1.\"- 2.\" Copyright (c) 1989, 1990, 1993, 1994 3.\" The Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved. 4.\" 5.\" This code is derived from software contributed to Berkeley by 6.\" the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. 7.\" 8.\" Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without 9.\" modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions 10.\" are met: 11.\" 1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright 12.\" notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer. 13.\" 2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright 14.\" notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the 15.\" documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution. 16.\" 4. Neither the name of the University nor the names of its contributors 17.\" may be used to endorse or promote products derived from this software 18.\" without specific prior written permission. 19.\" 20.\" THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE REGENTS AND CONTRIBUTORS ``AS IS'' AND 21.\" ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE 22.\" IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE 23.\" ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE REGENTS OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE 24.\" FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL 25.\" DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS 26.\" OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) 27.\" HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT 28.\" LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY 29.\" OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF 30.\" SUCH DAMAGE. 31.\" 32.\" @(#)cp.1 8.3 (Berkeley) 4/18/94 33.\" $FreeBSD$ 34.\" 35.Dd February 23, 2005 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 | n 48.Op Fl pv 49.Ar source_file target_file 50.Nm 51.Oo 52.Fl R 53.Op Fl H | Fl L | Fl P 54.Oc 55.Op Fl f | i | n 56.Op Fl pv 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 H 78If the 79.Fl R 80option is specified, symbolic links on the command line are followed. 81(Symbolic links encountered in the tree traversal are not followed.) 82.It Fl L 83If the 84.Fl R 85option is specified, all symbolic links are followed. 86.It Fl P 87If the 88.Fl R 89option is specified, no symbolic links are followed. 90This is the default. 91.It Fl R 92If 93.Ar source_file 94designates a directory, 95.Nm 96copies the directory and the entire subtree connected at that point. 97If the 98.Ar source_file 99ends in a 100.Pa / , 101the contents of the directory are copied rather than the 102directory itself. 103This option also causes symbolic links to be copied, rather than 104indirected through, and for 105.Nm 106to create special files rather than copying them as normal files. 107Created directories have the same mode as the corresponding source 108directory, unmodified by the process' umask. 109.Pp 110Note that 111.Nm 112copies hard linked files as separate files. 113If you need to preserve hard links, consider using 114.Xr tar 1 , 115.Xr cpio 1 , 116or 117.Xr pax 1 118instead. 119.It Fl f 120For each existing destination pathname, remove it and 121create a new file, without prompting for confirmation 122regardless of its permissions. 123(The 124.Fl f 125option overrides any previous 126.Fl i 127or 128.Fl n 129options.) 130.It Fl i 131Cause 132.Nm 133to write a prompt to the standard error output before copying a file 134that would overwrite an existing file. 135If the response from the standard input begins with the character 136.Sq Li y 137or 138.Sq Li Y , 139the file copy is attempted. 140(The 141.Fl i 142option overrides any previous 143.Fl f 144or 145.Fl n 146options.) 147.It Fl n 148Do not overwrite an existing file. 149(The 150.Fl n 151option overrides any previous 152.Fl f 153or 154.Fl i 155options.) 156.It Fl p 157Cause 158.Nm 159to preserve the following attributes of each source 160file in the copy: modification time, access time, 161file flags, file mode, user ID, and group ID, as allowed by permissions. 162.Pp 163If the user ID and group ID cannot be preserved, no error message 164is displayed and the exit value is not altered. 165.Pp 166If the source file has its set-user-ID bit on and the user ID cannot 167be preserved, the set-user-ID bit is not preserved 168in the copy's permissions. 169If the source file has its set-group-ID bit on and the group ID cannot 170be preserved, the set-group-ID bit is not preserved 171in the copy's permissions. 172If the source file has both its set-user-ID and set-group-ID bits on, 173and either the user ID or group ID cannot be preserved, neither 174the set-user-ID nor set-group-ID bits are preserved in the copy's 175permissions. 176.It Fl v 177Cause 178.Nm 179to be verbose, showing files as they are copied. 180.El 181.Pp 182For each destination file that already exists, its contents are 183overwritten if permissions allow. 184Its mode, user ID, and group 185ID are unchanged unless the 186.Fl p 187option was specified. 188.Pp 189In the second synopsis form, 190.Ar target_directory 191must exist unless there is only one named 192.Ar source_file 193which is a directory and the 194.Fl R 195flag is specified. 196.Pp 197If the destination file does not exist, the mode of the source file is 198used as modified by the file mode creation mask 199.Pf ( Ic umask , 200see 201.Xr csh 1 ) . 202If the source file has its set-user-ID bit on, that bit is removed 203unless both the source file and the destination file are owned by the 204same user. 205If the source file has its set-group-ID bit on, that bit is removed 206unless both the source file and the destination file are in the same 207group and the user is a member of that group. 208If both the set-user-ID and set-group-ID bits are set, all of the above 209conditions must be fulfilled or both bits are removed. 210.Pp 211Appropriate permissions are required for file creation or overwriting. 212.Pp 213Symbolic links are always followed unless the 214.Fl R 215flag is set, in which case symbolic links are not followed, by default. 216The 217.Fl H 218or 219.Fl L 220flags (in conjunction with the 221.Fl R 222flag) cause symbolic links to be followed as described above. 223The 224.Fl H , 225.Fl L 226and 227.Fl P 228options are ignored unless the 229.Fl R 230option is specified. 231In addition, these options override each other and the 232command's actions are determined by the last one specified. 233.Pp 234If 235.Nm 236receives a 237.Dv SIGINFO 238(see the 239.Cm status 240argument for 241.Xr stty 1 ) 242signal, the current input and output file and the percentage complete 243will be written to the standard output. 244.Sh EXIT STATUS 245.Ex -std 246.Sh COMPATIBILITY 247Historic versions of the 248.Nm 249utility had a 250.Fl r 251option. 252This implementation supports that option, however, its use is strongly 253discouraged, as it does not correctly copy special files, symbolic links 254or fifo's. 255.Pp 256The 257.Fl v 258and 259.Fl n 260options are non-standard and their use in scripts is not recommended. 261.Sh SEE ALSO 262.Xr mv 1 , 263.Xr rcp 1 , 264.Xr umask 2 , 265.Xr fts 3 , 266.Xr symlink 7 267.Sh STANDARDS 268The 269.Nm 270command is expected to be 271.St -p1003.2 272compatible. 273.Sh HISTORY 274A 275.Nm 276command appeared in 277.At v1 . 278