Copy (command)
Shell command for copying files
copy is a shell command for copying files.
Different implementations provide various capabilities, such as:
- Combining (concatenating) multiple files into a single file
- If multiple source files are specified before the path to an existing directory, then files are copied to the directory
- Support for text vs. binary data; for text, the command stops when it reaches an end-of-file (EOF) character; for binary, files are copied in their entirety, ignoring EOF
- In DOS, a file can be copied to or from a device. For example, copy path con outputs the file at path to the console, and copy con path copies text typed at the console to a file at path
01Implementations
The command is available in RT-11, OS/8, RSX-11, ISIS-II, iRMX 86, TOPS-10, TOPS-20, OpenVMS, MetaComCo TRIPOS, HDOS, Z80-RIO, OS-9, DOS, FlexOS, 4690 OS, PC-MOS, HP MPE/iX, OS/2, Windows, ROM-DOS, ReactOS, SymbOS, DexOS, and 86-DOS.
Under IBM PC DOS/MS-DOS the command is available since version 1.
Some shells provide a copy command with a different name. In Unix-based systems, the copy command is cp. In CP/M, the command is PIP. in OpenVOS, the command is copy_file.
02DOS
The following copies existing file fromfile to path tofile.
copy fromfile tofileA file can be copied to a device. The following sends a file to the printer on lpt1.
copy letter.txt lpt1The following outputs to stdout, like the type command.
copy letter.txt conThe following concatenates the page# files into book.txt , like cat.
copy page1.txt+page2.txt book.txtThe command can copy files between drives.
The following uses text mode to copy text of the file, stopping when it reaches an EOF character.
copy /a doc1.txt + doc2.txt doc3.txt copy /a *.txt doc3.txtThe following uses binary mode, concatenating files in their entirety and ignoring EOF characters.
copy /b image1.jpg + image2.jpg image3.jpgSources and credits
This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Copy (command)”, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.
Images, from Wikimedia Commons:
- ReactOS-0.4.13 copy command 667x434.png by Ghettoblaster, Public domain
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