Mdthbs

If the Charles SSL Proxy shows me sensitive data, is that data insecure/exposed?

Germany rejected my entry to Schengen countries

How do we properly manage transitions within a descriptive section?

Vehemently against code formatting

Bash - Execute two commands and get exit status 1 if first fails

Does the fact that we can only measure the two-way speed of light undermine the axiom of invariance?

why "American-born", not "America-born"?

How can I prevent Bash expansion from passing files starting with "-" as argument?

How is dynamic resistance of a diode modeled for large voltage variations?

Parse a C++14 integer literal

Why did Nick Fury not hesitate in blowing up the plane he thought was carrying a nuke?

Does science define life as "beginning at conception"?

Do most Taxis give Receipts in London?

How could Dwarves prevent sand from filling up their settlements

Is there a way to generate a mapping graph like this?

Best practice for printing and evaluating formulas with the minimal coding

Farthing / Riding

What quantum phenomena violate the superposition principle in electromagnetism?

Is there a word for pant sleeves?

Are there historical examples of audiences drawn to a work that was "so bad it's good"?

Why does an injection from a set to a countable set imply that set is countable?

Ribbon Cable Cross Talk - Is there a fix after the fact

If you attack a Tarrasque while swallowed, what AC do you need to beat to hit it?

Why "strap-on" boosters, and how do other people say it?

How do I copy a folder keeping owners and permissions intact?

Move FreeBSD installation to smaller HDDhow to do checksum on a folder in SolarisUnable to preserve ownership in a copy but able with a move?IzPack Linux Keep same permissionsHow do I archive a folder keeping owners and permissions intact?How to change folder permissions during package installationchange home folder permissions on exit/disconnectI want to change permissions on all folders/files excluding some of themHow does command “pmount” work without “sudo”How to set sftp-server permissions and ownership in a shared sftp-folder? (ACL's ?)Use external drive as a folder in nginxHow to set the future permissions of content in folderUsing Tar, how to preserve permissions of parent folders when given just a specific file?Folder group ownership permissions and problems

.everyoneloves__top-leaderboard:empty,.everyoneloves__mid-leaderboard:empty,.everyoneloves__bot-mid-leaderboard:empty{ margin-bottom:0;
}

348

108

So I was going to back up my home folder by copying it to an external drive as follows:

sudo cp -r /home/my_home /media/backup/my_home

With the result that all folders on the external drives are now owned by root:root. How can I have cp keep the ownership and permissions from the original?

permissions cp

share|improve this question

edited Jul 16 '14 at 20:58

Braiam

24k2079144

asked Jul 20 '12 at 15:27

PsachnodaimoniaPsachnodaimonia

1,855398

• 
  
  
  

  
  23
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  Yes, it would, be I'm glad he asked because google is still faster than 'man' :-).
  
  – Stijn Geukens
  Aug 4 '14 at 14:54
  
  
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  3
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  I'm glad he asked too
  
  – Ole
  Apr 7 '16 at 16:28
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  5
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  @StijnGeukens It's not even that google is faster, it's that even man to me is cryptic. In this case, man at -r says same as --preserve=mode,ownership,timestamps. How was I supposed to know that means keep the original permissions!?
  
  – Kolob Canyon
  Nov 15 '16 at 0:33
  
  
  

  
  
  
  

add a comment | 

348

108

So I was going to back up my home folder by copying it to an external drive as follows:

sudo cp -r /home/my_home /media/backup/my_home

With the result that all folders on the external drives are now owned by root:root. How can I have cp keep the ownership and permissions from the original?

permissions cp

share|improve this question

edited Jul 16 '14 at 20:58

Braiam

24k2079144

asked Jul 20 '12 at 15:27

PsachnodaimoniaPsachnodaimonia

1,855398

• 
  
  
  

  
  23
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  Yes, it would, be I'm glad he asked because google is still faster than 'man' :-).
  
  – Stijn Geukens
  Aug 4 '14 at 14:54
  
  
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  3
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  I'm glad he asked too
  
  – Ole
  Apr 7 '16 at 16:28
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  5
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  @StijnGeukens It's not even that google is faster, it's that even man to me is cryptic. In this case, man at -r says same as --preserve=mode,ownership,timestamps. How was I supposed to know that means keep the original permissions!?
  
  – Kolob Canyon
  Nov 15 '16 at 0:33
  
  
  

  
  
  
  

add a comment | 

So I was going to back up my home folder by copying it to an external drive as follows:

sudo cp -r /home/my_home /media/backup/my_home

With the result that all folders on the external drives are now owned by root:root. How can I have cp keep the ownership and permissions from the original?

permissions cp

share|improve this question

edited Jul 16 '14 at 20:58

Braiam

24k2079144

asked Jul 20 '12 at 15:27

PsachnodaimoniaPsachnodaimonia

1,855398

sudo cp -r /home/my_home /media/backup/my_home

share|improve this question

edited Jul 16 '14 at 20:58

Braiam

24k2079144

asked Jul 20 '12 at 15:27

PsachnodaimoniaPsachnodaimonia

1,855398

share|improve this question

edited Jul 16 '14 at 20:58

Braiam

24k2079144

asked Jul 20 '12 at 15:27

PsachnodaimoniaPsachnodaimonia

1,855398

edited Jul 16 '14 at 20:58

Braiam

24k2079144

edited Jul 16 '14 at 20:58

Braiam

24k2079144

asked Jul 20 '12 at 15:27

PsachnodaimoniaPsachnodaimonia

1,855398

asked Jul 20 '12 at 15:27

PsachnodaimoniaPsachnodaimonia

1,855398

8 Answers
8

active

oldest

votes

423

sudo cp -rp /home/my_home /media/backup/my_home

From cp manpage:

 -p     same as --preserve=mode,ownership,timestamps



 --preserve[=ATTR_LIST]

          preserve the specified attributes (default: mode,ownership,timestamps),

          if possible additional attributes: context, links, xattr, all

share|improve this answer

answered Jul 20 '12 at 15:51

guidoguido

5,80811628

• 
  
  
  

  
  111
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  Much better to use cp -a. This also includes the -recursive flag, but it does more than that—it preserves everything about the file; SELinux attributes, links, xattr, everything. It's "archive mode." There are better tools for making a backup, but if you're using cp for a backup, don't use anything other than cp -a.
  
  – Wildcard
  Oct 14 '15 at 3:54
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  22
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  It works, but Patience is Good here. The command will only set everything right when it finishes: While it's still copying a directory, and you're running cp as root, the directory will be owned by root. It will only set it to the right permissions when it finishes with this directory.
  
  – Paul
  Nov 18 '15 at 17:01
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  4
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  cp -a doesn't work on some systems: e.g. OS X, where (in some versions at least) one needed to use cp -pR. On my current OS X system though (10.10.15), cp -a seems to be honored.
  
  – dubiousjim
  Sep 30 '17 at 16:30
  

  
  
  
  

add a comment | 

93

You can also use rsync.

sudo rsync -a /home/my_home/ /media/backup/my_home/

From the rsync manpage:

 -a, --archive

              This  is  equivalent  to  -rlptgoD.  It  is a quick way of saying you want

              recursion and want to preserve almost everything (with -H being a  notable

              omission).    The   only  exception  to  the  above  equivalence  is  when

              --files-from is specified, in which case -r is not implied.



              Note that -a does not preserve hardlinks, because finding  multiply-linked

              files is expensive.  You must separately specify -H.

See this question for a comparison between cp and rsync: https://stackoverflow.com/q/6339287/406686

Note the trailing slashes (see manpage for details).

share|improve this answer

edited May 23 '17 at 12:40

Community♦

1

answered Jul 20 '12 at 16:03

studentstudent

7,2551768130

• 
  
  
  

  
  3
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  +1, cp -p is nice, but I like rsync's output so much more in general that I've aliased pcp to time rsync --progress -ah. Stands for "progress copy" in my mind. And both accept -r, so it works well for general terminal usage - but unfortunately, not in combination with sudo as shown in this question/answer.
  
  – Izkata
  Jul 20 '12 at 17:59
  
  
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  14
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  NB: rsync -a, does not preserve extended attributes (-X) and no ACLs (-A) - the short description says archive mode; equals -rlptgoD (no -H,-A,-X). E.g. SELinux contexts will not be preserverd without -X. For many use cases this is fine, but if you make a backup of your system partition, missing -X might break quite a lot. As far as I know, cp -a really preserves all file attributes.
  
  – Perseids
  Sep 23 '14 at 6:44
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  2
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  Just tested this, while sudo cp -a preserves ownership and groups, sudo rsync -a changes them into root. So, @Perseids is correct.
  
  – John Hamilton
  Mar 16 '18 at 11:59
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  3
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  @JohnHamilton Under Mint, this works perfectly... it only changes ownership and groups later on (I can't tell when). I've just copied my whole /home folder with rsync -aX /home /mnt/sdd/ and it worked like a charm.
  
  – Olivier Pons
  Oct 18 '18 at 7:04
  

  
  
  
  

add a comment | 

52

cp -a

Where -a is short for --archive — basically it copies a directory exactly as it is; the files retain all their attributes, and symlinks are not dereferenced (-d).

From man cp:

   -a, --archive

          same as -dR --preserve=all

share|improve this answer

answered Oct 14 '15 at 0:38

ZazZaz

1,4591313

add a comment | 

20

I use cp -pdRx which will -p preserve mode, ownership & timestamps, -d preserve links (so you get symlinks instead the file contents copied), -R do it recursively and -x stay on one file system (only really useful if you're copying / or something with an active mount point).

PS: -R instead of -r is just habit from using ls -lR.

share|improve this answer

answered Jul 20 '12 at 16:17

StarNamerStarNamer

2,17511426

• 
  
  
  

  
  1
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  cp -ax is a slightly shorter version of the same thing. This worked great - thank you!
  
  – EM0
  Mar 25 '15 at 12:27
  
  
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  Actually there is a difference between -r and -R. Check the man page (even the particular part too long to be quoted here).
  
  – geckon
  Jul 8 '15 at 13:23
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  2
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  I don't think there is (although there may once have been and may still be on some versions of Unix). See man7.org/linux/man-pages/man1/cp.1.html It simply says -R, -r, --recursive copy directories recursively.
  
  – StarNamer
  Jul 8 '15 at 16:09
  
  
  

  
  
  
  

add a comment | 

14

cp has an option to preserve file ownership. From the manual page of cp:

-p    Cause cp to preserve the following attributes of each source file in the copy: modification

      time, access time, file flags, file mode, user ID, and group ID, as allowed by permissions.

      Access Control Lists (ACLs) and Extended Attributes (EAs), including resource forks, will also

      be preserved.

share|improve this answer

answered Jul 20 '12 at 15:51

MatteoMatteo

7,01043759

add a comment | 

11

You can do something like this:

tar cf - my_home | (cd /media/backup; sudo tar xf - )

tar keeps permissions, ownership and directory structure intact, but converts everything into a stream of bytes. You run a "subshell" (the parenthesized commands) that change directory, and then get tar to reverse the conversion. A steam of bytes becomes directories and files with correct ownership and permissions.

share|improve this answer

answered Jul 20 '12 at 15:43

Bruce EdigerBruce Ediger

36k670120

add a comment | 

7

The answer is simple: cp has a -p option that preserves permissions (here's a fish).

But as Wojtek says in his comment, man cp (reading the fine manual) would be a good starting point (want to learn how to fish?).

share|improve this answer

edited Oct 30 '16 at 16:51

Jeff Schaller♦

45.9k1165150

answered Jul 21 '12 at 2:26

buckdeerbuckdeer

791

add a comment | 

0

you can use preserve=all, then your copy will keep all attributes like owner, group and timestamp of your files.
So, do your backup safely with the following command.

cp -r --preserve=all /home/my_home /media/backup/my_home

share

answered 9 mins ago

Majid ZarrinMajid Zarrin

1

New contributor

Majid Zarrin is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.

add a comment | 

Your Answer

StackExchange.ready(function() {
var channelOptions = {
tags: "".split(" "),
id: "106"
};
initTagRenderer("".split(" "), "".split(" "), channelOptions);

StackExchange.using("externalEditor", function() {
// Have to fire editor after snippets, if snippets enabled
if (StackExchange.settings.snippets.snippetsEnabled) {
StackExchange.using("snippets", function() {
createEditor();
});
}
else {
createEditor();
}
});

function createEditor() {
StackExchange.prepareEditor({
heartbeatType: 'answer',
autoActivateHeartbeat: false,
convertImagesToLinks: false,
noModals: true,
showLowRepImageUploadWarning: true,
reputationToPostImages: null,
bindNavPrevention: true,
postfix: "",
imageUploader: {
brandingHtml: "Powered by u003ca class="icon-imgur-white" href="https://imgur.com/"u003eu003c/au003e",
contentPolicyHtml: "User contributions licensed under u003ca href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/"u003ecc by-sa 3.0 with attribution requiredu003c/au003e u003ca href="https://stackoverflow.com/legal/content-policy"u003e(content policy)u003c/au003e",
allowUrls: true
},
onDemand: true,
discardSelector: ".discard-answer"
,immediatelyShowMarkdownHelp:true
});


}
});

draft saved

draft discarded

Sign up or log in

StackExchange.ready(function () {
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
});

Sign up using Google

Sign up using Facebook

Sign up using Email and Password

Post as a guest

Name

Email

Required, but never shown

StackExchange.ready(
function () {
StackExchange.openid.initPostLogin('.new-post-login', 'https%3a%2f%2funix.stackexchange.com%2fquestions%2f43605%2fhow-do-i-copy-a-folder-keeping-owners-and-permissions-intact%23new-answer', 'question_page');
}
);

Post as a guest

Name

Email

Required, but never shown

423

sudo cp -rp /home/my_home /media/backup/my_home

From cp manpage:

 -p     same as --preserve=mode,ownership,timestamps



 --preserve[=ATTR_LIST]

          preserve the specified attributes (default: mode,ownership,timestamps),

          if possible additional attributes: context, links, xattr, all

share|improve this answer

answered Jul 20 '12 at 15:51

guidoguido

5,80811628

• 
  
  
  

  
  111
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  Much better to use cp -a. This also includes the -recursive flag, but it does more than that—it preserves everything about the file; SELinux attributes, links, xattr, everything. It's "archive mode." There are better tools for making a backup, but if you're using cp for a backup, don't use anything other than cp -a.
  
  – Wildcard
  Oct 14 '15 at 3:54
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  22
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  It works, but Patience is Good here. The command will only set everything right when it finishes: While it's still copying a directory, and you're running cp as root, the directory will be owned by root. It will only set it to the right permissions when it finishes with this directory.
  
  – Paul
  Nov 18 '15 at 17:01
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  4
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  cp -a doesn't work on some systems: e.g. OS X, where (in some versions at least) one needed to use cp -pR. On my current OS X system though (10.10.15), cp -a seems to be honored.
  
  – dubiousjim
  Sep 30 '17 at 16:30
  

  
  
  
  

add a comment | 

423

sudo cp -rp /home/my_home /media/backup/my_home

From cp manpage:

 -p     same as --preserve=mode,ownership,timestamps



 --preserve[=ATTR_LIST]

          preserve the specified attributes (default: mode,ownership,timestamps),

          if possible additional attributes: context, links, xattr, all

share|improve this answer

answered Jul 20 '12 at 15:51

guidoguido

5,80811628

• 
  
  
  

  
  111
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  Much better to use cp -a. This also includes the -recursive flag, but it does more than that—it preserves everything about the file; SELinux attributes, links, xattr, everything. It's "archive mode." There are better tools for making a backup, but if you're using cp for a backup, don't use anything other than cp -a.
  
  – Wildcard
  Oct 14 '15 at 3:54
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  22
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  It works, but Patience is Good here. The command will only set everything right when it finishes: While it's still copying a directory, and you're running cp as root, the directory will be owned by root. It will only set it to the right permissions when it finishes with this directory.
  
  – Paul
  Nov 18 '15 at 17:01
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  4
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  cp -a doesn't work on some systems: e.g. OS X, where (in some versions at least) one needed to use cp -pR. On my current OS X system though (10.10.15), cp -a seems to be honored.
  
  – dubiousjim
  Sep 30 '17 at 16:30
  

  
  
  
  

add a comment | 

sudo cp -rp /home/my_home /media/backup/my_home

From cp manpage:

 -p     same as --preserve=mode,ownership,timestamps



 --preserve[=ATTR_LIST]

          preserve the specified attributes (default: mode,ownership,timestamps),

          if possible additional attributes: context, links, xattr, all

share|improve this answer

answered Jul 20 '12 at 15:51

guidoguido

5,80811628

sudo cp -rp /home/my_home /media/backup/my_home

 -p     same as --preserve=mode,ownership,timestamps



 --preserve[=ATTR_LIST]

          preserve the specified attributes (default: mode,ownership,timestamps),

          if possible additional attributes: context, links, xattr, all

share|improve this answer

answered Jul 20 '12 at 15:51

guidoguido

5,80811628

answered Jul 20 '12 at 15:51

guidoguido

5,80811628

answered Jul 20 '12 at 15:51

guidoguido

5,80811628

93

You can also use rsync.

sudo rsync -a /home/my_home/ /media/backup/my_home/

From the rsync manpage:

 -a, --archive

              This  is  equivalent  to  -rlptgoD.  It  is a quick way of saying you want

              recursion and want to preserve almost everything (with -H being a  notable

              omission).    The   only  exception  to  the  above  equivalence  is  when

              --files-from is specified, in which case -r is not implied.



              Note that -a does not preserve hardlinks, because finding  multiply-linked

              files is expensive.  You must separately specify -H.

See this question for a comparison between cp and rsync: https://stackoverflow.com/q/6339287/406686

Note the trailing slashes (see manpage for details).

share|improve this answer

edited May 23 '17 at 12:40

Community♦

1

answered Jul 20 '12 at 16:03

studentstudent

7,2551768130

• 
  
  
  

  
  3
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  +1, cp -p is nice, but I like rsync's output so much more in general that I've aliased pcp to time rsync --progress -ah. Stands for "progress copy" in my mind. And both accept -r, so it works well for general terminal usage - but unfortunately, not in combination with sudo as shown in this question/answer.
  
  – Izkata
  Jul 20 '12 at 17:59
  
  
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  14
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  NB: rsync -a, does not preserve extended attributes (-X) and no ACLs (-A) - the short description says archive mode; equals -rlptgoD (no -H,-A,-X). E.g. SELinux contexts will not be preserverd without -X. For many use cases this is fine, but if you make a backup of your system partition, missing -X might break quite a lot. As far as I know, cp -a really preserves all file attributes.
  
  – Perseids
  Sep 23 '14 at 6:44
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  2
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  Just tested this, while sudo cp -a preserves ownership and groups, sudo rsync -a changes them into root. So, @Perseids is correct.
  
  – John Hamilton
  Mar 16 '18 at 11:59
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  3
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  @JohnHamilton Under Mint, this works perfectly... it only changes ownership and groups later on (I can't tell when). I've just copied my whole /home folder with rsync -aX /home /mnt/sdd/ and it worked like a charm.
  
  – Olivier Pons
  Oct 18 '18 at 7:04
  

  
  
  
  

add a comment | 

93

You can also use rsync.

sudo rsync -a /home/my_home/ /media/backup/my_home/

From the rsync manpage:

 -a, --archive

              This  is  equivalent  to  -rlptgoD.  It  is a quick way of saying you want

              recursion and want to preserve almost everything (with -H being a  notable

              omission).    The   only  exception  to  the  above  equivalence  is  when

              --files-from is specified, in which case -r is not implied.



              Note that -a does not preserve hardlinks, because finding  multiply-linked

              files is expensive.  You must separately specify -H.

See this question for a comparison between cp and rsync: https://stackoverflow.com/q/6339287/406686

Note the trailing slashes (see manpage for details).

share|improve this answer

edited May 23 '17 at 12:40

Community♦

1

answered Jul 20 '12 at 16:03

studentstudent

7,2551768130

• 
  
  
  

  
  3
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  +1, cp -p is nice, but I like rsync's output so much more in general that I've aliased pcp to time rsync --progress -ah. Stands for "progress copy" in my mind. And both accept -r, so it works well for general terminal usage - but unfortunately, not in combination with sudo as shown in this question/answer.
  
  – Izkata
  Jul 20 '12 at 17:59
  
  
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  14
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  NB: rsync -a, does not preserve extended attributes (-X) and no ACLs (-A) - the short description says archive mode; equals -rlptgoD (no -H,-A,-X). E.g. SELinux contexts will not be preserverd without -X. For many use cases this is fine, but if you make a backup of your system partition, missing -X might break quite a lot. As far as I know, cp -a really preserves all file attributes.
  
  – Perseids
  Sep 23 '14 at 6:44
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  2
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  Just tested this, while sudo cp -a preserves ownership and groups, sudo rsync -a changes them into root. So, @Perseids is correct.
  
  – John Hamilton
  Mar 16 '18 at 11:59
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  3
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  @JohnHamilton Under Mint, this works perfectly... it only changes ownership and groups later on (I can't tell when). I've just copied my whole /home folder with rsync -aX /home /mnt/sdd/ and it worked like a charm.
  
  – Olivier Pons
  Oct 18 '18 at 7:04
  

  
  
  
  

add a comment | 

You can also use rsync.

sudo rsync -a /home/my_home/ /media/backup/my_home/

From the rsync manpage:

 -a, --archive

              This  is  equivalent  to  -rlptgoD.  It  is a quick way of saying you want

              recursion and want to preserve almost everything (with -H being a  notable

              omission).    The   only  exception  to  the  above  equivalence  is  when

              --files-from is specified, in which case -r is not implied.



              Note that -a does not preserve hardlinks, because finding  multiply-linked

              files is expensive.  You must separately specify -H.

See this question for a comparison between cp and rsync: https://stackoverflow.com/q/6339287/406686

Note the trailing slashes (see manpage for details).

share|improve this answer

edited May 23 '17 at 12:40

Community♦

1

answered Jul 20 '12 at 16:03

studentstudent

7,2551768130

sudo rsync -a /home/my_home/ /media/backup/my_home/

 -a, --archive

              This  is  equivalent  to  -rlptgoD.  It  is a quick way of saying you want

              recursion and want to preserve almost everything (with -H being a  notable

              omission).    The   only  exception  to  the  above  equivalence  is  when

              --files-from is specified, in which case -r is not implied.



              Note that -a does not preserve hardlinks, because finding  multiply-linked

              files is expensive.  You must separately specify -H.

share|improve this answer

edited May 23 '17 at 12:40

Community♦

1

answered Jul 20 '12 at 16:03

studentstudent

7,2551768130

edited May 23 '17 at 12:40

Community♦

1

edited May 23 '17 at 12:40

Community♦

1

answered Jul 20 '12 at 16:03

studentstudent

7,2551768130

answered Jul 20 '12 at 16:03

studentstudent

7,2551768130

52

cp -a

Where -a is short for --archive — basically it copies a directory exactly as it is; the files retain all their attributes, and symlinks are not dereferenced (-d).

From man cp:

   -a, --archive

          same as -dR --preserve=all

share|improve this answer

answered Oct 14 '15 at 0:38

ZazZaz

1,4591313

add a comment | 

52

cp -a

Where -a is short for --archive — basically it copies a directory exactly as it is; the files retain all their attributes, and symlinks are not dereferenced (-d).

From man cp:

   -a, --archive

          same as -dR --preserve=all

share|improve this answer

answered Oct 14 '15 at 0:38

ZazZaz

1,4591313

add a comment | 

cp -a

Where -a is short for --archive — basically it copies a directory exactly as it is; the files retain all their attributes, and symlinks are not dereferenced (-d).

From man cp:

   -a, --archive

          same as -dR --preserve=all

share|improve this answer

answered Oct 14 '15 at 0:38

ZazZaz

1,4591313

cp -a

   -a, --archive

          same as -dR --preserve=all

share|improve this answer

answered Oct 14 '15 at 0:38

ZazZaz

1,4591313

answered Oct 14 '15 at 0:38

ZazZaz

1,4591313

answered Oct 14 '15 at 0:38

ZazZaz

1,4591313

20

I use cp -pdRx which will -p preserve mode, ownership & timestamps, -d preserve links (so you get symlinks instead the file contents copied), -R do it recursively and -x stay on one file system (only really useful if you're copying / or something with an active mount point).

PS: -R instead of -r is just habit from using ls -lR.

share|improve this answer

answered Jul 20 '12 at 16:17

StarNamerStarNamer

2,17511426

• 
  
  
  

  
  1
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  cp -ax is a slightly shorter version of the same thing. This worked great - thank you!
  
  – EM0
  Mar 25 '15 at 12:27
  
  
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  Actually there is a difference between -r and -R. Check the man page (even the particular part too long to be quoted here).
  
  – geckon
  Jul 8 '15 at 13:23
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  2
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  I don't think there is (although there may once have been and may still be on some versions of Unix). See man7.org/linux/man-pages/man1/cp.1.html It simply says -R, -r, --recursive copy directories recursively.
  
  – StarNamer
  Jul 8 '15 at 16:09
  
  
  

  
  
  
  

add a comment | 

20

I use cp -pdRx which will -p preserve mode, ownership & timestamps, -d preserve links (so you get symlinks instead the file contents copied), -R do it recursively and -x stay on one file system (only really useful if you're copying / or something with an active mount point).

PS: -R instead of -r is just habit from using ls -lR.

share|improve this answer

answered Jul 20 '12 at 16:17

StarNamerStarNamer

2,17511426

• 
  
  
  

  
  1
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  cp -ax is a slightly shorter version of the same thing. This worked great - thank you!
  
  – EM0
  Mar 25 '15 at 12:27
  
  
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  Actually there is a difference between -r and -R. Check the man page (even the particular part too long to be quoted here).
  
  – geckon
  Jul 8 '15 at 13:23
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  2
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  I don't think there is (although there may once have been and may still be on some versions of Unix). See man7.org/linux/man-pages/man1/cp.1.html It simply says -R, -r, --recursive copy directories recursively.
  
  – StarNamer
  Jul 8 '15 at 16:09
  
  
  

  
  
  
  

add a comment | 

I use cp -pdRx which will -p preserve mode, ownership & timestamps, -d preserve links (so you get symlinks instead the file contents copied), -R do it recursively and -x stay on one file system (only really useful if you're copying / or something with an active mount point).

PS: -R instead of -r is just habit from using ls -lR.

share|improve this answer

answered Jul 20 '12 at 16:17

StarNamerStarNamer

2,17511426

share|improve this answer

answered Jul 20 '12 at 16:17

StarNamerStarNamer

2,17511426

answered Jul 20 '12 at 16:17

StarNamerStarNamer

2,17511426

answered Jul 20 '12 at 16:17

StarNamerStarNamer

2,17511426

14

cp has an option to preserve file ownership. From the manual page of cp:

-p    Cause cp to preserve the following attributes of each source file in the copy: modification

      time, access time, file flags, file mode, user ID, and group ID, as allowed by permissions.

      Access Control Lists (ACLs) and Extended Attributes (EAs), including resource forks, will also

      be preserved.

share|improve this answer

answered Jul 20 '12 at 15:51

MatteoMatteo

7,01043759

add a comment | 

14

cp has an option to preserve file ownership. From the manual page of cp:

-p    Cause cp to preserve the following attributes of each source file in the copy: modification

      time, access time, file flags, file mode, user ID, and group ID, as allowed by permissions.

      Access Control Lists (ACLs) and Extended Attributes (EAs), including resource forks, will also

      be preserved.

share|improve this answer

answered Jul 20 '12 at 15:51

MatteoMatteo

7,01043759

add a comment | 

cp has an option to preserve file ownership. From the manual page of cp:

-p    Cause cp to preserve the following attributes of each source file in the copy: modification

      time, access time, file flags, file mode, user ID, and group ID, as allowed by permissions.

      Access Control Lists (ACLs) and Extended Attributes (EAs), including resource forks, will also

      be preserved.

share|improve this answer

answered Jul 20 '12 at 15:51

MatteoMatteo

7,01043759

-p    Cause cp to preserve the following attributes of each source file in the copy: modification

      time, access time, file flags, file mode, user ID, and group ID, as allowed by permissions.

      Access Control Lists (ACLs) and Extended Attributes (EAs), including resource forks, will also

      be preserved.