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.\" $FreeBSD$ 37.\" 38.Dd July 23, 2002 39.Dt CP 1 40.Os 41.Sh NAME 42.Nm cp 43.Nd copy files 44.Sh SYNOPSIS 45.Nm 46.Oo 47.Fl R 48.Op Fl H | Fl L | Fl P 49.Oc 50.Op Fl f | i | n 51.Op Fl pv 52.Ar source_file target_file 53.Nm 54.Oo 55.Fl R 56.Op Fl H | Fl L | Fl P 57.Oc 58.Op Fl f | i | n 59.Op Fl pv 60.Ar source_file ... target_directory 61.Sh DESCRIPTION 62In the first synopsis form, the 63.Nm 64utility copies the contents of the 65.Ar source_file 66to the 67.Ar target_file . 68In the second synopsis form, 69the contents of each named 70.Ar source_file 71is copied to the destination 72.Ar target_directory . 73The names of the files themselves are not changed. 74If 75.Nm 76detects an attempt to copy a file to itself, the copy will fail. 77.Pp 78The following options are available: 79.Bl -tag -width flag 80.It Fl H 81If the 82.Fl R 83option is specified, symbolic links on the command line are followed. 84(Symbolic links encountered in the tree traversal are not followed.) 85.It Fl L 86If the 87.Fl R 88option is specified, all symbolic links are followed. 89.It Fl P 90If the 91.Fl R 92option is specified, no symbolic links are followed. 93This is the default. 94.It Fl R 95If 96.Ar source_file 97designates a directory, 98.Nm 99copies the directory and the entire subtree connected at that point. 100This option also causes symbolic links to be copied, rather than 101indirected through, and for 102.Nm 103to create special files rather than copying them as normal files. 104Created directories have the same mode as the corresponding source 105directory, unmodified by the process' umask. 106.Pp 107Note that 108.Nm 109copies hard linked files as separate files. 110If you need to preserve hard links, consider using 111.Xr tar 1 , 112.Xr cpio 1 , 113or 114.Xr pax 1 115instead. 116.It Fl f 117For each existing destination pathname, remove it and 118create a new file, without prompting for confirmation 119regardless of its permissions. 120(The 121.Fl f 122option overrides any previous 123.Fl i 124or 125.Fl n 126options.) 127.It Fl i 128Cause 129.Nm 130to write a prompt to the standard error output before copying a file 131that would overwrite an existing file. 132If the response from the standard input begins with the character 133.Sq Li y 134or 135.Sq Li Y , 136the file copy is attempted. 137(The 138.Fl i 139option overrides any previous 140.Fl f 141or 142.Fl n 143options.) 144.It Fl n 145Do not overwrite an existing file. 146(The 147.Fl n 148option overrides any previous 149.Fl f 150or 151.Fl i 152options.) 153.It Fl p 154Cause 155.Nm 156to preserve in the copy as many of the modification time, access time, 157file flags, file mode, user ID, and group ID as allowed by permissions. 158.Pp 159If the user ID and group ID cannot be preserved, no error message 160is displayed and the exit value is not altered. 161.Pp 162If the source file has its set user ID bit on and the user ID cannot 163be preserved, the set user ID bit is not preserved 164in the copy's permissions. 165If the source file has its set group ID bit on and the group ID cannot 166be preserved, the set group ID bit is not preserved 167in the copy's permissions. 168If the source file has both its set user ID and set group ID bits on, 169and either the user ID or group ID cannot be preserved, neither 170the set user ID nor set group ID bits are preserved in the copy's 171permissions. 172.It Fl v 173Cause 174.Nm 175to be verbose, showing files as they are copied. 176.El 177.Pp 178For each destination file that already exists, its contents are 179overwritten if permissions allow. Its mode, user ID, and group 180ID are unchanged unless the 181.Fl p 182option was specified. 183.Pp 184In the second synopsis form, 185.Ar target_directory 186must exist unless there is only one named 187.Ar source_file 188which is a directory and the 189.Fl R 190flag is specified. 191.Pp 192If the destination file does not exist, the mode of the source file is 193used as modified by the file mode creation mask 194.Pf ( Ic umask , 195see 196.Xr csh 1 ) . 197If the source file has its set user ID bit on, that bit is removed 198unless both the source file and the destination file are owned by the 199same user. 200If the source file has its set group ID bit on, that bit is removed 201unless both the source file and the destination file are in the same 202group and the user is a member of that group. 203If both the set user ID and set group ID bits are set, all of the above 204conditions must be fulfilled or both bits are removed. 205.Pp 206Appropriate permissions are required for file creation or overwriting. 207.Pp 208Symbolic links are always followed unless the 209.Fl R 210flag is set, in which case symbolic links are not followed, by default. 211The 212.Fl H 213or 214.Fl L 215flags (in conjunction with the 216.Fl R 217flag) cause symbolic links to be followed as described above. 218The 219.Fl H , 220.Fl L 221and 222.Fl P 223options are ignored unless the 224.Fl R 225option is specified. 226In addition, these options override each other and the 227command's actions are determined by the last one specified. 228.Sh DIAGNOSTICS 229.Ex -std 230.Sh COMPATIBILITY 231Historic versions of the 232.Nm 233utility had a 234.Fl r 235option. 236This implementation supports that option, however, its use is strongly 237discouraged, as it does not correctly copy special files, symbolic links 238or fifo's. 239.Pp 240The 241.Fl v 242and 243.Fl n 244options are non-standard and their use in scripts is not recommended. 245.Sh SEE ALSO 246.Xr mv 1 , 247.Xr rcp 1 , 248.Xr umask 2 , 249.Xr fts 3 , 250.Xr symlink 7 251.Sh STANDARDS 252The 253.Nm 254command is expected to be 255.St -p1003.2 256compatible. 257.Sh HISTORY 258A 259.Nm 260command appeared in 261.At v1 . 262