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Copy (command)
Shell command for copying files From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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copy
is a shell command for copying files.[1][2]
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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, andcopy con path
copies text typed at the console to a file at path
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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].
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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
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See also
- XCOPY – Shell command for copying files
References
Further reading
External links
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