Slackware Linux Essentials
Prev	Chapter 10 Handling Files and -Directories	Next

10.5 Copy -and Move

- -

10.5.1 `cp`

- -

cp(1) copies files. DOS users will notice its similarity to -the copy command. There are many options for cp , so you should have a look at the man page before using it.

- -

A common use is to use cp to copy a file from one location to -another. For example:

- - - - - -

-% cp hejaz /tmp
-

- -

This copies the hejaz file from the current directory to the -/tmp directory.

- -

Many users prefer to keep the timestamps preserved, as in this example:

- - - - - -

-% cp -a hejaz /tmp
-

- -

This ensures that the timestamps are not modified in the copy.

- -

To recursively copy the contents of a directory to another directory, you would issue -this command:

- - - - - -

-% cp -R mydir /tmp
-

- -

That will copy the mydir directory to the /tmp directory.

- -

Also if you wish to copy a directory or a file and keep all it's old permissions and -time stamps and keep it exactly the same use cp -p.

- - - - - -

-% ls -l file
--rw-r--r--    1 root     vlad            4 Jan  1 15:27 file
-% cp -p file /tmp
-% ls -l /tmp/file
--rw-r--r--    1 root     vlad            4 Jan  1 15:27 file
-

- -

cp has many more options that are discussed in detail in the -online manual page.

- -

10.5.2 `mv`

- -

mv(1) moves files from one place to another. Sounds simple -enough doesn't it?

- - - - - -

-% mv oldfile /tmp/newfile
-

- -

mv has a few useful command line options that are detailed in -the man page. In practice, mv is almost never used with -commandline options.

Prev	Home	Next
Creation: `touch` and -`mkdir`	Up	Deletion: `rm` and `rmdir`

10.5 Copy -and Move

10.5.1 cp

10.5.2 mv

10.5.1 `cp`

10.5.2 `mv`