Linux Copy File Command [ cp Command Examples ]

by nixCraft on May 29, 2006 · 15 comments· LAST UPDATED September 14, 2011

in AIX, BASH Shell, FreeBSD

ow do I copy files under Linux operating systems? How do I make 2nd copy of a file?

To copy files and directories use the cp command under Linux, UNIX, and BSD like operating systems. cp is the command entered in a Unix / Linux shell to copy a file from one place to another, possibly on a different filesystem. The original file remains unchanged, and the new file may have the same or a different name.

cp Command Syntax

The syntax is as follows to copy files and directories using the cp command:

 
 SOURCE DEST
 SOURCE DIRECTORY
 SOURCE1 SOURCE2 SOURCE3 SOURCEn DIRECTORY
 OPTION  SOURCE DEST
 OPTION  SOURCE DIRECTORY
 

Where,

• In the first and second syntax you copy SOURCE file to DEST file or DIRECTORY.
• In the third syntax you copy multiple SOURCE(s) (files) to DIRECTORY.

Linux Copy File Examples

To make a copy of a file called file.doc in the current directory as newfile.doc, enter:
$ cp file.doc newfile.doc
$ ls -l *.doc
To copy a file in your current directory into another directory, enter:
$ cp filename /tmp
$ ls /tmp/filename
$ cd /tmp
$ ls
$ rm filename
To copy a file to a new file and preserve the modification date, time, and access control list associated with the source file, enter:
$ cp -p filename /path/to/new/location/myfile
To copy all the files in a directory to a new directory, enter:
$ cp * /home/tom/backup
To copy a directory, including all its files and subdirectories, to another directory, enter (copy directories recursively):
$ cp -R * /home/tom/backup
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