Copy (command)

For the command for copying with the clipboard, see Cut, copy, and paste.

copy is a shell command for copying files.^[1][2]

copy
The ReactOS copy command
Developer(s)	DEC, Intel, MetaComCo, Heath Company, Zilog, Microware, HP, Microsoft, IBM, DR, TSL, Datalight, Novell, Toshiba
Operating system	RT-11, OS/8, RSX-11, ISIS-II, iRMX 86, TOPS-10, TOPS-20, OpenVMS, TRIPOS, HDOS, DOS, MSX-DOS, FlexOS, 4680 OS, 4690 OS, PC-MOS, Z80-RIO, OS-9, MPE/iX, OS/2, Windows, ReactOS, SymbOS, DexOS
Type	Command
License	HDOS: PD MS-DOS: MIT PC-MOS: GPL v3 ReactOS: GPL v2

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

Implementations

The command is available in RT-11,^[3] OS/8,^[4] RSX-11,^[5] ISIS-II,^[6] iRMX 86,^[7] TOPS-10,^[8] TOPS-20,^[9] OpenVMS,^[10] MetaComCo TRIPOS,^[11] HDOS,^[12] Z80-RIO,^[13] OS-9,^[14] DOS, FlexOS,^[15] 4690 OS,^[16] PC-MOS,^[17] HP MPE/iX,^[18] OS/2,^[19] Windows,^[20] ROM-DOS,^[21] ReactOS,^[22] SymbOS, DexOS, and 86-DOS.^[23]

Under IBM PC DOS/MS-DOS the command is available since version 1.^[24]

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.^[25].

DOS

The following copies existing file fromfile to path tofile'.

copy fromfile tofile

A file can be copied to a device. The following sends a file to the printer on lpt1.

copy letter.txt lpt1

The following outputs to stdout, like the type command.

copy letter.txt con

The following concatenates the page# files into book.txt – like cat.

copy page1.txt+page2.txt book.txt

The 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.txt

The following uses binary mode; concatenating files in their entirety; ignoring EOF characters.

copy /b image1.jpg + image2.jpg image3.jpg

See also

• XCOPY – Shell command for copying files