I'm trying to use the cp command and force an overwrite.
I have tried cp -rf /foo/* /bar, but I am still prompted to confirm each overwrite.
You can do yes | cp -rf xxx yyy, but my gutfeeling says that if you do it as root - your .bashrc or .profile has an alias of cp to cp -i, most modern systems (primarily RH-derivatives) do that to root profiles.
You can check existing aliases by running alias at the command prompt, or which cp to check aliases only for cp.
If you do have an alias defined, running unalias cp will abolish that for the current session, otherwise you can just remove it from your shell profile.
You can temporarily bypass an alias and use the non-aliased version of a command by prefixing it with \, e.g. \cp whatever
This is probably caused by cp being already aliased to something like cp -i. Calling cp directly should work:
/bin/cp -rf /zzz/zzz/* /xxx/xxx
Another way to get around this is to use the yes command:
yes | cp -rf /zzz/zzz/* /xxx/xxx
As some of the other answers have stated, you probably use an alias somewhere which maps cp to cp -i or something similar. You can run a command without any aliases by preceding it with a backslash. In your case, try
\cp -r /zzz/zzz/* /xxx/xxx
The backslash will temporarily disable any aliases you have called cp.
You probably have an alias somewhere, mapping cp to cp -i; because with the default settings, cp won't ask to overwrite. Check your .bashrc, your .profile etc.
See cp manpage: Only when -i parameter is specified will cp actually prompt before overwriting.
You can check this via the alias command:
$ alias
alias cp='cp -i'
alias diff='diff -u'
....
To undefine the alias, use:
$ unalias cp
As other answers have stated, this could happend if cp is an alias of cp -i.
You can append a \ before the cp command to use it without alias.
\cp -fR source target
So I run into this a lot because I keep cp aliased to cp -iv, and I found a neat trick. It turns out that while -i and -n both cancel previous overwrite directives, -f does not. However, if you use -nf it adds the ability to clear the -i. So:
cp -f /foo/* /bar <-- Prompt
cp -nf /foo/* /bar <-- No Prompt
Pretty neat huh? /necropost
By default cp has aliase to cp -i. You can check it, type alias and you can see some like:
alias cp='cp -i'
alias l.='ls -d .* --color=auto'
alias ll='ls -l --color=auto'
alias ls='ls --color=auto'
alias mv='mv -i'
alias rm='rm -i'
To solve this problem just use /bin/cp /from /to command instead cp /from /to
The simplest way for me:
yes | cp source destination
you can use this command as well:
cp -ru /zzz/zzz/* /xxx/xxx
it would update your existing file with the newer one though.
cp is usually aliased like this
alias cp='cp -i' # i.e. ask questions of overwriting
if you are sure that you want to do the overwrite then use this:
/bin/cp <arguments here> src dest
I found this
'cp' -rf * /data/danalonso_testing/target/
Source: https://superuser.com/questions/358843/how-to-replace-all-the-contents-from-one-folder-with-another-one/358851
cp -u ...
cp --update ...
also works.
Another way to call the command without the alias is to use the command builtin in bash.
command cp -rf /zzz/zzz/*
-n is "not to overwrite" but his question is totally opposite what you replied for.
To avoid this confirmation you can simply run the cp command wiht absolute path, it will avoid the alias.
/bin/cp sourcefile destination
If you want to keep alias at the global level as is and just want to change for your script.
Just use:
alias cp=cp
and then write your follow up commands.
I simply used unalias to remove the "cp -i" alias, then do the copy, then set back the alias. :
unalias cp
cp -f foo foo.copy
alias cp="cp -i"
Not the most beautiful code, but easy to set and efficient. I also check the alias is already set back with a simple
alias |grep cp
If this is a small text file, you may consider this way too:
cat my.cnf > /etc/my.cnf
Not sure about the efficiency or side effects for large or binary files.
It is not cp -i. If you do not want to be asked for confirmation,
it is cp -n; for example:
cp -n src dest
Or in case of directories/folders is:
cp -nr src_dir dest_dir
Related
I'm trying to use the cp command and force an overwrite.
I have tried cp -rf /foo/* /bar, but I am still prompted to confirm each overwrite.
You can do yes | cp -rf xxx yyy, but my gutfeeling says that if you do it as root - your .bashrc or .profile has an alias of cp to cp -i, most modern systems (primarily RH-derivatives) do that to root profiles.
You can check existing aliases by running alias at the command prompt, or which cp to check aliases only for cp.
If you do have an alias defined, running unalias cp will abolish that for the current session, otherwise you can just remove it from your shell profile.
You can temporarily bypass an alias and use the non-aliased version of a command by prefixing it with \, e.g. \cp whatever
This is probably caused by cp being already aliased to something like cp -i. Calling cp directly should work:
/bin/cp -rf /zzz/zzz/* /xxx/xxx
Another way to get around this is to use the yes command:
yes | cp -rf /zzz/zzz/* /xxx/xxx
As some of the other answers have stated, you probably use an alias somewhere which maps cp to cp -i or something similar. You can run a command without any aliases by preceding it with a backslash. In your case, try
\cp -r /zzz/zzz/* /xxx/xxx
The backslash will temporarily disable any aliases you have called cp.
You probably have an alias somewhere, mapping cp to cp -i; because with the default settings, cp won't ask to overwrite. Check your .bashrc, your .profile etc.
See cp manpage: Only when -i parameter is specified will cp actually prompt before overwriting.
You can check this via the alias command:
$ alias
alias cp='cp -i'
alias diff='diff -u'
....
To undefine the alias, use:
$ unalias cp
As other answers have stated, this could happend if cp is an alias of cp -i.
You can append a \ before the cp command to use it without alias.
\cp -fR source target
So I run into this a lot because I keep cp aliased to cp -iv, and I found a neat trick. It turns out that while -i and -n both cancel previous overwrite directives, -f does not. However, if you use -nf it adds the ability to clear the -i. So:
cp -f /foo/* /bar <-- Prompt
cp -nf /foo/* /bar <-- No Prompt
Pretty neat huh? /necropost
By default cp has aliase to cp -i. You can check it, type alias and you can see some like:
alias cp='cp -i'
alias l.='ls -d .* --color=auto'
alias ll='ls -l --color=auto'
alias ls='ls --color=auto'
alias mv='mv -i'
alias rm='rm -i'
To solve this problem just use /bin/cp /from /to command instead cp /from /to
The simplest way for me:
yes | cp source destination
you can use this command as well:
cp -ru /zzz/zzz/* /xxx/xxx
it would update your existing file with the newer one though.
cp is usually aliased like this
alias cp='cp -i' # i.e. ask questions of overwriting
if you are sure that you want to do the overwrite then use this:
/bin/cp <arguments here> src dest
I found this
'cp' -rf * /data/danalonso_testing/target/
Source: https://superuser.com/questions/358843/how-to-replace-all-the-contents-from-one-folder-with-another-one/358851
cp -u ...
cp --update ...
also works.
Another way to call the command without the alias is to use the command builtin in bash.
command cp -rf /zzz/zzz/*
-n is "not to overwrite" but his question is totally opposite what you replied for.
To avoid this confirmation you can simply run the cp command wiht absolute path, it will avoid the alias.
/bin/cp sourcefile destination
If you want to keep alias at the global level as is and just want to change for your script.
Just use:
alias cp=cp
and then write your follow up commands.
I simply used unalias to remove the "cp -i" alias, then do the copy, then set back the alias. :
unalias cp
cp -f foo foo.copy
alias cp="cp -i"
Not the most beautiful code, but easy to set and efficient. I also check the alias is already set back with a simple
alias |grep cp
If this is a small text file, you may consider this way too:
cat my.cnf > /etc/my.cnf
Not sure about the efficiency or side effects for large or binary files.
It is not cp -i. If you do not want to be asked for confirmation,
it is cp -n; for example:
cp -n src dest
Or in case of directories/folders is:
cp -nr src_dir dest_dir
Title is Description.
I just wonder there is any difference between rm -r and rm -R.
Linux man description is seemed like they are totally same(and one more, --recursive), but many people use -r and -R like they aren't same.
So I want to know about not only its functional difference but its practical(or conventional) difference.
Could anyone let me know about this?
According to the OpenGroup / POSIX specification for rm, the -r and -R options are equivalent.
Source: https://pubs.opengroup.org/onlinepubs/9699919799/utilities/rm.html
This probably applies to all modern UNIX / Linux variants.
But it wasn't always that way:
The -R option did not exist in v5 UNIX; see here, page 97.
Or in v7 UNIX; see https://www.unix.com/man-page/v7/1/rm/.
It apparently was introduced in 4.2bsd; see https://linuxgazette.net/issue49/fischer.html ... as meaning the same as -r.
The reason for adding -R was for compatibility with other commands that use -R to mean recursive. (For example chmod ... where -r means "remove read permission".)
Its the same.
# rm --help | grep directories.
-r, -R, --recursive remove directories and their contents recursively
By default, rm does not remove directories. Use the --recursive (-r or -R)
The man-page mentions:
-r, -R, --recursive
remove directories and their contents recursively
So, at least on my machine, it's the same.
The two options are equivalent, by default, rm does not remove directories. And by using the --recursive (-r or -R) option to remove each listed directory, too, along with all of its contents.
I'm facing many issues and lost many files because of rm -rf.
If I use rm -rfi xxx.xx, then it promote confirmation. But I forget/unable to give -i command when I'm using.
Is any other way to provide default -i or
I need like , Whenever I use rm , it must promote confirmation.
Any idea?
You can add an alias
alias rm="rm -i"
This ensures that each time you use rm it is replaced with rm -i so that each time it asks for a confirmation
If you are using a bash, you can add the alias to the .bashrc file so that you need not add the alias each time.
$ rm test.c
rm: remove regular file `test.c'? y
Make alias for rm command:
alias rm='rm -i'
Create alias for rm-command:
alias rm="rm -i"
I want to copy a certain file to a location, irrespective of that file already exists in the destination or not. I'm trying to copy through shell script.But the file is not getting copied. I'm using the following command
/bin/cp -rf /source/file /destination
but that doesn't work.
Use
cp -fr /source/file /destination
this should probably solve the problem.
This question has been already discussed, however you can write a little script like this:
#!/bin/bash
if [ ! -d "$2" ]; then
mkdir -p "$2"
fi
cp -R "$1" "$2"
Explaining this script a little bit
#!/bin/bash: tells your computer to use the bash interpreter.
if [ ! -d "$2" ]; then: If the second variable you supplied does not already exist...
mkdir -p "$2": make that directory, including any parent directories supplied in the path.
Running mkdir -p one/two/three will make:
$ mkdir -p one/two/three
$ tree one
one/
└── two
└── three
If you don't supply the -p tag then you'll get an error if directories one and two don't exist:
$ mkdir one/two/three
mkdir: cannot create directory ‘one/two/three’: No such file or directory
fi: Closes the if statement.
cp -R "$1" "$2": copies files from the first variable you supplied to the directory of the second variable you supplied.
So if you ran script.sh mars pluto, mars would be the first variable ($1) and pluto would be the second variable ($2).
The -R flag means it does this recursively, so the cp command will go through all the files and folders from your first variable, and copy them to the directory of your second variable.
Your problem might be caused by an alias for cp command created in your system by default (you can see al your aliases by typing "alias").
For example, my system has the following alis by default: alias cp='cp -i', where -i overrides -f option, i.e. cp will always prompt for overwriting confirmation.
What you need in such case (that'll actually work even if you don't have an alias) is to feed "yes" to that confirmation. To do that simply modify your cp command to look like this:
yes | cp /source/file /destination
/bin/cp -rf src dst
or
/usr/bin/env cp -rf
I have one shell script running on windows environment on cygwin environment. This script have one purging function which deletes certain folder on the system bases on certain condition.
I prepare the list of all the folder that I want to delete and then use following command:
rm -rfv $purge (where purge is the list of directories I want to delete)
Now when I tested this script, the directories are not getting deleted at all. First I thought there is some issue with by purge list, but on debugging I came to know that purge list is fine.
After lots of debugging and trials I just made small change in command:
\rm -rfv $purge
It just a kind of hit and trial and script starts working fine.
Now as far as I know \rm and rm -f both means forceful delete.
Now how can I justify this that why 'rm -f' what now working earlier but '\rm -f' did.
I want to know the basic difference between these two commands.
The rm can be (in theory) one of:
shell builtin command (however I don't know any shell with such builtin)
external command (most likely /bin/rm)
a shell function
an alias
If you put \ before it (or quote any part of it, for example "rm" or even 'r'm) shell will ignore all aliases (but not functions).
As jlliagre mentioned, you can ask shell what rm is and what is \rm using type builtin.
Experiment:
$ type rm
rm is /bin/rm
$ rm() { echo "FUNC"; command rm "$#"; }
$ type rm
rm is a function
$ alias rm='echo ALIAS; rm -i'
$ type rm
rm is aliased to `echo ALIAS; rm -i'
Now, we have alias rm, function rm and original external rm command:
Let's see how to call each other:
$ rm # this will call alias, calling function calling real rm
$ rm
ALIAS
FUNC
rm: missing operand
$ \rm # this will ignore alias, and call function calling real rm
FUNC
rm: missing operand
$ command rm # this will ignore any builtin, alias or function and call rm according to PATH
rm: missing operand
To understand it deeply, see help builtin, help command, help alias and man sh.
That means your rm command is aliased or a function. Backslashing it tells the shell to use the real rm command.
Edit: You can tell what rm refers to with the type command, eg:
$ type rm
rm is /bin/rm
.
$ type rm
rm is aliased to `rm -i'
.
$ type rm
rm is a function
...