redhat man page for cpio

CPIO(1L)																  CPIO(1L)

NAME
       cpio - copy files to and from archives

SYNOPSIS
       cpio   {-o|--create}   [-0acvABLV]   [-C   bytes]   [-H	 format]   [-M	message]  [-O  [[user@]host:]archive]  [-F  [[user@]host:]archive]
       [--file=[[user@]host:]archive]  [--format=format]  [--message=message]  [--null]  [--reset-access-time]	[--verbose]   [--dot]	[--append]
       [--block-size=blocks]  [--dereference] [--io-size=bytes] [--quiet] [--force-local] [--rsh-command=command] [--help] [--version] < name-list
       [> archive]

       cpio {-i|--extract} [-bcdfmnrtsuvBSV] [-C bytes] [-E file] [-H format] [-M message] [-R [user][:.][group]] [-I  [[user@]host:]archive]  [-F
       [[user@]host:]archive]  [--file=[[user@]host:]archive]  [--make-directories] [--nonmatching] [--preserve-modification-time] [--numeric-uid-
       gid] [--rename] [-t|--list] [--swap-bytes] [--swap] [--dot] [--unconditional] [--verbose] [--block-size=blocks]	[--swap-halfwords]  [--io-
       size=bytes]  [--pattern-file=file]  [--format=format] [--owner=[user][:.][group]] [--no-preserve-owner] [--message=message] [--force-local]
       [--no-absolute-filenames] [--sparse] [--only-verify-crc] [--quiet] [--rsh-command=command] [--help] [--version] [pattern...] [< archive]

       cpio {-p|--pass-through} [-0adlmuvLV] [-R [user][:.][group]] [--null] [--reset-access-time] [--make-directories] [--link] [--quiet] [--pre-
       serve-modification-time] [--unconditional] [--verbose] [--dot] [--dereference] [--owner=[user][:.][group]] [--no-preserve-owner] [--sparse]
       [--help] [--version] destination-directory < name-list

DESCRIPTION
       This manual page documents the GNU version of cpio.  cpio copies files into or out of a cpio or tar archive, which is a file that  contains
       other  files  plus  information about them, such as their file name, owner, timestamps, and access permissions.	The archive can be another
       file on the disk, a magnetic tape, or a pipe.  cpio has three operating modes.

       In copy-out mode, cpio copies files into an archive.  It reads a list of filenames, one per line, on the standard input, and writes the ar-
       chive  onto the standard output.  A typical way to generate the list of filenames is with the find command; you should give find the -depth
       option to minimize problems with permissions on directories that are unwritable or not searchable.

       In copy-in mode, cpio copies files out of an archive or lists the archive contents.  It reads the archive from  the  standard  input.   Any
       non-option  command  line  arguments are shell globbing patterns; only files in the archive whose names match one or more of those patterns
       are copied from the archive.  Unlike in the shell, an initial `.' in a filename does match a wildcard at the start of a pattern, and a  `/'
       in a filename can match wildcards.  If no patterns are given, all files are extracted.

       In copy-pass mode, cpio copies files from one directory tree to another, combining the copy-out and copy-in steps without actually using an
       archive.  It reads the list of files to copy from the standard input; the directory into which it will copy them is given as  a	non-option
       argument.

       cpio supports the following archive formats: binary, old ASCII, new ASCII, crc, HPUX binary, HPUX old ASCII, old tar, and POSIX.1 tar.  The
       binary format is obsolete because it encodes information about the files in a way that is not portable between different machine  architec-
       tures.	The  old  ASCII  format is portable between different machine architectures, but should not be used on file systems with more than
       65536 i-nodes.  The new ASCII format is portable between different machine architectures and can be used on any size file  system,  but	is
       not  supported  by all versions of cpio; currently, it is only supported by GNU and Unix System V R4.  The crc format is like the new ASCII
       format, but also contains a checksum for each file which cpio calculates when creating an archive and verifies when the file  is  extracted
       from the archive.  The HPUX formats are provided for compatibility with HPUX's cpio which stores device files differently.

       The  tar format is provided for compatability with the tar program.  It can not be used to archive files with names longer than 100 charac-
       ters, and can not be used to archive "special" (block or character devices) files.  The POSIX.1 tar format can not be used to archive files
       with names longer than 255 characters (less unless they have a "/" in just the right place).

       By default, cpio creates binary format archives, for compatibility with older cpio programs.  When extracting from archives, cpio automati-
       cally recognizes which kind of archive it is reading and can read archives created on machines with a different byte-order.

       Some of the options to cpio apply only to certain operating modes; see the SYNOPSIS section for a list of  which  options  are  allowed	in
       which modes.

   OPTIONS
       -0, --null
	      In  copy-out  and copy-pass modes, read a list of filenames terminated by a null character instead of a newline, so that files whose
	      names contain newlines can be archived.  GNU find is one way to produce a list of null-terminated filenames.

       -a, --reset-access-time
	      Reset the access times of files after reading them, so that it does not look like they have just been read.

       -A, --append
	      Append to an existing archive.  Only works in copy-out mode.  The archive must be a disk file specified with the -O or  -F  (--file)
	      option.

       -b, --swap
	      In  copy-in  mode,  swap both halfwords of words and bytes of halfwords in the data.  Equivalent to -sS.	Use this option to convert
	      32-bit integers between big-endian and little-endian machines.

       -B     Set the I/O block size to 5120 bytes.  Initially the block size is 512 bytes.

       --block-size=BLOCK-SIZE
	      Set the I/O block size to BLOCK-SIZE * 512 bytes.

       -c     Identical to "-H newc", use the new (SVR4) portable format.  If you wish the old portable  (ASCII)  archive  format,  use  "-H  odc"
	      instead.

       -C IO-SIZE, --io-size=IO-SIZE
	      Set the I/O block size to IO-SIZE bytes.

       -d, --make-directories
	      Create leading directories where needed.

       -E FILE, --pattern-file=FILE
	      In  copy-in  mode,  read additional patterns specifying filenames to extract or list from FILE.  The lines of FILE are treated as if
	      they had been non-option arguments to cpio.

       -f, --nonmatching
	      Only copy files that do not match any of the given patterns.

       -F, --file=archive
	      Archive filename to use instead of standard input or output.  To use a tape drive on another machine as the archive, use a  filename
	      that  starts  with `HOSTNAME:'.  The hostname can be preceded by a username and an `@' to access the remote tape drive as that user,
	      if you have permission to do so (typically an entry in that user's `~/.rhosts' file).

       --force-local
	      With -F, -I, or -O, take the archive file name to be a local file even if it contains a colon, which  would  ordinarily  indicate  a
	      remote host name.

       -H FORMAT, --format=FORMAT
	      Use  archive  format  FORMAT.   The  valid formats are listed below; the same names are also recognized in all-caps.  The default in
	      copy-in mode is to automatically detect the archive format, and in copy-out mode is "bin".

	      bin    The obsolete binary format.

	      odc    The old (POSIX.1) portable format.

	      newc   The new (SVR4) portable format, which supports file systems having more than 65536 i-nodes.

	      crc    The new (SVR4) portable format with a checksum added.

	      tar    The old tar format.

	      ustar  The POSIX.1 tar format.  Also recognizes GNU tar archives, which are similar but not identical.

	      hpbin  The obsolete binary format used by HPUX's cpio (which stores device files differently).

	      hpodc  The portable format used by HPUX's cpio (which stores device files differently).

       -i, --extract
	      Run in copy-in mode.

       -I archive
	      Archive filename to use instead of standard input.  To use a tape drive on another machine as  the  archive,  use  a  filename  that
	      starts with `HOSTNAME:'.	The hostname can be preceded by a username and an `@' to access the remote tape drive as that user, if you
	      have permission to do so (typically an entry in that user's `~/.rhosts' file).

       -k     Ignored; for compatibility with other versions of cpio.

       -l, --link
	      Link files instead of copying them, when possible.

       -L, --dereference
	      Dereference symbolic links (copy the files that they point to instead of copying the links).

       -m, --preserve-modification-time
	      Retain previous file modification times when creating files.

       -M MESSAGE, --message=MESSAGE
	      Print MESSAGE when the end of a volume of the backup media (such as a tape or a floppy disk) is  reached,  to  prompt  the  user	to
	      insert a new volume.  If MESSAGE contains the string "%d", it is replaced by the current volume number (starting at 1).

       -n, --numeric-uid-gid
	      In  the  verbose	table of contents listing, show numeric UID and GID instead of translating them into names.  Also extracts tar ar-
	      chives using the numeric UID and GID instead of the user/group names.  (cpio archives are always extracted using the numeric UID and
	      GID.)

	--no-absolute-filenames
	      In copy-in mode, create all files relative to the current directory, even if they have an absolute file name in the archive.

	--no-preserve-owner
	      In copy-in mode and copy-pass mode, do not change the ownership of the files; leave them owned by the user extracting them.  This is
	      the default for non-root users, so that users on System V don't inadvertantly give away files.

       -o, --create
	      Run in copy-out mode.

       -O archive
	      Archive filename to use instead of standard output.  To use a tape drive on another machine as the  archive,  use  a  filename  that
	      starts with `HOSTNAME:'.	The hostname can be preceded by a username and an `@' to access the remote tape drive as that user, if you
	      have permission to do so (typically an entry in that user's `~/.rhosts' file).

	--only-verify-crc
	      When reading a CRC format archive in copy-in mode, only verify the CRC's of each file in the archive,  don't  actually  extract  the
	      files.

       -p, --pass-through
	      Run in copy-pass mode.

       --quiet
	      Do not print the number of blocks copied.

       -r, --rename
	      Interactively rename files.

       -R [user][:.][group], --owner [user][:.][group]
	      In  copy-out and copy-pass modes, set the ownership of all files created to the specified user and/or group.  Either the user or the
	      group, or both, must be present.	If the group is omitted but the ":" or "."  separator is given, use the given user's login  group.
	      Only the super-user can change files' ownership.

       --rsh-command=COMMAND
	      Notifies mt that it should use COMMAND to communicate with remote devices instead of /usr/bin/ssh or /usr/bin/rsh.

       --sparse
	      In copy-in and copy-pass modes, write files with large blocks of zeros as sparse files.

       -s, --swap-bytes
	      In copy-in mode, swap the bytes of each halfword (pair of bytes) in the files.

       -S, --swap-halfwords
	      In copy-in mode, swap the halfwords of each word (4 bytes) in the files.

       -t, --list
	      Print a table of contents of the input.

       -u, --unconditional
	      Replace all files, without asking whether to replace existing newer files with older files.

       -v, --verbose
	      List  the  files	processed, or with -t, give an `ls -l' style table of contents listing.  In a verbose table of contents of a ustar
	      archive, user and group names in the archive that do not exist on the local system are replaced by the names that correspond locally
	      to the numeric UID and GID stored in the archive.

       -V --dot
	      Print a "." for each file processed.

       --version
	      Print the cpio program version number and exit.

																	  CPIO(1L)