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 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 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 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 124options.) 125.It Fl i 126Cause 127.Nm 128to write a prompt to the standard error output before copying a file 129that would overwrite an existing file. 130If the response from the standard input begins with the character 131.Sq Li y 132or 133.Sq Li Y , 134the file copy is attempted. 135(The 136.Fl i 137option overrides any previous 138.Fl f 139options.) 140.It Fl p 141Cause 142.Nm 143to preserve in the copy as many of the modification time, access time, 144file flags, file mode, user ID, and group ID as allowed by permissions. 145.Pp 146If the user ID and group ID cannot be preserved, no error message 147is displayed and the exit value is not altered. 148.Pp 149If the source file has its set user ID bit on and the user ID cannot 150be preserved, the set user ID bit is not preserved 151in the copy's permissions. 152If the source file has its set group ID bit on and the group ID cannot 153be preserved, the set group ID bit is not preserved 154in the copy's permissions. 155If the source file has both its set user ID and set group ID bits on, 156and either the user ID or group ID cannot be preserved, neither 157the set user ID nor set group ID bits are preserved in the copy's 158permissions. 159.It Fl v 160Cause 161.Nm 162to be verbose, showing files as they are copied. 163.El 164.Pp 165For each destination file that already exists, its contents are 166overwritten if permissions allow. Its mode, user ID, and group 167ID are unchanged unless the 168.Fl p 169option was specified. 170.Pp 171In the second synopsis form, 172.Ar target_directory 173must exist unless there is only one named 174.Ar source_file 175which is a directory and the 176.Fl R 177flag is specified. 178.Pp 179If the destination file does not exist, the mode of the source file is 180used as modified by the file mode creation mask 181.Pf ( Ic umask , 182see 183.Xr csh 1 ) . 184If the source file has its set user ID bit on, that bit is removed 185unless both the source file and the destination file are owned by the 186same user. 187If the source file has its set group ID bit on, that bit is removed 188unless both the source file and the destination file are in the same 189group and the user is a member of that group. 190If both the set user ID and set group ID bits are set, all of the above 191conditions must be fulfilled or both bits are removed. 192.Pp 193Appropriate permissions are required for file creation or overwriting. 194.Pp 195Symbolic links are always followed unless the 196.Fl R 197flag is set, in which case symbolic links are not followed, by default. 198The 199.Fl H 200or 201.Fl L 202flags (in conjunction with the 203.Fl R 204flag) cause symbolic links to be followed as described above. 205The 206.Fl H , 207.Fl L 208and 209.Fl P 210options are ignored unless the 211.Fl R 212option is specified. 213In addition, these options override each other and the 214command's actions are determined by the last one specified. 215.Sh DIAGNOSTICS 216.Ex -std 217.Sh COMPATIBILITY 218Historic versions of the 219.Nm 220utility had a 221.Fl r 222option. 223This implementation supports that option, however, its use is strongly 224discouraged, as it does not correctly copy special files, symbolic links 225or fifo's. 226.Pp 227The 228.Fl v 229option is non-standard and its use in scripts is not recommended. 230.Sh SEE ALSO 231.Xr mv 1 , 232.Xr rcp 1 , 233.Xr umask 2 , 234.Xr fts 3 , 235.Xr symlink 7 236.Sh STANDARDS 237The 238.Nm 239command is expected to be 240.St -p1003.2 241compatible. 242.Sh HISTORY 243A 244.Nm 245command appeared in 246.At v1 . 247