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 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 f | i 51.Op Fl p 52.Op Fl v 53.Ar source_file target_file 54.Nm cp 55.Oo 56.Fl R 57.Op Fl H | Fl L | Fl P 58.Oc 59.Op Fl f | i 60.Op Fl p 61.Op Fl v 62.Ar source_file ... target_directory 63.Sh DESCRIPTION 64In the first synopsis form, the 65.Nm 66utility copies the contents of the 67.Ar source_file 68to the 69.Ar target_file . 70In the second synopsis form, 71the contents of each named 72.Ar source_file 73is copied to the destination 74.Ar target_directory . 75The names of the files themselves are not changed. 76If 77.Nm 78detects an attempt to copy a file to itself, the copy will fail. 79.Pp 80The following options are available: 81.Bl -tag -width flag 82.It Fl H 83If the 84.Fl R 85option is specified, symbolic links on the command line are followed. 86(Symbolic links encountered in the tree traversal are not followed.) 87.It Fl L 88If the 89.Fl R 90option is specified, all symbolic links are followed. 91.It Fl P 92If the 93.Fl R 94option is specified, no symbolic links are followed. 95.It Fl R 96If 97.Ar source_file 98designates a directory, 99.Nm 100copies the directory and the entire subtree connected at that point. 101This option also causes symbolic links to be copied, rather than 102indirected through, and for 103.Nm 104to create special files rather than copying them as normal files. 105Created directories have the same mode as the corresponding source 106directory, unmodified by the process' umask. 107.It Fl f 108For each existing destination pathname, remove it and 109create a new file, without prompting for confirmation 110regardless of its permissions. 111(The 112.Fl f 113option overrides any previous 114.Fl i 115options.) 116.It Fl i 117Cause 118.Nm 119to write a prompt to the standard error output before copying a file 120that would overwrite an existing file. 121If the response from the standard input begins with the character 122.Sq Li y 123or 124.Sq Li Y , 125the file copy is attempted. 126(The 127.Fl i 128option overrides any previous 129.Fl f 130options.) 131.It Fl p 132Cause 133.Nm 134to preserve in the copy as many of the modification time, access time, 135file flags, file mode, user ID, and group ID as allowed by permissions. 136.Pp 137If the user ID and group ID cannot be preserved, no error message 138is displayed and the exit value is not altered. 139.Pp 140If the source file has its set user ID bit on and the user ID cannot 141be preserved, the set user ID bit is not preserved 142in the copy's permissions. 143If the source file has its set group ID bit on and the group ID cannot 144be preserved, the set group ID bit is not preserved 145in the copy's permissions. 146If the source file has both its set user ID and set group ID bits on, 147and either the user ID or group ID cannot be preserved, neither 148the set user ID nor set group ID bits are preserved in the copy's 149permissions. 150.It Fl v 151Cause 152.Nm 153to be verbose, showing files as they are copied. 154.El 155.Pp 156For each destination file that already exists, its contents are 157overwritten if permissions allow. Its mode, user ID, and group 158ID are unchanged unless the 159.Fl p 160option was specified. 161.Pp 162In the second synopsis form, 163.Ar target_directory 164must exist unless there is only one named 165.Ar source_file 166which is a directory and the 167.Fl R 168flag is specified. 169.Pp 170If the destination file does not exist, the mode of the source file is 171used as modified by the file mode creation mask 172.Pf ( Ic umask , 173see 174.Xr csh 1 ) . 175If the source file has its set user ID bit on, that bit is removed 176unless both the source file and the destination file are owned by the 177same user. 178If the source file has its set group ID bit on, that bit is removed 179unless both the source file and the destination file are in the same 180group and the user is a member of that group. 181If both the set user ID and set group ID bits are set, all of the above 182conditions must be fulfilled or both bits are removed. 183.Pp 184Appropriate permissions are required for file creation or overwriting. 185.Pp 186Symbolic links are always followed unless the 187.Fl R 188flag is set, in which case symbolic links are not followed, by default. 189The 190.Fl H 191or 192.Fl L 193flags (in conjunction with the 194.Fl R 195flag) cause symbolic links to be followed as described above. 196The 197.Fl H , 198.Fl L 199and 200.Fl P 201options are ignored unless the 202.Fl R 203option is specified. 204In addition, these options override each other and the 205command's actions are determined by the last one specified. 206.Sh DIAGNOSTICS 207The 208.Nm 209utility exits 0 on success, and >0 if an error occurs. 210.Sh COMPATIBILITY 211Historic versions of the 212.Nm 213utility had a 214.Fl r 215option. 216This implementation supports that option, however, its use is strongly 217discouraged, as it does not correctly copy special files, symbolic links 218or fifo's. 219.Sh SEE ALSO 220.Xr mv 1 , 221.Xr rcp 1 , 222.Xr umask 2 , 223.Xr fts 3 , 224.Xr symlink 7 225.Sh STANDARDS 226The 227.Nm 228command is expected to be 229.St -p1003.2 230compatible. 231.Sh HISTORY 232A 233.Nm 234command appeared in 235.At v1 . 236