1.\" Copyright (c) 1989, 1990, 1993, 1994 2.\" The Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved. 3.\" 4.\" This code is derived from software contributed to Berkeley by 5.\" the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. 6.\" 7.\" Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without 8.\" modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions 9.\" are met: 10.\" 1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright 11.\" notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer. 12.\" 2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright 13.\" notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the 14.\" documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution. 15.\" 3. All advertising materials mentioning features or use of this software 16.\" must display the following acknowledgement: 17.\" This product includes software developed by the University of 18.\" California, Berkeley and its contributors. 19.\" 4. Neither the name of the University nor the names of its contributors 20.\" may be used to endorse or promote products derived from this software 21.\" without specific prior written permission. 22.\" 23.\" THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE REGENTS AND CONTRIBUTORS ``AS IS'' AND 24.\" ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE 25.\" IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE 26.\" ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE REGENTS OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE 27.\" FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL 28.\" DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS 29.\" OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) 30.\" HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT 31.\" LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY 32.\" OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF 33.\" SUCH DAMAGE. 34.\" 35.\" @(#)cp.1 8.3 (Berkeley) 4/18/94 36.\" $Id$ 37.\" 38.Dd April 18, 1994 39.Dt CP 1 40.Os BSD 4 41.Sh NAME 42.Nm cp 43.Nd copy files 44.Sh SYNOPSIS 45.Nm cp 46.Oo 47.Fl R 48.Op Fl H | Fl L | Fl P 49.Oc 50.Op Fl fip 51.Ar source_file target_file 52.Nm cp 53.Oo 54.Fl R 55.Op Fl H | Fl L | Fl P 56.Oc 57.Op Fl fip 58.Ar source_file ... target_directory 59.Sh DESCRIPTION 60In the first synopsis form, the 61.Nm cp 62utility copies the contents of the 63.Ar source_file 64to the 65.Ar target_file . 66In the second synopsis form, 67the contents of each named 68.Ar source_file 69is copied to the destination 70.Ar target_directory . 71The names of the files themselves are not changed. 72If 73.Nm cp 74detects an attempt to copy a file to itself, the copy will fail. 75.Pp 76The following options are available: 77.Bl -tag -width flag 78.It Fl H 79If the 80.Fl R 81option is specified, symbolic links on the command line are followed. 82(Symbolic links encountered in the tree traversal are not followed.) 83.It Fl L 84If the 85.Fl R 86option is specified, all symbolic links are followed. 87.It Fl P 88If the 89.Fl R 90option is specified, no symbolic links are followed. 91.It Fl R 92If 93.Ar source_file 94designates a directory, 95.Nm cp 96copies the directory and the entire subtree connected at that point. 97This option also causes symbolic links to be copied, rather than 98indirected through, and for 99.Nm cp 100to create special files rather than copying them as normal files. 101Created directories have the same mode as the corresponding source 102directory, unmodified by the process' umask. 103.It Fl f 104For each existing destination pathname, remove it and 105create a new file, without prompting for confirmation 106regardless of its permissions. 107(The 108.Fl i 109option is ignored if the 110.Fl f 111option is specified.) 112.It Fl i 113Causes 114.Nm cp 115to write a prompt to the standard error output before copying a file 116that would overwrite an existing file. 117If the response from the standard input begins with the character 118.Sq Li y , 119the file copy is attempted. 120.It Fl p 121Causes 122.Nm cp 123to preserve in the copy as many of the modification time, access time, 124file flags, file mode, user ID, and group ID as allowed by permissions. 125.Pp 126If the user ID and group ID cannot be preserved, no error message 127is displayed and the exit value is not altered. 128.Pp 129If the source file has its set user ID bit on and the user ID cannot 130be preserved, the set user ID bit is not preserved 131in the copy's permissions. 132If the source file has its set group ID bit on and the group ID cannot 133be preserved, the set group ID bit is not preserved 134in the copy's permissions. 135If the source file has both its set user ID and set group ID bits on, 136and either the user ID or group ID cannot be preserved, neither 137the set user ID or set group ID bits are preserved in the copy's 138permissions. 139.El 140.Pp 141For each destination file that already exists, its contents are 142overwritten if permissions allow, but its mode, user ID, and group 143ID are unchanged. 144.Pp 145In the second synopsis form, 146.Ar target_directory 147must exist unless there is only one named 148.Ar source_file 149which is a directory and the 150.Fl R 151flag is specified. 152.Pp 153If the destination file does not exist, the mode of the source file is 154used as modified by the file mode creation mask 155.Pf ( Ic umask , 156see 157.Xr csh 1 ) . 158If the source file has its set user ID bit on, that bit is removed 159unless both the source file and the destination file are owned by the 160same user. 161If the source file has its set group ID bit on, that bit is removed 162unless both the source file and the destination file are in the same 163group and the user is a member of that group. 164If both the set user ID and set group ID bits are set, all of the above 165conditions must be fulfilled or both bits are removed. 166.Pp 167Appropriate permissions are required for file creation or overwriting. 168.Pp 169Symbolic links are always followed unless the 170.Fl R 171flag is set, in which case symbolic links are not followed, by default. 172The 173.Fl H 174or 175.Fl L 176flags (in conjunction with the 177.Fl R 178flag) cause symbolic links to be followed as described above. 179The 180.Fl H , 181.Fl L 182and 183.Fl P 184options are ignored unless the 185.Fl R 186option is specified. 187In addition, these options override each other and the 188command's actions are determined by the last one specified. 189.Pp 190.Nm Cp 191exits 0 on success, >0 if an error occurred. 192.Sh COMPATIBILITY 193Historic versions of the 194.Nm cp 195utility had a 196.Fl r 197option. 198This implementation supports that option, however, its use is strongly 199discouraged, as it does not correctly copy special files, symbolic links 200or fifo's. 201.Sh SEE ALSO 202.Xr mv 1 , 203.Xr rcp 1 , 204.Xr umask 2 , 205.Xr fts 3 , 206.Xr symlink 7 207.Sh HISTORY 208The 209.Nm cp 210command is expected to be 211.St -p1003.2 212compatible. 213