cp (Copy File and Directory)
The cp (CoPy) command is used to copy a file or directory. You can specify the destination directory to create a copy of the file or directory. You can also use the -r option to create a copy of a directory.
Copy a file with the same name
There are two key arguments in the cp command.
- 1st argument: source file path
- 2nd argument: destination directory path (existing directory path)
For example, if you want to make a copy of file_a under your working directory to dir_a under your working directory, run the command below.
cp file_a dir_a
Copy a file with a different name
To make a copy with a new name, you can add the new file name in the 2nd argument after the directory path.
For example, if you want to make a copy of file_a with a new name file_a_cp to dir_a, run the command below.
cp file_a dir_a/file_a_cp
Copy a directory
To make a copy of a directory, use the -r option.
For example, if you want to make a copy of dir_a located under dir_b with a new name dir_a_cp, run the command below.
cp -r dir_a dir_b/dir_a_cp
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