.\" Copyright (c) 1989, 1990 The Regents of the University of California. .\" All rights reserved. .\" .\" This code is derived from software contributed to Berkeley by .\" the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. .\" .\" Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without .\" modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions .\" are met: .\" 1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright .\" notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer. .\" 2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright .\" notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the .\" documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution. .\" 3. All advertising materials mentioning features or use of this software .\" must display the following acknowledgement: .\" This product includes software developed by the University of .\" California, Berkeley and its contributors. .\" 4. Neither the name of the University nor the names of its contributors .\" may be used to endorse or promote products derived from this software .\" without specific prior written permission. .\" .\" THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE REGENTS AND CONTRIBUTORS ``AS IS'' AND .\" ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE .\" IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE .\" ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE REGENTS OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE .\" FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL .\" DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS .\" OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) .\" HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT .\" LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY .\" OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF .\" SUCH DAMAGE. .\" .\" @(#)cp.1 6.15 (Berkeley) 7/30/91 .\" .\" $Id: cp.1,v 1.2 1993/03/22 08:04:00 cgd Exp $ .\" .Dd July 30, 1991 .Dt CP 1 .Os BSD 4 .Sh NAME .Nm cp .Nd copy files .Sh SYNOPSIS .Nm cp .Op Fl Rfhip .Ar source_file target_file .Nm cp .Op Fl Rfhip .Ar source_file ... target_directory .Sh DESCRIPTION In the first synopsis form, the .Nm cp utility copies the contents of the .Ar source_file to the .Ar target_file . In the second synopsis form, the contents of each named .Ar source_file is copied to the destination .Ar target_directory . The names of the files themselves are not changed. If .Nm cp detects an attempt to copy a file to itself, the copy will fail. .Pp The following options are available: .Bl -tag -width flag .It Fl R If .Ar source_file designates a directory, .Nm cp copies the directory and the entire subtree connected at that point. This option also causes symbolic links to be copied, rather than indirected through, and for .Nm cp to create special files rather than copying them as normal files. Created directories have the same mode as the corresponding source directory, unmodified by the process' umask. .It Fl f For each existing destination pathname, remove it and create a new file, without prompting for confirmation regardless of its permissions. (The .Fl i option is ignored if the .Fl f option is specified.) .It Fl h Forces .Nm cp to follow symbolic links. Provided for the .Fl R option which does not follow symbolic links by default. .It Fl i Causes .Nm cp to write a prompt to standard error before copying a file that would overwrite an existing file. If the response from the standard input begins with the character .Sq Li y , the file is copied if permissions allow the copy. .It Fl p Causes .Nm cp to preserve in the copy as many of the modification time, access time, file mode, user ID, and group ID as allowed by permissions. .Pp If the user ID and group ID cannot be preserved, no error message is displayed and the exit value is not altered. .Pp If the source file has its set user ID bit on and the user ID cannot be preserved, the set user ID bit is not preserved in the copy's permissions. If the source file has its set group ID bit on and the group ID cannot be preserved, the set group ID bit is not preserved in the copy's permissions. If the source file has both the set user ID and set group ID bits on and either the user ID or group ID cannot be preserved, neither the set user ID or set group ID bits are preserved in the copy's permissions. .El .Pp For each destination file that already exists, its contents are overwritten if permissions allow, but its mode, user ID, and group ID are unchanged. .Pp If the destination file does not exist, the mode of the source file is used as modified by the file mode creation mask .Pf ( Ic umask , see .Xr csh 1 ) . If the source file has its set user ID bit on, that bit is removed unless both the source file and the destination file are owned by the same user. If the source file has its set group ID bit on, that bit is removed unless both the source file and the destination file are in the same group and the user is a member of that group. If both the set user ID and set group ID bits are set, all of the above conditions must be fulfilled or both bits are removed. .Pp Appropriate permissions are required for file creation or overwriting. .Pp Symbolic links are followed unless the .Fl R option is specified, in which case the link itself is copied. .Pp .Nm Cp exits 0 on success, >0 if an error occurred. .Sh SEE ALSO .Xr mv 1 , .Xr rcp 1 , .Xr umask 2 .Sh HISTORY The .Nm cp command is expected to be .St -p1003.2 compatible.