The Linux cp (Copy) Command
I always keep forgetting the different options of the
linux cp command. So I decided to make a simple list that I can reuse when need be. I have put up a few examples, it is possible to combine the different options presented. The order of the options does not matter.
Linux Straight Copy, No Options
Copy the
letter.txt file on
/home/myname/somedir the the destination directory:
/home/yourname/somedir
$ cp /home/myname/somedir/letter.txt /home/yourname/somedir
Linux Copy a Given File to the Current Directory
Copying a file to the current directory is similar to the previous example. The current directory can be abbreviated with a single dot
'.'. Thus, copying the
letter.txt file on
/home/myname/somedir to the current directory is done as:
$ cp /home/myname/somedir/letter.txt .
Linux Recursively Copy a Directory
The
-R and
-r options determine that the source directory will be copied recursively into the destination directory. Any sub-folders and or files within the source directory are copied into the destination directory.
$ cp -r /home/myname/somedir /home/yourname/myname_stuff
Linux Copy and Preserve Ownership, Mode and Timestamps
In order to preserve the ownership, mode and timestamps we need to user the
-p option. The example, below copies recursively while preserving ownership, mode and timestamp.
$ cp -pr /home/myname/somedir /home/yourname/myname_stuff
Linux Make Symbolic Links Instead of Copying.
Some times we just want to make a short-cut instead of just copying the file. To achieve this we use the
-s option
$ cp -s /home/myname/somedir/anotherdir/contacts/customers.txt /home/yourname/customers.txt
Linux Copy Forcefully
if an existing destination file cannot be opened, remove it and try again,
-f.
$ cp -f /home/myname/somedir/letter.txt /home/yourname/letter.txt
Linux Copy Interactively
The
-f option will make Linux ask you before overwriting a file.
$ cp -i /home/myname/somedir/letter.txt /home/yourname/letter.txt
