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 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. 93.It Fl R 94If 95.Ar source_file 96designates a directory, 97.Nm 98copies the directory and the entire subtree connected at that point. 99This option also causes symbolic links to be copied, rather than 100indirected through, and for 101.Nm 102to create special files rather than copying them as normal files. 103Created directories have the same mode as the corresponding source 104directory, unmodified by the process' umask. 105.Pp 106Note that 107.Nm 108copies hard linked files as separate files. 109If you need to preserve hard links, consider using 110.Xr tar 1 , 111.Xr cpio 1 , 112or 113.Xr pax 1 114instead. 115.It Fl f 116For each existing destination pathname, remove it and 117create a new file, without prompting for confirmation 118regardless of its permissions. 119(The 120.Fl f 121option overrides any previous 122.Fl i 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 138options.) 139.It Fl p 140Cause 141.Nm 142to preserve in the copy as many of the modification time, access time, 143file flags, file mode, user ID, and group ID as allowed by permissions. 144.Pp 145If the user ID and group ID cannot be preserved, no error message 146is displayed and the exit value is not altered. 147.Pp 148If the source file has its set user ID bit on and the user ID cannot 149be preserved, the set user ID bit is not preserved 150in the copy's permissions. 151If the source file has its set group ID bit on and the group ID cannot 152be preserved, the set group ID bit is not preserved 153in the copy's permissions. 154If the source file has both its set user ID and set group ID bits on, 155and either the user ID or group ID cannot be preserved, neither 156the set user ID nor set group ID bits are preserved in the copy's 157permissions. 158.It Fl v 159Cause 160.Nm 161to be verbose, showing files as they are copied. 162.El 163.Pp 164For each destination file that already exists, its contents are 165overwritten if permissions allow. Its mode, user ID, and group 166ID are unchanged unless the 167.Fl p 168option was specified. 169.Pp 170In the second synopsis form, 171.Ar target_directory 172must exist unless there is only one named 173.Ar source_file 174which is a directory and the 175.Fl R 176flag is specified. 177.Pp 178If the destination file does not exist, the mode of the source file is 179used as modified by the file mode creation mask 180.Pf ( Ic umask , 181see 182.Xr csh 1 ) . 183If the source file has its set user ID bit on, that bit is removed 184unless both the source file and the destination file are owned by the 185same user. 186If the source file has its set group ID bit on, that bit is removed 187unless both the source file and the destination file are in the same 188group and the user is a member of that group. 189If both the set user ID and set group ID bits are set, all of the above 190conditions must be fulfilled or both bits are removed. 191.Pp 192Appropriate permissions are required for file creation or overwriting. 193.Pp 194Symbolic links are always followed unless the 195.Fl R 196flag is set, in which case symbolic links are not followed, by default. 197The 198.Fl H 199or 200.Fl L 201flags (in conjunction with the 202.Fl R 203flag) cause symbolic links to be followed as described above. 204The 205.Fl H , 206.Fl L 207and 208.Fl P 209options are ignored unless the 210.Fl R 211option is specified. 212In addition, these options override each other and the 213command's actions are determined by the last one specified. 214.Sh DIAGNOSTICS 215The 216.Nm 217utility exits 0 on success, and >0 if an error occurs. 218.Sh COMPATIBILITY 219Historic versions of the 220.Nm 221utility had a 222.Fl r 223option. 224This implementation supports that option, however, its use is strongly 225discouraged, as it does not correctly copy special files, symbolic links 226or fifo's. 227.Pp 228The 229.Fl v 230option is non-standard and its use in scripts is not recommended. 231.Sh SEE ALSO 232.Xr mv 1 , 233.Xr rcp 1 , 234.Xr umask 2 , 235.Xr fts 3 , 236.Xr symlink 7 237.Sh STANDARDS 238The 239.Nm 240command is expected to be 241.St -p1003.2 242compatible. 243.Sh HISTORY 244A 245.Nm 246command appeared in 247.At v1 . 248