CPIO
Section: User Commands (1)
Updated: March 14, 1991
Index
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NAME
cpio - copy file archives in and out
SYNOPSIS
cpio
-i
[ BcdmrtuvfsSb6 ]
[ patterns ]
cpio
-o
[ acBv ]
cpio
-p
[ adlmruv ]
directory
DESCRIPTION
The
cpio
utility
has three functional modes:
copy in, copy out and pass.
Functional Options:
-
-
-i
Copy in.
- Extracts files from the standard input,
which is assumed to be the product of a previous
cpio
-o.
Only files with names that match patterns are selected.
Patterns are given in the name-generating notation of
sh(1).
In patterns, meta-characters
``?'',
``*'',
and
``[...]''
match the
slash
``/''
character. Multiple patterns may be specified and
if no patterns are specified, the default for patterns is
``*''
(i.e., select all files).
The extracted files are conditionally created
and copied into the current directory tree
based upon the options described below.
The permissions of the files
will be those of the previous
cpio
-o.
The owner and group of the files will be that of the
current user unless the user is super-user,
which causes
cpio
to retain the owner and group of the files of the
previous
cpio
-o.
-
-o
Copy out.
- Reads the standard input to obtain a list
of path names and copies those files onto the standard
output together with path name and status information.
Output is padded to a 512-byte boundary.
-
-p
Pass.
- Reads the standard input to obtain a list of
path names of files that are conditionally created and
copied into the destination directory tree based upon the
options described below.
Options for the above functional options:
-
-
-B
- Input/output is to be blocked 5,120 bytes to the record
(does not apply to the pass options; meaningful only
with data directed to or from
/dev/rmt/??).
-
-S
- Swap halfwords.
Use only with the
-i
option.
-
-a
- Reset access times of input files after they have been
copied.
-
-b
- halfwords.
Use only with the
-i
option.
-
-c
- Write header information in ASCII character form for
portability.
-
-d
- Directories are to be created as needed.
-
-f
- Copy in all files except those in patterns.
-
-l
- Whenever possible,
link files rather than copying them.
Usable only with the
-p
option.
-
-m
- Retain previous file modification time.
This option is
ineffective on directories that are being copied.
-
-r
- Interactively rename files.
If the user types a null line,
the file is skipped.
-
-s
- Swap bytes.
Use only with the
-i
option.
-
-t
- Print a table of contents of the input.
No files are created.
-
-u
- Copy unconditionally
(normally, an older file will not
replace a newer file with the same name).
-
-v
- Verbose:
causes a list of file names to be printed.
When used with the t option,
the table of contents
looks like the output of an
``ls -l''
command (see
ls(1))
-
-6
- Process an old
(i.e., UNIX System Sixth Edition format)
file. Only useful with
-i
(copy in).
EXAMPLES
The first example below copies the contents of a directory
into an archive;
the second duplicates a directory hierarchy:
-
ls | cpio -o > edev/rmt/0m
cd olddir
find . -depth -print | cpio -pdl newdir
The trivial case
- find . -depth -print | cpio -oB >/dev/fmt/0m
can be handled more efficiently by:
- find . -cpio /dev/rmt/0m
SEE ALSO
ar(1),
find(1),
ls(1),
cpio(4)
HISTORY
The
cpio
command appeared in System V AT&T UNIX.
This program is derived
from the System V AT&T sources
contributed to the public domain by AT&T.
BUGS
Path names are restricted to 128 characters.
If there are too many unique linked files,
the program runs out of memory to keep track of them
and, thereafter, linking information is lost.
Only the super-user can copy special files.
The
-B
option does not work with certain magnetic tape drives.
Index
- NAME
-
- SYNOPSIS
-
- DESCRIPTION
-
- EXAMPLES
-
- SEE ALSO
-
- HISTORY
-
- BUGS
-
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