bsd man page for cp

CP(1)							      General Commands Manual							     CP(1)

NAME
       cp - copy

SYNOPSIS
       cp [ -ip ] file1 file2

       cp [ -ipr ] file ... directory

DESCRIPTION
       File1  is copied onto file2.  By default, the mode and owner of file2 are preserved if it already existed; otherwise the mode of the source
       file modified by the current umask(2) is used.  The -p option causes cp to attempt to preserve (duplicate) in its copies  the  modification
       times and modes of the source files, ignoring the present umask.

       In the second form, one or more files are copied into the directory with their original file-names.

       Cp refuses to copy a file onto itself.

       If  the	-i option is specified, cp will prompt the user with the name of the file whenever the copy will cause an old file to be overwrit-
       ten. An answer of 'y' will cause cp to continue. Any other answer will prevent it from overwriting the file.

       If the -r option is specified and any of the source files are directories, cp copies each subtree rooted at that name;  in  this  case  the
       destination must be a directory.

SEE ALSO
       cat(1), mv(1), rcp(1C)

4th Berkeley Distribution					   June 8, 1985 							     CP(1)