Copy one or more files to another location

Copy SOURCE to DEST, or multiple SOURCE(s) to DIRECTORY.

Syntax
cp [options]… Source Dest
cp [options]… Source… Directory

Key

-a, –archive same as -dpR

-b, –backup make backup before removal

-d, –no-dereference preserve links

-f, –force remove existing destinations, never prompt

-i, –interactive prompt before overwrite

-l, –link link files instead of copying

-p, –preserve preserve file attributes if possible

-P, –parents append source path to DIRECTORY

-r copy recursively, non-directories as files

–sparse=WHEN control creation of sparse files

-R, –recursive copy directories recursively

-s, –symbolic-link make symbolic links instead of copying

-S, –suffix=SUFFIX override the usual backup suffix

-u, –update copy only when the SOURCE file is newer
than the destination file or when the
destination file is missing

-v, –verbose explain what is being done

-V, –version-control=WORD override the usual version control

-x, –one-file-system stay on this file system
–help display this help and exit
–version output version information and exit.Example – copy home directory to floppy

$ cp -f /mnt/floppy/* /home/simon

Notes
By default, sparse SOURCE files are detected by a crude heuristic and the corresponding DEST file is made sparse as well.

That is the behavior selected by –sparse=auto.
Specify –sparse=always to create a sparse DEST file whenever the SOURCE file contains a long enough sequence of zero bytes.

Use –sparse=never to inhibit creation of sparse files.

The backup suffix is ~, unless set with SIMPLE_BACKUP_SUFFIX.

The version control may be set with VERSION_CONTROL, values are: t, numbered make numbered backups nil, existing numbered if numbered backups exist, simple otherwise never, simple always make simple backups

As a special case, cp makes a backup of SOURCE when the force and backup options are given and SOURCE and DEST are the same name for an existing, regular file.