Copying Moving Files

Copying & Moving Files

Unix also includes commands for copying and moving files: cp and mv. These commands enable you to copy or move one or more source files to a target file or directory.

Tips

• Why copy a file? Usually, to make a backup. For instance, before you edit a configuration file, you should create a backup copy of the original. This way you can revert back to the original if your edits "break" something in the file.

• The mv command can also be used to rename a file.

• The cp and mv commands support several options. You can learn more about them in the man pages for these commands. Type man cp or man mv and press to view each command's man pages.

• Unix does not confirm that a file has been copied or moved when you correctly enter a command (Figures 21 and 22). To check to see if a file has been copied or moved to the correct destination, you can use the ls command to get a listing for the target directory. The ls command is covered earlier in this chapter.

  Figure 21. Here's the cp command in action.

  

  
  

  Figure 22. Here's the mv command in use.

  

  
  

To copy a file to the same directory

Type cp source-file target-file and press (Figure 21).

For example, cp file.conf file.conf-orig would duplicate the file named file.conf and assign the name file.conf-orig to the duplicate copy.

Tips

• The source-file and target-file names must be different.

• The source-file operand can be a file or a directory.

To copy files to another directory

Type cp source-file … target-directory and press (Figure 21).

For example, cp file.conf /Users/ronh/Documents would copy the file named file.conf in the current directory to the directory named Documents in my home folder.

To copy files using a wildcard

Type cp followed by the wildcard search string for the source file and the name of the target directory and press (Figure 21).

For example, cp *.conf Originals would copy all files ending with .conf in the current directory to the subdirectory named Originals.

To rename a file

Type mv source target and press (Figure 22).

For example, mv file.conf file.conf-backup would rename file.conf as file.conf-backup.

To move files to another directory

Type mv source … directory and press (Figure 22).

For example, mv file.conf Documents would move the file named file.conf in the current directory to the subdirectory named Documents.

To move a file to another directory & rename it

Type mv source directory/filename and press (Figure 22).

For example, mv file.conf-orig Documents/ file.conf-backup2 would move the file named file.conf-orig in the current directory to the subdirectory named Documents and name it file.conf-backup2 in its new location.