{"id":3418,"date":"2014-10-21T17:32:32","date_gmt":"2014-10-21T17:32:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.inmotionhosting.com\/support\/2014\/10\/21\/cp-command\/"},"modified":"2022-03-31T19:23:18","modified_gmt":"2022-03-31T23:23:18","slug":"cp-command","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.inmotionhosting.com\/support\/server\/linux\/cp-command\/","title":{"rendered":"cp command"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

In this tutorial:<\/h2>\n

Command structure<\/a> Examples<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

At first, the cp<\/em> command seems like a very straightforward command. While it is certainly a simple concept to copy a file or directory from one location to another, it has many different options involved to tailor the process. The cp<\/em> command is also one of the most used Linux commands<\/a>. Below we go over the options you can use with the command followed by some of the more commonly used option combinations.<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

Command Structure<\/h2>\n

Command: <\/strong>cp
\nSynopsis: <\/strong>cd [OPTION]… SOURCE… DIRECTORY<\/p>\n

List of Options: <\/strong><\/p>\n

NOTE:<\/strong> Some options have only a short name, some only a long name, and some both. If an option has both, then you may use either format.<\/div>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Short Name<\/th>\nLong name<\/th>\nDescription<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n
-a<\/td>\n–archive<\/td>\nThis is the same as using the option cobination:
\n-dR –preserve=all<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
<\/td>\n–backup[=CONTROL]<\/td>\nMake a backup of each existing destination file.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
-b<\/td>\n<\/td>\nLike –backup, but does not use an argument<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
<\/td>\n–copy-contents<\/td>\nCopy contents of special files when recursive.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
-d<\/td>\n<\/td>\nSame as the –no-deference — preserve=links combination<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
-f<\/td>\n–force<\/td>\n If an existing destination file cannot be opened, remove it and then try again.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
-i<\/td>\n–interactive<\/td>\nPrompt before an overwrite occurs<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
-H<\/td>\n<\/td>\nFollow command-line symbolic links in the source.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
-l<\/td>\n–link<\/td>\nLink files instead of copying them<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
-n<\/td>\n–no-cobbler<\/td>\nDon’t overwrite an existing file.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
-P<\/td>\n–no-deference<\/td>\nNever follow symbolic links in the source<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
-p<\/td>\n<\/td>\nThis is the same as using –preserve=mode,ownership,timestamps<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
<\/td>\n–preserve[=ATTR_LIST]<\/td>\nThis option preserves the specified attributes. ‘mode’,’ownership’,’timestamps’ are the default attributes preserved. Additional attributes are ‘context’,links’,’xattr’,’all’<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
-c<\/td>\n<\/td>\nThis is the same as –preserve=context<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
<\/td>\n–no-preserve[=ATTR_LIST]<\/td>\nWhen using this command, list the attributes you do not want to preserve (same available attributes as –preserve).<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
<\/td>\n–parents<\/td>\nUses the full source file name under the DIRECTORY<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
-R, -r<\/td>\n–recursive<\/td>\nCopy the directories recursively.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
<\/td>\n–remove-destination<\/td>\nRemoves the existing destination file before opening it. This option is the opposite of –force.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
<\/td>\n–strip-trailing-slashes<\/td>\nRemoves any trailing slashes form he source parameter.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
-s<\/td>\n–symbolic-link<\/td>\nThis option will override the normal backup suffix with the entered parameter.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
-t<\/td>\n–target-directory=DIRECTORY<\/td>\nCopies all documents from the source into the specified DIRECTORY<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
-u<\/td>\n–update<\/td>\nThis copies source files only when they are newer than the destination files or if the destination file is missing.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
-v<\/td>\n–verbose<\/td>\nThis explains what is being done by displaying it on the console.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
-x<\/td>\n–one-file-system<\/td>\nMake a backup of each existing destination file.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
-z<\/td>\n–context=TEXT<\/td>\nThis option sets the security context of the copied file to CONTEXT<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

Examples<\/h2>\n

Using the options above, you can create many different combinations to tailor the copy to your own needs. Below are a few examples of the more common uses of the cp<\/em> command.<\/p>\n

Make a backup of a file<\/h3>\n

This basic format allows you to create a backup copy of a specific file. This is highly recommended before making any changes to a file.<\/p>\n

 # cp test.txt test.txt.bak<\/span> # ls<\/span> test.txt test.txt.bak<\/pre>\n
Copy a file from one directory to another<\/h3>\n
In this example you can see we are copying the test.txt<\/em> file from the current directory to the sub directory named files<\/em>. This performs very similarly to the mv command<\/a>, except this one leaves a copy in the current location in addition to creating the copy in the files<\/em> folder.<\/p>\n
 # cp test.txt files\/test.txt<\/span><\/pre>\n
Copy a file and preserve attribute information<\/h3>\n
When copying a file, by default it will not copy attributes such as the owner or timestamp. Using the –preserve<\/em> option you can force it to also copy those attributes. First we list the files in the directory to show you the owners and timestamps.<\/p>\n
 # ls -l<\/span> drwxr-xr-x  2 userna5 userna5 4096 Oct 21 14:42 .\/ drwxr-x--- 31 userna5 nobody  4096 Oct 21 09:53 ..\/ -rw-r--r--  1 userna5 userna5  896 Sep 29 15:04 test.txt -rw-r--r--  1 userna5 userna5 1212 Sep 29 15:04 index.php<\/pre>\n
Next, we run the command to copy the test.txt file to test.txt.bak, using the –preserve command. By default, this retains the timestamp, mode (permissions), and ownership.<\/p>\n
 # cp --preserve test.txt test2.txt<\/span><\/pre>\n
Now you can see below that the new file retained the permissions, user, and timestamp.<\/p>\n
 # ls -l<\/span> drwxr-xr-x  2 userna5 userna5 4096 Oct 21 14:42 .\/ drwxr-x--- 31 userna5 nobody  4096 Oct 21 09:53 ..\/ -rw-r--r--  1 userna5 userna5  896 Sep 29 15:04 test.txt -rw-r--r--  1 userna5 userna5  896 Sep 29 15:04 test2.txt -rw-r--r--  1 userna5 userna5 1212 Sep 29 15:04 index.php<\/pre>\n
Copy a directory<\/h3>\n
Here we show you how to copy a directory and its contents to another directory. This moves the entire folder as well, so if we copy the test<\/em> folder into the files<\/em> folder, then there will be a test<\/em> folder inside the files<\/em> folder and a copy of all the contents of the test<\/em> folder will be inside the files\/test<\/em> folder. Note that we use the -r<\/em> option when performing this. The -r<\/i> option stands  for recursive<\/i> which means that it copies all of the  files inside the source folder.<\/p>\n
 # cp -r files test<\/span><\/pre>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
In this tutorial: Command structure Examples At first, the cp command seems like a very straightforward command. While it is certainly a simple concept to copy a file or directory from one location to another, it has many different options involved to tailor the process. The cp command is also one of the most used Read More ><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4308],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3418","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-linux"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\ncp command | InMotion Hosting<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Learn the options and usage of the cp Linux command.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.inmotionhosting.com\/support\/server\/linux\/cp-command\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"cp command | InMotion 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