| .\" DO NOT MODIFY THIS FILE! It was generated by help2man 1.35. |
| .TH CP "1" "December 2014" "GNU coreutils 8.21" "User Commands" |
| .SH NAME |
| cp \- copy files and directories |
| .SH SYNOPSIS |
| .B cp |
| [\fIOPTION\fR]... [\fI-T\fR] \fISOURCE DEST\fR |
| .br |
| .B cp |
| [\fIOPTION\fR]... \fISOURCE\fR... \fIDIRECTORY\fR |
| .br |
| .B cp |
| [\fIOPTION\fR]... \fI-t DIRECTORY SOURCE\fR... |
| .SH DESCRIPTION |
| .\" Add any additional description here |
| .PP |
| Copy SOURCE to DEST, or multiple SOURCE(s) to DIRECTORY. |
| .PP |
| Mandatory arguments to long options are mandatory for short options too. |
| .TP |
| \fB\-a\fR, \fB\-\-archive\fR |
| same as \fB\-dR\fR \fB\-\-preserve\fR=\fIall\fR |
| .TP |
| \fB\-\-attributes\-only\fR |
| don't copy the file data, just the attributes |
| .TP |
| \fB\-\-backup\fR[=\fICONTROL\fR] |
| make a backup of each existing destination file |
| .TP |
| \fB\-b\fR |
| like \fB\-\-backup\fR but does not accept an argument |
| .TP |
| \fB\-\-copy\-contents\fR |
| copy contents of special files when recursive |
| .TP |
| \fB\-d\fR |
| same as \fB\-\-no\-dereference\fR \fB\-\-preserve\fR=\fIlinks\fR |
| .TP |
| \fB\-f\fR, \fB\-\-force\fR |
| if an existing destination file cannot be |
| opened, remove it and try again (this option |
| is ignored when the \fB\-n\fR option is also used) |
| .TP |
| \fB\-i\fR, \fB\-\-interactive\fR |
| prompt before overwrite (overrides a previous \fB\-n\fR |
| option) |
| .TP |
| \fB\-H\fR |
| follow command\-line symbolic links in SOURCE |
| .TP |
| \fB\-l\fR, \fB\-\-link\fR |
| hard link files instead of copying |
| .TP |
| \fB\-L\fR, \fB\-\-dereference\fR |
| always follow symbolic links in SOURCE |
| .TP |
| \fB\-n\fR, \fB\-\-no\-clobber\fR |
| do not overwrite an existing file (overrides |
| a previous \fB\-i\fR option) |
| .TP |
| \fB\-P\fR, \fB\-\-no\-dereference\fR |
| never follow symbolic links in SOURCE |
| .TP |
| \fB\-p\fR |
| same as \fB\-\-preserve\fR=\fImode\fR,ownership,timestamps |
| .TP |
| \fB\-\-preserve\fR[=\fIATTR_LIST\fR] |
| preserve the specified attributes (default: |
| mode,ownership,timestamps), if possible |
| additional attributes: context, links, xattr, |
| all |
| .TP |
| \fB\-\-no\-preserve\fR=\fIATTR_LIST\fR |
| don't preserve the specified attributes |
| .TP |
| \fB\-\-parents\fR |
| use full source file name under DIRECTORY |
| .TP |
| \fB\-R\fR, \fB\-r\fR, \fB\-\-recursive\fR |
| copy directories recursively |
| .TP |
| \fB\-\-reflink\fR[=\fIWHEN\fR] |
| control clone/CoW copies. See below |
| .TP |
| \fB\-\-remove\-destination\fR |
| remove each existing destination file before |
| attempting to open it (contrast with \fB\-\-force\fR) |
| .TP |
| \fB\-\-sparse\fR=\fIWHEN\fR |
| control creation of sparse files. See below |
| .TP |
| \fB\-\-strip\-trailing\-slashes\fR |
| remove any trailing slashes from each SOURCE |
| argument |
| .TP |
| \fB\-s\fR, \fB\-\-symbolic\-link\fR |
| make symbolic links instead of copying |
| .TP |
| \fB\-S\fR, \fB\-\-suffix\fR=\fISUFFIX\fR |
| override the usual backup suffix |
| .TP |
| \fB\-t\fR, \fB\-\-target\-directory\fR=\fIDIRECTORY\fR |
| copy all SOURCE arguments into DIRECTORY |
| .TP |
| \fB\-T\fR, \fB\-\-no\-target\-directory\fR |
| treat DEST as a normal file |
| .TP |
| \fB\-u\fR, \fB\-\-update\fR |
| copy only when the SOURCE file is newer |
| than the destination file or when the |
| destination file is missing |
| .TP |
| \fB\-v\fR, \fB\-\-verbose\fR |
| explain what is being done |
| .TP |
| \fB\-x\fR, \fB\-\-one\-file\-system\fR |
| stay on this file system |
| .TP |
| \fB\-\-help\fR |
| display this help and exit |
| .TP |
| \fB\-\-version\fR |
| output version information and exit |
| .PP |
| By default, sparse SOURCE files are detected by a crude heuristic and the |
| corresponding DEST file is made sparse as well. That is the behavior |
| selected by \fB\-\-sparse\fR=\fIauto\fR. Specify \fB\-\-sparse\fR=\fIalways\fR to create a sparse DEST |
| file whenever the SOURCE file contains a long enough sequence of zero bytes. |
| Use \fB\-\-sparse\fR=\fInever\fR to inhibit creation of sparse files. |
| .PP |
| When \fB\-\-reflink\fR[=\fIalways\fR] is specified, perform a lightweight copy, where the |
| data blocks are copied only when modified. If this is not possible the copy |
| fails, or if \fB\-\-reflink\fR=\fIauto\fR is specified, fall back to a standard copy. |
| .PP |
| The backup suffix is '~', unless set with \fB\-\-suffix\fR or SIMPLE_BACKUP_SUFFIX. |
| The version control method may be selected via the \fB\-\-backup\fR option or through |
| the VERSION_CONTROL environment variable. Here are the values: |
| .TP |
| none, off |
| never make backups (even if \fB\-\-backup\fR is given) |
| .TP |
| numbered, t |
| make numbered backups |
| .TP |
| existing, nil |
| numbered if numbered backups exist, simple otherwise |
| .TP |
| simple, never |
| always make simple backups |
| .PP |
| As a special case, cp makes a backup of SOURCE when the force and backup |
| options are given and SOURCE and DEST are the same name for an existing, |
| regular file. |
| .SH AUTHOR |
| Written by Torbjorn Granlund, David MacKenzie, and Jim Meyering. |
| .SH "REPORTING BUGS" |
| Report cp bugs to bug\-coreutils@gnu.org |
| .br |
| GNU coreutils home page: <http://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/> |
| .br |
| General help using GNU software: <http://www.gnu.org/gethelp/> |
| .br |
| Report cp translation bugs to <http://translationproject.org/team/> |
| .SH COPYRIGHT |
| Copyright \(co 2013 Free Software Foundation, Inc. |
| License GPLv3+: GNU GPL version 3 or later <http://gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html>. |
| .br |
| This is free software: you are free to change and redistribute it. |
| There is NO WARRANTY, to the extent permitted by law. |
| .SH "SEE ALSO" |
| The full documentation for |
| .B cp |
| is maintained as a Texinfo manual. If the |
| .B info |
| and |
| .B cp |
| programs are properly installed at your site, the command |
| .IP |
| .B info coreutils \(aqcp invocation\(aq |
| .PP |
| should give you access to the complete manual. |
