| CP(1) | General Commands Manual | CP(1) | 
cp —
| cp | [ -R[-H|-L|-P]]
      [-f|-i]
      [-alNpv] source_file
      target_file | 
| cp | [ -R[-H|-L|-P]]
      [-f|-i]
      [-alNpv] source_file ...
      target_directory | 
cp utility copies the
  contents of the source_file to the
  target_file. In the second synopsis form, the contents
  of each named source_file is copied to the destination
  target_directory. The names of the files themselves are
  not changed. If cp detects an attempt to copy a file
  to itself, the copy will fail.
The following options are available:
-a-RpP.-f-i option
      is ignored if the -f option is specified.)-H-R option is specified, symbolic links on
      the command line are followed. (Symbolic links encountered in the tree
      traversal are not followed.)-icp to write a prompt to the standard error
      output before copying a file that would overwrite an existing file. If the
      response from the standard input begins with the character
      ‘y’, the file copy is
    attempted.-L-R option is specified, all symbolic links
      are followed.-l-N-p, don't copy file flags.-P-pcp to preserve in the copy as many of the
      modification time, access time, file flags, file mode, user ID, group ID,
      and extended attributes, as allowed by permissions.
    If the user ID and group ID cannot be preserved due to insufficient permissions, no error message is displayed and the exit value is not altered.
If the source file has its set user ID bit on and the user ID cannot be preserved, the set user ID bit is not preserved in the copy's permissions. If the source file has its set group ID bit on and the group ID cannot be preserved, the set group ID bit is not preserved in the copy's permissions. If the source file has both its set user ID and set group ID bits on, and either the user ID or group ID cannot be preserved, neither the set user ID or set group ID bits are preserved in the copy's permissions.
Extended attributes from all accessible namespaces are copied;
        others are ignored. If an error occurs during this copy, a message is
        displayed and cp skips the other extended
        attributes for that file.
-Rcp copies the directory and the entire subtree
      connected at that point. This option also causes symbolic links to be
      copied, rather than followed, and for cp to create
      special files rather than copying them as normal files. Created
      directories have the same mode as the corresponding source directory,
      unmodified by the process's umask.
    Note that cp copies hard linked files
        as separate files. If you need to preserve hard links, consider using a
        utility like pax(1)
      instead.
-vcp to be verbose, showing files as they are
      copied.For each destination file that already exists, its contents are overwritten if permissions allow, but its mode, user ID, and group ID are unchanged.
In the second synopsis form,
    target_directory must exist unless there is only one
    named source_file which is a directory and the
    -R flag is specified.
If the destination file does not exist, the mode of the source
    file is used as modified by the file mode creation mask
    (umask, see
    csh(1)). If the source file has
    its set user ID bit on, that bit is removed unless both the source file and
    the destination file are owned by the same user. If the source file has its
    set group ID bit on, that bit is removed unless both the source file and the
    destination file are in the same group and the user is a member of that
    group. If both the set user ID and set group ID bits are set, all of the
    above conditions must be fulfilled or both bits are removed.
Appropriate permissions are required for file creation or overwriting.
Symbolic links are always followed unless the
    -R flag is set, in which case symbolic links are not
    followed, by default. The -H or
    -L flags (in conjunction with the
    -R flag), as well as the -P
    flag cause symbolic links to be followed as described above. The
    -H and -L options are
    ignored unless the -R option is specified. In
    addition, these options override each other and the command's actions are
    determined by the last one specified. The default is as if the
    -P option had been specified.
cp utility exits 0 on success,
  and >0 if an error occurs.
cp utility had a
  -r option. This implementation supports that option,
  however, its use is strongly discouraged, as it does not correctly copy
  special files, symbolic links, or FIFOs.
cp utility is expected to be IEEE
  Std 1003.2 (“POSIX.2”) compatible.
The -a and -l
    flags are non-standard extensions. They are intended to be compatible with
    the same options which other implementations, namely GNU coreutils and
    FreeBSD, of this utility have.
The -v option is an extension to
    IEEE Std 1003.2 (“POSIX.2”).
cp utility appeared in
  Version 1 AT&T UNIX.
| December 22, 2018 | NetBSD 10.0 |