.\" Copyright (c) 1990 The Regents of the University of California.
.\" %sccs.include.redist.man%
.\" @(#)cpio.1 5.6 (Berkeley) %G%
.Nd copy file archives in and out
has three functional modes; copy out, copy in and pass.
Extracts files from the standard input,
which is assumed to be the product of a previous
Only files with names that match patterns are selected.
Patterns are given in the name-generating notation of
In patterns, meta-characters
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
The owner and group of the files will be that of the
current user unless the user is super-user, which causes
to retain the owner and group of the files of the
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.
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 for the above functional options:
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
Swap halfwords. Use only with the
Reset access times of input files after they have been
halfwords. Use only with the
Write header information in ASCII character form for
Directories are to be created as needed.
Copy in all files except those in patterns.
Whenever possible, link files rather than copying them.
Retain previous file modification time. This option is
ineffective on directories that are being copied.
Interactively rename files. If the user types a null
line, the files is skipped.
Swap bytes. Use only with the
Print a table of contents of the input. No files are
Copy unconditionally (normally, an older file will not
replace a newer file with the same name).
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
Process an old (i.e., UNIX System Sixth Edition format)
The first example below copies the contents of a directory
into an archive; the second duplicates a directory
.Bd -literal -offset indent
ls \&| cpio -o > edev/rmt/0m
find \&. -depth -print \&| cpio -pdl newdir
.Dl find \&. -depth -print \&| cpio -oB >/dev/fmt/0m
can be handled more efficiently by:
.Dl find \&. -cpio /dev/rmt/0m
command appeared in System V AT&T UNIX. This program is derived
from the System V AT&T sources which were contributed to the public
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
option does not work with certain magnetic tape drives.
projects / unix-history / blob