1.\" $NetBSD: cp.1,v 1.45 2016/08/11 00:17:23 sevan Exp $ 2.\" 3.\" Copyright (c) 1989, 1990, 1993, 1994 4.\" The Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved. 5.\" 6.\" This code is derived from software contributed to Berkeley by 7.\" the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. 8.\" 9.\" Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without 10.\" modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions 11.\" are met: 12.\" 1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright 13.\" notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer. 14.\" 2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright 15.\" notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the 16.\" documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution. 17.\" 3. Neither the name of the University nor the names of its contributors 18.\" may be used to endorse or promote products derived from this software 19.\" without specific prior written permission. 20.\" 21.\" THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE REGENTS AND CONTRIBUTORS ``AS IS'' AND 22.\" ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE 23.\" IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE 24.\" ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE REGENTS OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE 25.\" FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL 26.\" DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS 27.\" OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) 28.\" HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT 29.\" LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY 30.\" OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF 31.\" SUCH DAMAGE. 32.\" 33.\" @(#)cp.1 8.3 (Berkeley) 4/18/94 34.\" 35.Dd August 11, 2016 36.Dt CP 1 37.Os 38.Sh NAME 39.Nm cp 40.Nd copy files 41.Sh SYNOPSIS 42.Nm 43.Oo 44.Fl R 45.Op Fl H | Fl L | Fl P 46.Oc 47.Op Fl f | i 48.Op Fl alNpv 49.Ar source_file target_file 50.Nm cp 51.Oo 52.Fl R 53.Op Fl H | Fl L | Fl P 54.Oc 55.Op Fl f | i 56.Op Fl alNpv 57.Ar source_file ... target_directory 58.Sh DESCRIPTION 59In the first synopsis form, the 60.Nm 61utility copies the contents of the 62.Ar source_file 63to the 64.Ar target_file . 65In the second synopsis form, 66the contents of each named 67.Ar source_file 68is copied to the destination 69.Ar target_directory . 70The names of the files themselves are not changed. 71If 72.Nm 73detects an attempt to copy a file to itself, the copy will fail. 74.Pp 75The following options are available: 76.Bl -tag -width flag 77.It Fl a 78Archive mode. 79Same as 80.Fl RpP . 81.It Fl f 82For each existing destination pathname, attempt to overwrite it. 83If permissions do not allow copy to succeed, remove it and create a new 84file, without prompting for confirmation. 85(The 86.Fl i 87option is ignored if the 88.Fl f 89option is specified.) 90.It Fl H 91If the 92.Fl R 93option is specified, symbolic links on the command line are followed. 94(Symbolic links encountered in the tree traversal are not followed.) 95.It Fl i 96Causes 97.Nm 98to write a prompt to the standard error output before copying a file 99that would overwrite an existing file. 100If the response from the standard input begins with the character 101.Sq Li y , 102the file copy is attempted. 103.It Fl L 104If the 105.Fl R 106option is specified, all symbolic links are followed. 107.It Fl l 108Create hard links to regular files in a hierarchy instead of copying. 109.It Fl N 110When used with 111.Fl p , 112don't copy file flags. 113.It Fl P 114No symbolic links are followed. 115This is the default. 116.It Fl p 117Causes 118.Nm 119to preserve in the copy as many of the modification time, access time, 120file flags, file mode, user ID, group ID, and extended attributes, 121as allowed by permissions. 122.Pp 123If the user ID and group ID cannot be preserved, no error message 124is displayed and the exit value is not altered. 125.Pp 126If the source file has its set user ID bit on and the user ID cannot 127be preserved, the set user ID bit is not preserved 128in the copy's permissions. 129If the source file has its set group ID bit on and the group ID cannot 130be preserved, the set group ID bit is not preserved 131in the copy's permissions. 132If the source file has both its set user ID and set group ID bits on, 133and either the user ID or group ID cannot be preserved, neither 134the set user ID or set group ID bits are preserved in the copy's 135permissions. 136.Pp 137Extended attributes from all accessible namespaces are copied; 138others are ignored. 139If an error occurs during this copy, a message is displayed and 140.Nm 141skips the other extended attributes for that file. 142.It Fl R 143If 144.Ar source_file 145designates a directory, 146.Nm 147copies the directory and the entire subtree connected at that point. 148This option also causes symbolic links to be copied, rather than 149followed, and for 150.Nm 151to create special files rather than copying them as normal files. 152Created directories have the same mode as the corresponding source 153directory, unmodified by the process's umask. 154.Pp 155Note that 156.Nm 157copies hard linked files as separate files. 158If you need to preserve hard links, consider using a utility like 159.Xr pax 1 160instead. 161.It Fl v 162Causes 163.Nm 164to be verbose, showing files as they are copied. 165.El 166.Pp 167For each destination file that already exists, its contents are 168overwritten if permissions allow, but its mode, user ID, and group 169ID are unchanged. 170.Pp 171In the second synopsis form, 172.Ar target_directory 173must exist unless there is only one named 174.Ar source_file 175which is a directory and the 176.Fl R 177flag is specified. 178.Pp 179If the destination file does not exist, the mode of the source file is 180used as modified by the file mode creation mask 181.Ic ( umask , 182see 183.Xr csh 1 ) . 184If the source file has its set user ID bit on, that bit is removed 185unless both the source file and the destination file are owned by the 186same user. 187If the source file has its set group ID bit on, that bit is removed 188unless both the source file and the destination file are in the same 189group and the user is a member of that group. 190If both the set user ID and set group ID bits are set, all of the above 191conditions must be fulfilled or both bits are removed. 192.Pp 193Appropriate permissions are required for file creation or overwriting. 194.Pp 195Symbolic links are always followed unless the 196.Fl R 197flag is set, in which case symbolic links are not followed, by default. 198The 199.Fl H 200or 201.Fl L 202flags (in conjunction with the 203.Fl R 204flag), as well as the 205.Fl P 206flag cause symbolic links to be followed as described above. 207The 208.Fl H 209and 210.Fl L 211options are ignored unless the 212.Fl R 213option is specified. 214In addition, these options override each other and the 215command's actions are determined by the last one specified. 216The default is as if the 217.Fl P 218option had been specified. 219.Sh EXIT STATUS 220.Ex -std cp 221.Sh COMPATIBILITY 222Historic versions of the 223.Nm 224utility had a 225.Fl r 226option. 227This implementation supports that option, however, its use is strongly 228discouraged, as it does not correctly copy special files, symbolic links, 229or FIFOs. 230.Sh SEE ALSO 231.Xr mv 1 , 232.Xr pax 1 , 233.Xr rcp 1 , 234.Xr umask 2 , 235.Xr fts 3 , 236.Xr symlink 7 237.Sh STANDARDS 238The 239.Nm 240utility is expected to be 241.St -p1003.2 242compatible. 243.Pp 244The 245.Fl a 246and 247.Fl l 248flags are non-standard extensions. 249They are intended to be compatible with the same options which 250other implementations, namely GNU coreutils and 251.Fx , 252of this utility have. 253.Pp 254The 255.Fl v 256option is an extension to 257.St -p1003.2 . 258.Sh HISTORY 259A 260.Nm 261utility appeared in 262.At v1 . 263