Jump to content

copy (command)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Stevebroshar (talk | contribs) at 05:01, 15 May 2025 (→Implementations: better wording). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.
For the command for copying with the clipboard, see Cut, copy, and paste.

copy
Developer(s)DEC, Intel, MetaComCo, Heath Company, Zilog, Microware, HP, Microsoft, IBM, DR, TSL, Datalight, Novell, Toshiba
Operating systemRT-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
TypeCommand
LicenseHDOS: PD
MS-DOS: MIT
PC-MOS: GPL v3
ReactOS: GPL v2

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

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].

Example for DOS

copy letter.txt [destination]

Files may be copied to device files (e.g. copy letter.txt lpt1 sends the file to the printer on lpt1. copy letter.txt con would output to stdout, like the type command. Note that copy page1.txt+page2.txt book.txt will concatenate the files and output them as book.txt. Which is just like the cat command). It can also copy files between different disk drives.

There are two command-line switches to modify the behaviour when concatenating files:

  • Text mode - This copies the text content of the file, stopping when it reaches the EOF character.
copy /a doc1.txt + doc2.txt doc3.txt
copy /a *.txt doc3.txt
  • Binary mode - This concatenates files in their entirety, ignoring EOF characters.
copy /b image1.jpg + image2.jpg image3.jpg

See also

References

  1. ^ "Microsoft TechNet Copy article". 2009-09-11.
  2. ^ Rügheimer, Hannes; Spanik, Christian (1988-09-14). AmigaDOS quick reference. Grand Rapids, Mi : Abacus. ISBN 9781557550491 – via Internet Archive.
  3. ^ "RT-11 HELP FILE". paleoferrosaurus.com. Archived from the original on 2018-07-17. Retrieved 2019-07-06.
  4. ^ "Concise Command Language" (CCL)."OS/8 Handbook" (PDF). April 1974. Retrieved 2017-11-28.
  5. ^ John F. Pieper (1987). RSX A Guide for Users (PDF). Digital Equipment Corporation. ISBN 0-932376-90-8. Retrieved 2020-09-19.
  6. ^ ISIS II Users Guide
  7. ^ "intel :: iRMX :: 146194-001 irmxR6Intro" – via Internet Archive.
  8. ^ TOPS-10 Operating System Commands Manual (PDF). Digital Equipment Corporation. August 1980. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2020-08-09. Retrieved 2019-02-17.
  9. ^ "TOPS-20 Command manual" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2020-08-09. Retrieved 2018-07-18.
  10. ^ "OpenVMS User's Manual". www.itec.suny.edu.[permanent dead link]
  11. ^ "Operating manual" (PDF). www.pagetable.com. Retrieved 2020-09-14.
  12. ^ Heath Company. "Software Reference Manual HDOS SYSTEM Chapter 2 General Operations" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2017-08-07. Retrieved 2020-02-08.
  13. ^ Z80-RIO OPERATING SYSTEM USER'S MANUAL
  14. ^ Paul S. Dayan (1992). The OS-9 Guru - 1 : The Facts. Galactic Industrial Limited. ISBN 0-9519228-0-7.
  15. ^ "FlexOS User's Guide" (PDF). www.bitsavers.org. 1986. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2010-08-08. Retrieved 2020-09-14.
  16. ^ [1][dead link]
  17. ^ "roelandjansen/pcmos386v501". GitHub. 2022-01-02.
  18. ^ "MPE/iX Command Reference Manual" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2018-10-21. Retrieved 2018-10-21.
  19. ^ "OS/2 Commands: Copy". Archived from the original on 2019-04-14. Retrieved 2019-07-20.
  20. ^ "copy". docs.microsoft.com. 2023-02-03.
  21. ^ "Datalight ROM-DOS User's Guide" (PDF). www.datalight.com.
  22. ^ "reactos/reactos". GitHub. 2022-01-03.
  23. ^ 86-DOS - Disk Operating System for the 8086 - User's Manual (PDF). Version 0.3 (Preliminary ed.). Seattle, Washington, USA: Seattle Computer Products, Inc. 1980. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2019-07-14. Retrieved 2019-07-14. (59 pages)
  24. ^ Wolverton, Van (2003). Running MS-DOS Version 6.22 (20th Anniversary Edition), 6th Revised edition. Microsoft Press. ISBN 0-7356-1812-7.
  25. ^ "OpenVOS Commands Reference Manual" (PDF). stratadoc.stratus.com. Retrieved 2020-09-14.

Further reading

Wikibooks has a book on the topic of: Guide to Windows Commands
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Copy_(command)&oldid=1290498563"