp
250 .ne 2
251 .na
252 \fB\fB-/\fR\fR
253 .ad
254 .RS 6n
255 Preserves extended attributes and extended system attributes. Along with the
256 file's data, the \fBcp\fR utility attempts to copy extended attributes and
257 extended system attributes from each source file, and extended system
258 attributes associated with extended attributes to the destination file. If
259 \fBcp\fR is unable to copy extended attributes or extended system attributes,
260 then a diagnostic message is written to \fBstderr\fR and (after processing any
261 remaining operands) exits with a \fBnon-zero\fR exit status.
262 .RE
263
264 .sp
265 .LP
266 Specifying more than one of the mutually-exclusive options \fB-H\fR, \fB-L\fR,
267 and \fB-P\fR is not considered an error. The last option specified determines
268 the behavior of the utility.
269 .SS "/usr/bin/cp"
270 If the \fB-p\fR option is specified with either the \fB-@\fR option or the
271 \fB-/\fR option, \fB/usr/bin/cp\fR behaves as follows
272 .RS +4
273 .TP
274 .ie t \(bu
275 .el o
276 When both \fB-p\fR and \fB-@\fR are specified in any order, the copy fails if
277 extended attributes cannot be copied.
278 .RE
279 .RS +4
280 .TP
281 .ie t \(bu
282 .el o
283 When both \fB-p\fR and \fB-/\fR are specified in any order, the copy fails if
284 extended system attributes cannot be copied.
285 .RE
286 .SS "/usr/xpg4/bin/cp"
287 If the \fB-p\fR option is specified with either the \fB-@\fR option or the
288 \fB-/\fR option, \fB/usr/xpg4/bin/cp\fR behaves as follows:
289 .RS +4
290 .TP
291 .ie t \(bu
292 .el o
293 When both \fB-p\fR and \fB-@\fR are specified, the last option specified
294 determines whether the copy fails if extended attributes cannot be preserved.
295 .RE
296 .RS +4
297 .TP
298 .ie t \(bu
299 .el o
300 When both \fB-p\fR and \fB-/\fR are specified, the last option specified
301 determines whether the copy fails if extended system attributes cannot be
302 preserved.
303 .RE
304 .SH OPERANDS
305 The following operands are supported:
306 .sp
307 .ne 2
308 .na
309 \fB\fIsource_file\fR\fR
310 .ad
311 .RS 15n
312 A pathname of a regular file to be copied.
313 .RE
314
315 .sp
316 .ne 2
317 .na
318 \fB\fIsource_dir\fR\fR
319 .ad
320 .RS 15n
321 A pathname of a directory to be copied.
322 .RE
323
324 .sp
325 .ne 2
326 .na
327 \fB\fItarget_file\fR\fR
328 .ad
329 .RS 15n
330 A pathname of an existing or non-existing file, used for the output when a
331 single file is copied.
332 .RE
333
334 .sp
335 .ne 2
336 .na
337 \fB\fItarget\fR\fR
338 .ad
339 .RS 15n
340 A pathname of a directory to contain the copied files.
341 .RE
342
343 .SH USAGE
344 See \fBlargefile\fR(5) for the description of the behavior of \fBcp\fR when
345 encountering files greater than or equal to 2 Gbyte ( 2^31 bytes).
346 .SH EXAMPLES
347 \fBExample 1 \fRCopying a File
348 .sp
349 .LP
350 The following example copies a file:
351
352 .sp
353 .in +2
354 .nf
355 example% cp goodies goodies.old
356
357 example% ls goodies*
358 goodies goodies.old
359 .fi
360 .in -2
361 .sp
362
363 .LP
364 \fBExample 2 \fRCopying a List of Files
365 .sp
366 .LP
367 The following example copies a list of files to a destination directory:
368
369 .sp
370 .in +2
371 .nf
372 example% cp ~/src/* /tmp
373 .fi
374 .in -2
375 .sp
376
377 .LP
378 \fBExample 3 \fRCopying a Directory
379 .sp
380 .LP
381 The following example copies a directory, first to a new, and then to an
382 existing destination directory
383
384 .sp
385 .in +2
386 .nf
387 example% ls ~/bkup
388 /usr/example/fred/bkup not found
389
390 example% cp \fB-r\fR ~/src ~/bkup
391
392 example% ls \fB-R\fR ~/bkup
393 x.c y.c z.sh
394
395 example% cp \fB-r\fR ~/src ~/bkup
396
397 example% ls \fB-R\fR ~/bkup
398 src x.c y.c z.sh
399 src:
400 x.c y.c z.s
401 .fi
402 .in -2
403 .sp
404
405 .LP
406 \fBExample 4 \fRCopying Extended File System Attributes
407 .sp
408 .LP
409 The following example copies extended file system attributes:
410
411 .sp
412 .in +2
413 .nf
414 $ ls -/ c file1
415 -rw-r--r-- 1 foo staff 0 Oct 29 20:04 file1
416 {AH-----m--}
417
418 $ cp -/ file1 file2
419 $ ls -/c file2
420 -rw-r--r-- 1 foo staff 0 Oct 29 20:17 file2
421 {AH-----m--}
422 .fi
423 .in -2
424 .sp
425
426 .LP
427 \fBExample 5 \fRFailing to Copy Extended System Attributes
428 .sp
429 .LP
430 The following example fails to copy extended system attributes:
431
432 .sp
433 .in +2
434 .nf
435 $ ls -/c file1
436 -rw-r--r-- 1 foo staff 0 Oct 29 20:04 file1
437 {AH-----m--}
438
439 $ cp -/ file1 /tmp
440 cp: Failed to copy extended system attributes from file1 to /tmp/file1
441
442
443 $ ls -/c /tmp/file1
444 -rw-r--r-- 1 foo staff 0 Oct 29 20:09 /tmp/file1
445 {}
446 .fi
447 .in -2
448 .sp
449
450 .SH ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES
451 See \fBenviron\fR(5) for descriptions of the following environment variables
452 that affect the execution of \fBcp\fR: \fBLANG\fR, \fBLC_ALL\fR,
453 \fBLC_COLLATE\fR, \fBLC_CTYPE\fR, \fBLC_MESSAGES\fR, and \fBNLSPATH\fR.
454 .sp
455 .LP
456 Affirmative responses are processed using the extended regular expression
457 defined for the \fByesexpr\fR keyword in the \fBLC_MESSAGES\fR category of the
458 user's locale. The locale specified in the \fBLC_COLLATE\fR category defines
459 the behavior of ranges, equivalence classes, and multi-character collating
460 elements used in the expression defined for \fByesexpr\fR. The locale specified
461 in \fBLC_CTYPE\fR determines the locale for interpretation of sequences of
462 bytes of text data a characters, the behavior of character classes used in the
463 expression defined for the \fByesexpr\fR. See \fBlocale\fR(5).
464 .SH EXIT STATUS
465 The following exit values are returned:
466 .sp
467 .ne 2
468 .na
469 \fB\fB0\fR\fR
470 .ad
471 .RS 6n
472 All files were copied successfully.
473 .RE
474
475 .sp
476 .ne 2
477 .na
478 \fB\fB>0\fR\fR
479 .ad
480 .RS 6n
481 An error occurred.
482 .RE
483
484 .SH ATTRIBUTES
485 See \fBattributes\fR(5) for descriptions of the following attributes:
486 .SS "/usr/bin/cp"
487 .TS
488 box;
489 c | c
490 l | l .
491 ATTRIBUTE TYPE ATTRIBUTE VALUE
492 _
493 CSI Enabled
494 _
495 Interface Stability Committed
496 .TE
497
498 .SS "/usr/xpg4/bin/cp"
499 .TS
500 box;
501 c | c
502 l | l .
503 ATTRIBUTE TYPE ATTRIBUTE VALUE
504 _
505 CSI Enabled
506 _
507 Interface Stability Committed
508 .TE
509
510 .SH SEE ALSO
511 \fBchmod\fR(1), \fBchown\fR(1), \fBsetfacl\fR(1), \fButime\fR(2),
512 \fBfgetattr\fR(3C), \fBattributes\fR(5), \fBenviron\fR(5), \fBfsattr\fR(5),
513 \fBlargefile\fR(5), \fBlocale\fR(5), \fBstandards\fR(5)
514 .SH NOTES
515 The permission modes of the source file are preserved in the copy.
516 .sp
517 .LP
518 A \fB--\fR permits the user to mark the end of any command line options
519 explicitly, thus allowing \fBcp\fR to recognize filename arguments that begin
520 with a \fB-\fR.