rcp(1) User Commands rcp(1)
NAME
rcp - remote file copy
SYNOPSIS
rcp [ -p ] filename1 filename2
rcp [ -pr ] filename...directory
AVAILABILITY
SUNWcsu
DESCRIPTION
The rcp command copies files between machines. Each
filename or directory argument is either a remote file name
of the form:
hostname:path
or a local file name (containing no : characters, or a /
before any : characters).
If a filename is not a full path name, it is interpreted
relative to your home directory on hostname. A path on a
remote host may be quoted (using \, ", or ') so that the
metacharacters are interpreted remotely.
rcp does not prompt for passwords; your current local user
name must exist on hostname and allow remote command execu-
tion by rsh(1).
rcp handles third party copies, where neither source nor
target files are on the current machine. Hostnames may also
take the form
username@hostname:filename
to use username rather than your current local user name as
the user name on the remote host. rcp also supports Inter-
net domain addressing of the remote host, so that:
username@host.domain:filename
specifies the username to be used, the hostname, and the
domain in which that host resides. Filenames that are not
full path names will be interpreted relative to the home
directory of the user named username, on the remote host.
OPTIONS
-p Attempt to give each copy the same modification times,
access times, and modes as the original file.
-r Copy each subtree rooted at filename; in this case the
destination must be a directory.
FILES
$HOME/.profile
SEE ALSO
cpio(1), ftp(1), rlogin(1), rsh(1), tar(1), hosts.equiv(4)
NOTES
rcp is meant to copy between different hosts; attempting to
rcp a file onto itself, as with:
rcp tmp/file myhost:/tmp/file
results in a severely corrupted file.
rcp may not correctly fail when the target of a copy is a
file instead of a directory.
rcp can become confused by output generated by commands in a
$HOME/.profile on the remote host.
rcp requires that the source host have permission to execute
commands on the remote host when doing third-party copies.
rcp does not properly handle symbolic links. Use tar (see
tar(1)) or cpio (see cpio(1)) piped to rsh to obtain remote
copies of directories containing symbolic links or named
pipes.
If you forget to quote metacharacters intended for the
remote host you get an incomprehensible error message.
SunOS 5.4 Last change: 22 Mar 1994