$>man cp

Copy one or more files to another location.

Copy SOURCE to DEST, or multiple SOURCE(s) to DIRECTORY.

Syntax cp [options]… Source Dest cp [options]… Source… Directory

Key

-a, --archive same as -dpR

-b, --backup Make backup before removal. If the copy will overwrite a file in the destination, then the original file will be backed up as ‘filename~’ before being overwritten.

-d, --no-dereference preserve links

-f, --force remove existing destinations, never prompt

-i, --interactive prompt before overwrite

-l, --link link files instead of copying

-p, --preserve preserve file attributes if possible

-P, --parents append source path to DIRECTORY

-r copy recursively, non-directories as files

–sparse=WHEN control creation of sparse files

-R, --recursive copy directories recursively

-s, --symbolic-link make symbolic links instead of copying

-S, --suffix=SUFFIX override the usual backup suffix

-u, --update copy only when the > SOURCE file is newer than the destination > file or when the destination file is missing

-v, --verbose explain what is being done

-V, --version-control=WORD override the usual version control

-x, --one-file-system stay on this file system –help display this help and exit –version output version information and exit.

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