1.\" $NetBSD: cp.1,v 1.35 2011/01/24 07:22:57 wiz 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 December 21, 2010 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 aNpv 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 aNpv 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 N 108When used with 109.Fl p , 110don't copy file flags. 111.It Fl P 112No symbolic links are followed. 113This is the default. 114.It Fl p 115Causes 116.Nm 117to preserve in the copy as many of the modification time, access time, 118file flags, file mode, user ID, and group ID as allowed by permissions. 119.Pp 120If the user ID and group ID cannot be preserved, no error message 121is displayed and the exit value is not altered. 122.Pp 123If the source file has its set user ID bit on and the user ID cannot 124be preserved, the set user ID bit is not preserved 125in the copy's permissions. 126If the source file has its set group ID bit on and the group ID cannot 127be preserved, the set group ID bit is not preserved 128in the copy's permissions. 129If the source file has both its set user ID and set group ID bits on, 130and either the user ID or group ID cannot be preserved, neither 131the set user ID or set group ID bits are preserved in the copy's 132permissions. 133.It Fl R 134If 135.Ar source_file 136designates a directory, 137.Nm 138copies the directory and the entire subtree connected at that point. 139This option also causes symbolic links to be copied, rather than 140indirected through, and for 141.Nm 142to create special files rather than copying them as normal files. 143Created directories have the same mode as the corresponding source 144directory, unmodified by the process's umask. 145.It Fl v 146Cause 147.Nm 148to be verbose, showing files as they are copied. 149.El 150.Pp 151For each destination file that already exists, its contents are 152overwritten if permissions allow, but its mode, user ID, and group 153ID are unchanged. 154.Pp 155In the second synopsis form, 156.Ar target_directory 157must exist unless there is only one named 158.Ar source_file 159which is a directory and the 160.Fl R 161flag is specified. 162.Pp 163If the destination file does not exist, the mode of the source file is 164used as modified by the file mode creation mask 165.Ic ( umask , 166see 167.Xr csh 1 ) . 168If the source file has its set user ID bit on, that bit is removed 169unless both the source file and the destination file are owned by the 170same user. 171If the source file has its set group ID bit on, that bit is removed 172unless both the source file and the destination file are in the same 173group and the user is a member of that group. 174If both the set user ID and set group ID bits are set, all of the above 175conditions must be fulfilled or both bits are removed. 176.Pp 177Appropriate permissions are required for file creation or overwriting. 178.Pp 179Symbolic links are always followed unless the 180.Fl R 181flag is set, in which case symbolic links are not followed, by default. 182The 183.Fl H 184or 185.Fl L 186flags (in conjunction with the 187.Fl R 188flag), as well as the 189.Fl P 190flag cause symbolic links to be followed as described above. 191The 192.Fl H 193and 194.Fl L 195options are ignored unless the 196.Fl R 197option is specified. 198In addition, these options override each other and the 199command's actions are determined by the last one specified. 200.Sh EXIT STATUS 201.Ex -std cp 202.Sh COMPATIBILITY 203Historic versions of the 204.Nm 205utility had a 206.Fl r 207option. 208This implementation supports that option, however, its use is strongly 209discouraged, as it does not correctly copy special files, symbolic links 210or fifo's. 211.Sh SEE ALSO 212.Xr mv 1 , 213.Xr rcp 1 , 214.Xr umask 2 , 215.Xr fts 3 , 216.Xr symlink 7 217.Sh STANDARDS 218The 219.Nm 220utility is expected to be 221.St -p1003.2 222compatible. 223.Pp 224The 225.Fl a 226is a non-standard extension. 227It is intended to be compatible with the same option which 228other implementations, namely GNU coreutils and 229.Fx , 230of this utility have. 231.Pp 232The 233.Fl v 234option is an extension to 235.St -p1003.2 . 236