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 July 23, 2002 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. 97This option also causes symbolic links to be copied, rather than 98indirected through, and for 99.Nm 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.Pp 104Note that 105.Nm 106copies hard linked files as separate files. 107If you need to preserve hard links, consider using 108.Xr tar 1 , 109.Xr cpio 1 , 110or 111.Xr pax 1 112instead. 113.It Fl f 114For each existing destination pathname, remove it and 115create a new file, without prompting for confirmation 116regardless of its permissions. 117(The 118.Fl f 119option overrides any previous 120.Fl i 121or 122.Fl n 123options.) 124.It Fl i 125Cause 126.Nm 127to write a prompt to the standard error output before copying a file 128that would overwrite an existing file. 129If the response from the standard input begins with the character 130.Sq Li y 131or 132.Sq Li Y , 133the file copy is attempted. 134(The 135.Fl i 136option overrides any previous 137.Fl f 138or 139.Fl n 140options.) 141.It Fl n 142Do not overwrite an existing file. 143(The 144.Fl n 145option overrides any previous 146.Fl f 147or 148.Fl i 149options.) 150.It Fl p 151Cause 152.Nm 153to preserve the following attributes of each source 154file in the copy: modification time, access time, 155file flags, file mode, user ID, and group ID, as allowed by permissions. 156.Pp 157If the user ID and group ID cannot be preserved, no error message 158is displayed and the exit value is not altered. 159.Pp 160If the source file has its set-user-ID bit on and the user ID cannot 161be preserved, the set-user-ID bit is not preserved 162in the copy's permissions. 163If the source file has its set-group-ID bit on and the group ID cannot 164be preserved, the set-group-ID bit is not preserved 165in the copy's permissions. 166If the source file has both its set-user-ID and set-group-ID bits on, 167and either the user ID or group ID cannot be preserved, neither 168the set-user-ID nor set-group-ID bits are preserved in the copy's 169permissions. 170.It Fl v 171Cause 172.Nm 173to be verbose, showing files as they are copied. 174.El 175.Pp 176For each destination file that already exists, its contents are 177overwritten if permissions allow. 178Its mode, user ID, and group 179ID are unchanged unless the 180.Fl p 181option was specified. 182.Pp 183In the second synopsis form, 184.Ar target_directory 185must exist unless there is only one named 186.Ar source_file 187which is a directory and the 188.Fl R 189flag is specified. 190.Pp 191If the destination file does not exist, the mode of the source file is 192used as modified by the file mode creation mask 193.Pf ( Ic umask , 194see 195.Xr csh 1 ) . 196If the source file has its set-user-ID bit on, that bit is removed 197unless both the source file and the destination file are owned by the 198same user. 199If the source file has its set-group-ID bit on, that bit is removed 200unless both the source file and the destination file are in the same 201group and the user is a member of that group. 202If both the set-user-ID and set-group-ID bits are set, all of the above 203conditions must be fulfilled or both bits are removed. 204.Pp 205Appropriate permissions are required for file creation or overwriting. 206.Pp 207Symbolic links are always followed unless the 208.Fl R 209flag is set, in which case symbolic links are not followed, by default. 210The 211.Fl H 212or 213.Fl L 214flags (in conjunction with the 215.Fl R 216flag) cause symbolic links to be followed as described above. 217The 218.Fl H , 219.Fl L 220and 221.Fl P 222options are ignored unless the 223.Fl R 224option is specified. 225In addition, these options override each other and the 226command's actions are determined by the last one specified. 227.Pp 228If 229.Nm 230receives a 231.Dv SIGINFO 232(see the 233.Cm status 234argument for 235.Xr stty 1 ) 236signal, the current input and output file and the percentage complete 237will be written to the standard output. 238.Sh EXIT STATUS 239.Ex -std 240.Sh COMPATIBILITY 241Historic versions of the 242.Nm 243utility had a 244.Fl r 245option. 246This implementation supports that option, however, its use is strongly 247discouraged, as it does not correctly copy special files, symbolic links 248or fifo's. 249.Pp 250The 251.Fl v 252and 253.Fl n 254options are non-standard and their use in scripts is not recommended. 255.Sh SEE ALSO 256.Xr mv 1 , 257.Xr rcp 1 , 258.Xr umask 2 , 259.Xr fts 3 , 260.Xr symlink 7 261.Sh STANDARDS 262The 263.Nm 264command is expected to be 265.St -p1003.2 266compatible. 267.Sh HISTORY 268A 269.Nm 270command appeared in 271.At v1 . 272