." DO NOT MODIFY THIS FILE!  It was generated by help2man 1.5.1.2.
.TH CP 1 "November 1998" "GNU fileutils 4.0" "FSF"
.SH NAME
cp \- copy files and directories
.SH SYNOPSIS
.B cp
[\fIOPTION\fR]...\fI SOURCE DEST\fR
.br
.B cp
[\fIOPTION\fR]...\fI SOURCE\fR...\fI DIRECTORY\fR
.SH DESCRIPTION
.PP
.\" Add any additional description here
.PP
Copy SOURCE to DEST, or multiple SOURCE(s) to DIRECTORY.
.TP
\fB\-a\fR, \fB\-\-archive\fR
same as \fB\-dpR\fR
.TP
\fB\-b\fR, \fB\-\-backup\fR
make backup before removal
.TP
\fB\-d\fR, \fB\-\-no\-dereference\fR
preserve links
.TP
\fB\-f\fR, \fB\-\-force\fR
remove existing destinations, never prompt
.TP
\fB\-i\fR, \fB\-\-interactive\fR
prompt before overwrite
.TP
\fB\-l\fR, \fB\-\-link\fR
link files instead of copying
.TP
\fB\-p\fR, \fB\-\-preserve\fR
preserve file attributes if possible
.TP
\fB\-P\fR, \fB\-\-parents\fR
append source path to DIRECTORY
.TP
\fB\-r\fR
copy recursively, non-directories as files
.TP
\fB\-\-sparse\fR=\fIWHEN\fR
control creation of sparse files
.TP
\fB\-R\fR, \fB\-\-recursive\fR
copy directories recursively
.TP
\fB\-s\fR, \fB\-\-symbolic\-link\fR
make symbolic links instead of copying
.TP
\fB\-S\fR, \fB\-\-suffix\fR=\fISUFFIX\fR
override the usual backup suffix
.TP
\fB\-u\fR, \fB\-\-update\fR
copy only when the SOURCE file is newer than the destination file or when the destination file is missing
.TP
\fB\-v\fR, \fB\-\-verbose\fR
explain what is being done
.TP
\fB\-V\fR, \fB\-\-version\-control\fR=\fIWORD\fR
override the usual version control
.TP
\fB\-x\fR, \fB\-\-one\-file\-system\fR
stay on this file system
.TP
\fB\-\-help\fR
display this help and exit
.TP
\fB\-\-version\fR
output version information and exit
.PP
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 \fB\-\-sparse\fR=\fIauto\fR.  Specify \fB\-\-sparse\fR=\fIalways\fR to create a sparse DEST
file whenever the SOURCE file contains a long enough sequence of zero bytes.
Use \fB\-\-sparse\fR=\fInever\fR to inhibit creation of sparse files.
.PP
The backup suffix is ~, unless set with SIMPLE_BACKUP_SUFFIX.  The
version control may be set with VERSION_CONTROL, values are:
.TP
t, numbered
make numbered backups
.TP
nil, existing
numbered if numbered backups exist, simple otherwise
.TP
never, simple
always make simple backups
.PP
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.
.SH "REPORTING BUGS"
Report bugs to <bug-fileutils@gnu.org>.
.SH "SEE ALSO"
The full documentation for
.B cp
is maintained as a Texinfo manual.  If the
.B info
and
.B cp
programs are properly installed at your site, the command
.IP
.B info cp
.PP
should give you access to the complete manual.