CP(1)

📦
version 0.12.0 · 7 versions
, in ubuntu stonking

💅 CP(1) — bestie, meet cp 💅

okay so this is the manual page for cp, from the General Commands Manual. it copies stuff. that's the whole vibe. let's go 🦋

✨ NAME ✨

cp — Copy SOURCE to DEST, or multiple SOURCE(s) to DIRECTORY.

🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

cp [OPTION]... [-T] SOURCE DEST
cp [OPTION]... SOURCE... DIRECTORY
cp [OPTION]... -t DIRECTORY SOURCE...

🎀 DESCRIPTION 🎀

Copy SOURCE to DEST, or multiple SOURCE(s) to DIRECTORY.

that's it. that's the whole description. iconic, honestly. 👑

🔥 OPTIONS 🔥

  • -t, --target-directory <target-directory> — copy all SOURCE arguments into target-directory ✨
  • -T, --no-target-directory — Treat DEST as a regular file and not a directory. like, pls stop assuming things 💀
  • -i, --interactive — ask before overwriting files. consent first, always 🫶
  • -l, --link — hard-link files instead of copying
  • -n, --no-clobber — don't overwrite a file that already exists. leave it alone, it's doing its best 🙈
  • -R, --recursive — copy directories recursively. yes, all the way down, we're going in 🕳️
  • --strip-trailing-slashes — remove any trailing slashes from each SOURCE argument
  • --debug — explain how a file is copied. Implies -v. it's giving narrator energy
  • -v, --verbose — explicitly state what is being done
  • -s, --symbolic-link — make symbolic links instead of copying
  • -f, --force — if an existing destination file cannot be opened, remove it and try again (this option is ignored when the -n option is also used). Currently not implemented for Windows.
  • --remove-destination — remove each existing destination file before attempting to open it (contrast with --force). On Windows, currently only works for writeable files.
  • --backup[=<CONTROL>] — make a backup of each existing destination file 💖
  • -b — like --backup but does not accept an argument
  • -S, --suffix <SUFFIX> — override the usual backup suffix
  • --update — move only when the SOURCE file is newer than the destination file or when the destination file is missing

Possible values:

  • none
  • all
  • older
  • none-fail
  • -u — like --update but does not accept an argument
  • --reflink[=<WHEN>] — control clone/CoW copies. See below

Possible values:

  • auto
  • always
  • never
  • --attributes-only — Don't copy the file data, just the attributes. the aura, not the body ✨
  • --preserve[=<ATTR_LIST>...] — Preserve the specified attributes (default: mode, ownership (unix only), timestamps), if possible additional attributes: context, links, xattr, all

Possible values:

  • mode
  • ownership
  • timestamps
  • context
  • links
  • xattr
  • all
  • -p, --preserve-default-attributes — same as --preserve=mode,ownership(unix only),timestamps
  • --no-preserve[=<ATTR_LIST>...] — don't preserve the specified attributes

Possible values:

  • mode
  • ownership
  • timestamps
  • context
  • links
  • xattr
  • all
  • --parents — use full source file name under DIRECTORY
  • -P, --no-dereference — never follow symbolic links in SOURCE
  • -L, --dereference — always follow symbolic links in SOURCE
  • -H — follow command-line symbolic links in SOURCE
  • -a, --archive — Same as -dR --preserve=all
  • -d — same as --no-dereference --preserve=links
  • -x, --one-file-system — stay on this file system. no wandering off 🚧
  • --sparse <WHEN> — control creation of sparse files. See below

Possible values:

  • never
  • auto
  • always
  • -Z — set SELinux security context of destination file to default type
  • --context[=<CTX>] — like -Z, or if CTX is specified then set the SELinux or SMACK security context to CTX
  • -g, --progress — Display a progress bar. Note: this feature is not supported by GNU coreutils. 😭 (we still love her)
  • --copy-contents — NotImplemented: copy contents of special files when recursive
  • -h, --help — Print help
  • -V, --version — Print version
  • <paths>

🌈 EXTRA 🌈

Do not copy a non-directory that has an existing destination with the same or newer modification timestamp; instead, silently skip the file without failing. If timestamps are being preserved, the comparison is to the source timestamp truncated to the resolutions of the destination file system and of the system calls used to update timestamps; this avoids duplicate work if several cp -pu commands are executed with the same source and destination. This option is ignored if the -n or --no-clobber option is also specified. Also, if --preserve=links is also specified (like with cp -au for example), that will take precedence; consequently, depending on the order that files are processed from the source, newer files in the destination may be replaced, to mirror hard links in the source. which gives more control over which existing files in the destination are replaced, and its value can be one of the following:

  • all: This is the default operation when an --update option is not specified, and results in all existing files in the destination being replaced.
  • none: This is similar to the --no-clobber option, in that no files in the destination are replaced, but also skipping a file does not induce a failure.
  • older: This is the default operation when --update is specified, and results in files being replaced if they're older than the corresponding source file.

The backup suffix is '~', unless set with --suffix or SIMPLE_BACKUP_SUFFIX. The version control method may be selected via the --backup option or through the VERSION_CONTROL environment variable. Here are the values:

none, off       never make backups (even if --backup is given)
numbered, t     make numbered backups
existing, nil   numbered if numbered backups exist, simple otherwise
simple, never   always make simple backups

👑 VERSION 👑

v(uutils coreutils) 0.12.0

🧚 EXAMPLES 🧚

Copy a file to another location:

cp path/to/source_file path/to/target_file

Copy a file into another directory, keeping the filename:

cp path/to/source_file path/to/target_parent_directory

Recursively copy a directory's contents to another location (if the destination exists, the directory is copied inside it):

cp [-r|--recursive] path/to/source_directory path/to/target_directory

Copy a directory recursively, in verbose mode (shows files as they are copied):

cp [-vr|--verbose --recursive] path/to/source_directory
path/to/target_directory

Copy multiple files at once to a directory:

cp [-t|--target-directory] path/to/destination_directory path/to/file1
path/to/file2 ...

Copy all files with a specific extension to another location, in interactive mode (prompts user before overwriting):

cp [-i|--interactive] *.ext path/to/target_directory

Follow symbolic links before copying:

cp [-L|--dereference] link path/to/target_directory

Use the full path of source files, creating any missing intermediate directories when copying:

cp --parents source/path/to/file path/to/target_file

The examples are provided by the tldr-pages project <https://tldr.sh> under the CC BY 4.0 License. Please note that, as uutils is a work in progress, some examples might fail. 🫶

ok that's the whole page bestie, every last flag accounted for, no cap 💯

and that's a wrap!! 🎀 this was v(uutils coreutils) 0.12.0, dated 2026-09-25, and yeah — that's CP(1) fr fr. mwah 💅✨

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