1.\" $NetBSD: cp.1,v 1.38 2011/04/02 08:38:56 mbalmer Exp $ 2.\" 3.\" Copyright (c) 1989, 1990, 1993, 1994 4.\" The Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved. 5.\" 6.\" This code is derived from software contributed to Berkeley by 7.\" the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. 8.\" 9.\" Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without 10.\" modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions 11.\" are met: 12.\" 1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright 13.\" notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer. 14.\" 2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright 15.\" notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the 16.\" documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution. 17.\" 3. Neither the name of the University nor the names of its contributors 18.\" may be used to endorse or promote products derived from this software 19.\" without specific prior written permission. 20.\" 21.\" THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE REGENTS AND CONTRIBUTORS ``AS IS'' AND 22.\" ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE 23.\" IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE 24.\" ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE REGENTS OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE 25.\" FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL 26.\" DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS 27.\" OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) 28.\" HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT 29.\" LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY 30.\" OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF 31.\" SUCH DAMAGE. 32.\" 33.\" @(#)cp.1 8.3 (Berkeley) 4/18/94 34.\" 35.Dd April 2, 2011 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 48.Op Fl alNpv 49.Ar source_file target_file 50.Nm cp 51.Oo 52.Fl R 53.Op Fl H | Fl L | Fl P 54.Oc 55.Op Fl f | i 56.Op Fl alNpv 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 a 78Archive mode. 79Same as 80.Fl RpP . 81.It Fl f 82For each existing destination pathname, attempt to overwrite it. 83If permissions do not allow copy to succeed, remove it and create a new 84file, without prompting for confirmation. 85(The 86.Fl i 87option is ignored if the 88.Fl f 89option is specified.) 90.It Fl H 91If the 92.Fl R 93option is specified, symbolic links on the command line are followed. 94(Symbolic links encountered in the tree traversal are not followed.) 95.It Fl i 96Causes 97.Nm 98to write a prompt to the standard error output before copying a file 99that would overwrite an existing file. 100If the response from the standard input begins with the character 101.Sq Li y , 102the file copy is attempted. 103.It Fl L 104If the 105.Fl R 106option is specified, all symbolic links are followed. 107.It Fl l 108Create hard links to regular files in a hierarchy instead of copying. 109.It Fl N 110When used with 111.Fl p , 112don't copy file flags. 113.It Fl P 114No symbolic links are followed. 115This is the default. 116.It Fl p 117Causes 118.Nm 119to preserve in the copy as many of the modification time, access time, 120file flags, file mode, user ID, and group ID as allowed by permissions. 121.Pp 122If the user ID and group ID cannot be preserved, no error message 123is displayed and the exit value is not altered. 124.Pp 125If the source file has its set user ID bit on and the user ID cannot 126be preserved, the set user ID bit is not preserved 127in the copy's permissions. 128If the source file has its set group ID bit on and the group ID cannot 129be preserved, the set group ID bit is not preserved 130in the copy's permissions. 131If the source file has both its set user ID and set group ID bits on, 132and either the user ID or group ID cannot be preserved, neither 133the set user ID or set group ID bits are preserved in the copy's 134permissions. 135.It Fl R 136If 137.Ar source_file 138designates a directory, 139.Nm 140copies the directory and the entire subtree connected at that point. 141This option also causes symbolic links to be copied, rather than 142followed, and for 143.Nm 144to create special files rather than copying them as normal files. 145Created directories have the same mode as the corresponding source 146directory, unmodified by the process's umask. 147.It Fl v 148Cause 149.Nm 150to be verbose, showing files as they are copied. 151.El 152.Pp 153For each destination file that already exists, its contents are 154overwritten if permissions allow, but its mode, user ID, and group 155ID are unchanged. 156.Pp 157In the second synopsis form, 158.Ar target_directory 159must exist unless there is only one named 160.Ar source_file 161which is a directory and the 162.Fl R 163flag is specified. 164.Pp 165If the destination file does not exist, the mode of the source file is 166used as modified by the file mode creation mask 167.Ic ( umask , 168see 169.Xr csh 1 ) . 170If the source file has its set user ID bit on, that bit is removed 171unless both the source file and the destination file are owned by the 172same user. 173If the source file has its set group ID bit on, that bit is removed 174unless both the source file and the destination file are in the same 175group and the user is a member of that group. 176If both the set user ID and set group ID bits are set, all of the above 177conditions must be fulfilled or both bits are removed. 178.Pp 179Appropriate permissions are required for file creation or overwriting. 180.Pp 181Symbolic links are always followed unless the 182.Fl R 183flag is set, in which case symbolic links are not followed, by default. 184The 185.Fl H 186or 187.Fl L 188flags (in conjunction with the 189.Fl R 190flag), as well as the 191.Fl P 192flag cause symbolic links to be followed as described above. 193The 194.Fl H 195and 196.Fl L 197options are ignored unless the 198.Fl R 199option is specified. 200In addition, these options override each other and the 201command's actions are determined by the last one specified. 202.Sh EXIT STATUS 203.Ex -std cp 204.Sh COMPATIBILITY 205Historic versions of the 206.Nm 207utility had a 208.Fl r 209option. 210This implementation supports that option, however, its use is strongly 211discouraged, as it does not correctly copy special files, symbolic links 212or fifo's. 213.Sh SEE ALSO 214.Xr mv 1 , 215.Xr rcp 1 , 216.Xr umask 2 , 217.Xr fts 3 , 218.Xr symlink 7 219.Sh STANDARDS 220The 221.Nm 222utility is expected to be 223.St -p1003.2 224compatible. 225.Pp 226The 227.Fl a 228and 229.Fl l 230flags are non-standard extensions. 231They are intended to be compatible with the same options which 232other implementations, namely GNU coreutils and 233.Fx , 234of this utility have. 235.Pp 236The 237.Fl v 238option is an extension to 239.St -p1003.2 . 240