Copy

This page was last updated on July 18, 2009.

Copy a file:

This will overwrite an existing file by the same name in the destination without warning you.

cp file /destination

Copy a file interactively:

This will ask permission to overwrite an existing file by the same name in the destination. If the destination doesn’t contain a file by the same name, the command will not run interactively.

cp -i file /destination

Copy the files in the current directory:

This does not ask for permission:

cp * /destination

Copy the files in the current directory interactively:

This will ask permission to overwrite existing files, but not directories. If the destination doesn’t contain files by the same name, the command will not run interactively.

cp -i * /destination

Copy a directory and its subdirectories:

This does not ask for permission:

cp -r /source /destination

Copy a directory and its subdirectories interactively:

This will ask permission to overwrite existing files, but not directories. If the destination doesn’t contain a directory by the same name as the source directory, the command will not run interactively.

cp -ir /source /destination

Obligatory Happy Ending

And they all lived happily ever after. The end.