rcp(1c)rcp(1c)Namercp - remote file copy
Syntaxrcp [ -p ] file1 file2
rcp [-r] [-p] file... directory
Description
The command copies files between machines. Each file or directory
argument is either a remote file name of the form rhost:path, or a
local file name. Local file names do not contain colons (:) or back‐
slashes (\) before colons.
Note that the command refuses to copy a file onto itself.
If path is not a full path name, it is interpreted relative to your
login directory on rhost. To ensure that the metacharacters are inter‐
preted remotely, a remote host's path can be quoted by either using a
backslash (\) before a single character, or enclosing character strings
in double (") or single (') quotes.
The command does not prompt for passwords; your current local user name
must exist on rhost and allow remote command execution via
The command handles third party copies, where neither source nor target
files are on the current machine. Hostnames may also take the form
rname@rhost to use rname rather than the current user name on the
remote host. The following example shows how to copy the file foo from
user1@mach1 to user2@mach2:
$ rcp user1@mach1:foo user2@mach2:foo
Note that the file .rhosts on mach2 in user2's account must include an
entry for mach1 user1. Also note that it may be necessary for the per‐
son implementing the command to be listed in the .rhosts file for mach1
user1.
By default, the mode and owner of file2 are preserved if file2 already
exists. Otherwise, the mode of the source file modified by on the des‐
tination host is used.
Options-p Preserves the modification times and modes of the source files in
its copies, ignoring the
-r Copies files in all subdirectories recursively, if the file to be
copied is a directory. In this case the destination must be a
directory.
Restrictions
The command is confused by output generated by commands in a .cshrc
file on the remote host. In particular, `where are you?' and `stty:
Can't assign requested address' are messages which can result if output
is generated by the startup file.
See Alsoftp(1c), rlogin(1c), rsh(1c)rcp(1c)
