CP

NAME

SYNOPSIS

DESCRIPTION

OPTIONS

-a, --archive

Preserve as much as possible of the structure and attributes of the original files in the copy. The same as -dpR.

-b, --backup

Make backups of files that are about to be overwritten or removed.

-d, --no-dereference

Copy symbolic links as symbolic links rather than copying the files that they point to, and preserve hard link relationships between source files in the copies.

-f, --force

Remove existing destination files.

-i, --interactive

Prompt whether to overwrite existing regular destination files.

-l, --link

Make hard links instead of copies of non-directories.

-P, --parents

Form the name of each destination file by appending to the target directory a slash and the specified name of the source file. The last argument given to cp must be the name of an existing directory. For example, the command `cp --parents a/b/c existing_dir' copies the file a/b/c to existing_dir/a/b/c, creating any missing intermediate directories.

-p, --preserve

Preserve the original files' owner, group, permissions, and timestamps.

-r

Copy directories recursively, copying all non-directories as if they were regular files.

-s, --symbolic-link

Make symbolic links instead of copies of non-directories. All source filenames must be absolute (starting with `/') unless the destination files are in the current directory. This option produces an error message on systems that do not support symbolic links.

-u, --update

Do not copy a nondirectory that has an existing destination with the same or newer modification time.

-v, --verbose

Print the name of each file before copying it.

-x, --one-file-system

Skip subdirectories that are on different filesystems from the one that the copy started on.

-R, --recursive

Copy directories recursively.

--help

Print a usage message on standard output and exit successfully.

--version

Print version information on standard output then exit successfully.

-S, --suffix backup-suffix

The suffix used for making simple backup files can be set with the SIMPLE_BACKUP_SUFFIX environment variable, which can be overridden by this option. If neither of those is given, the default is `~', as it is in Emacs.

-V, --version-control {numbered,existing,simple}

The type of backups made can be set with the VERSION_CONTROL environment variable, which can be overridden by this option. If VERSION_CONTROL is not set and this option is not given, the default backup type is `existing'. The value of the VERSION_CONTROL environment variable and the argument to this option are like the GNU Emacs `version-control' variable; they also recognize synonyms that are more descriptive. The valid values are (unique abbreviations are accepted):

`t' or `numbered'

Always make numbered backups.

`nil' or `existing'

Make numbered backups of files that already have them, simple backups of the others.

`never' or `simple'

Always make simple backups.

Index

NAME

SYNOPSIS

DESCRIPTION

OPTIONS