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.\" 37.Dd April 18, 1994 38.Dt CP 1 39.Os BSD 4 40.Sh NAME 41.Nm cp 42.Nd copy files 43.Sh SYNOPSIS 44.Nm cp 45.Oo 46.Fl R 47.Op Fl H | Fl L | Fl P 48.Oc 49.Op Fl fip 50.Ar source_file target_file 51.Nm cp 52.Oo 53.Fl R 54.Op Fl H | Fl L | Fl P 55.Oc 56.Op Fl fip 57.Ar source_file ... target_directory 58.Sh DESCRIPTION 59In the first synopsis form, the 60.Nm cp 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 cp 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. 90.It Fl R 91If 92.Ar source_file 93designates a directory, 94.Nm cp 95copies the directory and the entire subtree connected at that point. 96This option also causes symbolic links to be copied, rather than 97indirected through, and for 98.Nm cp 99to create special files rather than copying them as normal files. 100Created directories have the same mode as the corresponding source 101directory, unmodified by the process' umask. 102.It Fl f 103For each existing destination pathname, remove it and 104create a new file, without prompting for confirmation 105regardless of its permissions. 106(The 107.Fl i 108option is ignored if the 109.Fl f 110option is specified.) 111.It Fl i 112Causes 113.Nm cp 114to write a prompt to the standard error output before copying a file 115that would overwrite an existing file. 116If the response from the standard input begins with the character 117.Sq Li y , 118the file copy is attempted. 119.It Fl p 120Causes 121.Nm cp 122to preserve in the copy as many of the modification time, access time, 123file flags, file mode, user ID, and group ID as allowed by permissions. 124.Pp 125If the user ID and group ID cannot be preserved, no error message 126is displayed and the exit value is not altered. 127.Pp 128If the source file has its set user ID bit on and the user ID cannot 129be preserved, the set user ID bit is not preserved 130in the copy's permissions. 131If the source file has its set group ID bit on and the group ID cannot 132be preserved, the set group ID bit is not preserved 133in the copy's permissions. 134If the source file has both its set user ID and set group ID bits on, 135and either the user ID or group ID cannot be preserved, neither 136the set user ID or set group ID bits are preserved in the copy's 137permissions. 138.El 139.Pp 140For each destination file that already exists, its contents are 141overwritten if permissions allow, but its mode, user ID, and group 142ID are unchanged. 143.Pp 144In the second synopsis form, 145.Ar target_directory 146must exist unless there is only one named 147.Ar source_file 148which is a directory and the 149.Fl R 150flag is specified. 151.Pp 152If the destination file does not exist, the mode of the source file is 153used as modified by the file mode creation mask 154.Pf ( Ic umask , 155see 156.Xr csh 1 ) . 157If the source file has its set user ID bit on, that bit is removed 158unless both the source file and the destination file are owned by the 159same user. 160If the source file has its set group ID bit on, that bit is removed 161unless both the source file and the destination file are in the same 162group and the user is a member of that group. 163If both the set user ID and set group ID bits are set, all of the above 164conditions must be fulfilled or both bits are removed. 165.Pp 166Appropriate permissions are required for file creation or overwriting. 167.Pp 168Symbolic links are always followed unless the 169.Fl R 170flag is set, in which case symbolic links are not followed, by default. 171The 172.Fl H 173or 174.Fl L 175flags (in conjunction with the 176.Fl R 177flag) cause symbolic links to be followed as described above. 178The 179.Fl H , 180.Fl L 181and 182.Fl P 183options are ignored unless the 184.Fl R 185option is specified. 186In addition, these options override each other and the 187command's actions are determined by the last one specified. 188.Pp 189.Nm Cp 190exits 0 on success, >0 if an error occurred. 191.Sh COMPATIBILITY 192Historic versions of the 193.Nm cp 194utility had a 195.Fl r 196option. 197This implementation supports that option, however, its use is strongly 198discouraged, as it does not correctly copy special files, symbolic links 199or fifo's. 200.Sh SEE ALSO 201.Xr mv 1 , 202.Xr rcp 1 , 203.Xr umask 2 , 204.Xr fts 3 , 205.Xr symlink 7 206.Sh HISTORY 207The 208.Nm cp 209command is expected to be 210.St -p1003.2 211compatible. 212