Summary
| Command Name | cp |
| Usage | Copy files andqq directories |
| Section / Group |  User Command |
Signature
There are 3 types of signatures we see for “cp” command, depending on the usage-
Signature #1
cp [OPTION]… [-T] SOURCE DEST
Signature #2
cp [OPTION]… SOURCE DIRECTORY
Signature #3
cp [OPTION]… -t DIRECTORY SOURCE…
Usage
Copy files and directories to certain destination.
This command can copy single item to a single destination, or multiple items to a destination.
Notes
Arguments
Here are the arguments used for the command-
| Parameter | Description | Optional | Multiple |
|---|---|---|---|
| OPTIONS | Options and flags for different behavior of the command | True | True |
| SOURCE | |||
| DEST | |||
| DIRECTORY |
NOTE
- If the directory already exists then the following message is returned-
mkdir: cannot create directory ‘sample’: File exists
Here are the options-
| Option | Descripiton | Alias |
|---|---|---|
Examples
Use the command “cp” to copy files and directories from one location to another.
Copy File
$ cp file1 new_dir/
$ ls -l new_dir/
total 0
-rw-r--r-- 1 bigboxcode bigboxcode 0 Jul 21 04:28 file1Copy the Same File Again
$ cp file1 new_dir/
$ ls -l new_dir/
total 0
-rw-r--r-- 1 bigboxcode bigboxcode 0 Jul 21 04:30 file1Copy File using Pattern
$ cp file* new_dir/
$ ls -l new_dir/
total 0
-rw-r--r-- 1 bigboxcode bigboxcode 0 Jul 21 04:33 file1
-rw-r--r-- 1 bigboxcode bigboxcode 0 Jul 21 04:33 file2
-rw-r--r-- 1 bigboxcode bigboxcode 0 Jul 21 04:33 file3Copy with New Name
$ cp sample_cat_file.txt new_sample_cat_file.txt
$ ls
bigboxfile.txt d1 file1 file2 file3 new_dir new_sample_cat_file.txt sample_cat_file.txt
$ cat sample_cat_file.txt
big
box
code
last line here
$ cat new_sample_cat_file.txt
big
box
code
last line hereCopy Directory
# Create directory
$ mkdir d1
# Try to copy directory
$ cp d1 new_dir/
cp: -r not specified; omitting directory 'd1'The command fails as we are supposed to use the “-r” flag for recursive copying. Let’s try with “-r”
$ cp d1 new_dir/ -r
$ ls -l new_dir/
total 4
drwxr-xr-x 2 bigboxcode bigboxcode 4096 Jul 21 04:38 d1
-rw-r--r-- 1 bigboxcode bigboxcode 0 Jul 21 04:33 file1
-rw-r--r-- 1 bigboxcode bigboxcode 0 Jul 21 04:33 file2
-rw-r--r-- 1 bigboxcode bigboxcode 0 Jul 21 04:33 file3