linux cp command

cp command

The cp command is used to copy one or more source files or source directories to the specified file or directory.

grammar

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

Common options

-i: interactive 
-r, -R: recursively copy the directory and everything inside; 
-a: archive, equivalent to -dR --preserv=all 
-d: --no-dereference --preserv=links 
--preserv[=ATTR_LIST] 
-p: --preserv=mode,ownership,timestamp 
-v: --verbose: show detailed information when copying 
-f: --force: force

Example

The source is a file: 
 * If the target does not exist, a new target file will be created and the source content will be filled into the target file

[root@ming ~]# touch a.txt
[root@ming ~]# cp a.txt cptest/b.txt
[root@ming ~]# ls cptest/
b.txt

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 * The target is an existing file, the source content will be overwritten to the target file

[root@ming ~]# cp a.txt cptest/b.txt 
cp: overwrite ‘cptest/b.txt’? y

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  Why is it prompted to overwrite here? This is because of command aliases, -i means interactive, if you don't want to prompt, use backslashes at the beginning of the directory

[root@ming ~]# alias 
alias cp='cp -i'
[root@ming ~]# \cp a.txt cptest/b.txt

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 * If the target is a directory, a new file with the same name as the source will be created in the target directory, and the content of the source will be filled into the new file

[root@ming ~]# touch c.txt
[root@ming ~]# cp c.txt cptest/
[root@ming ~]# ls cptest/
c.txt

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 * If the source is multiple files, the target must be a directory and exist, otherwise it is an error

The source is a directory: you need to use the -r option, which means recursive 
 * If the target does not exist, the specified directory will be created, which can only be a single source directory

[root@ming ~]# mkdir aa
[root@ming ~]# ll
total 4
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 Dec 27 13:44 aa
[root@ming ~]# cp -r aa ./bb    此目录下没有bb文件夹但是会创建
[root@ming ~]# ls
aa  bb
[root@ming ~]# cp -r aa bb ./cc    多个源目录时目标必须要存在，否则拷贝失败
cp: target ‘./cc’ is not a directory
[root@ming ~]# 

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 * If the target exists and it is a file, an error will be reported. Even if you think with your feet, it is impossible to put everything in the directory into a file. 
 * If the target exists and is a directory, all files and directories under the source will be copied to the target.