CPIO(1)                    OpenBSD Reference Manual                    CPIO(1)

NAME
     cpio - copy file archives in and out



SYNOPSIS
     cpio -o [-aABcLvzZ] [-C bytes] [-F archive] [-H format] [-O archive] <
          name-list [> archive]
     cpio -i [-bBcdfmrsStuvzZ6] [-C bytes] [-E file] [-F archive] [-H format]
          [-I archive] [pattern ...] [< archive]
     cpio -p [-adlLmuv] destination-directory < name-list

DESCRIPTION
     The cpio command copies files to and from a cpio archive.

     The following options are supported:

     -o          Create an archive.  Reads the list of files to store in the
                 archive from standard input, and writes the archive on stan-
                 dard output.

                 -a          Reset the access times on files that have been
                             copied to the archive.

                 -A          Append to the specified archive.

                 -B          Set block size of output to 5120 bytes.

                 -c          Use ASCII format for cpio header for portability.

                 -C bytes    Set the block size of output to bytes.

                 -F archive

                 -O archive  Use the specified file name as the archive to
                             write to.

                 -H format   Write the archive in the specified format.  Rec-
                             ognized formats are:

                             bcpio   Old binary cpio format.

                             cpio    Old octal character cpio format.

                             sv4cpio
                                     SVR4 hex cpio format.

                             tar     Old tar format.

                             ustar   POSIX ustar format.

                 -L          Follow symbolic links.

                 -v          Be verbose about operations.  List filenames as
                             they are written to the archive.

                 -z          Compress archive using gzip(1) format.

                 -Z          Compress archive using compress(1) format.

     -i          Restore files from an archive.  Reads the archive file from
                 standard input and extracts files matching the patterns that
                 were specified on the command line.

                 -b          Do byte and word swapping after reading in data
                             from the archive, for restoring archives created
                             on systems with a different byte order.

                 -B          Set the block size of the archive being read to
                             5120 bytes.

                 -c          Expect the archive headers to be in ASCII format.

                 -C bytes    Read archive written with a block size of bytes.

                 -d          Create any intermediate directories as needed
                             during restore.

                 -E file     Read list of file name patterns to extract or
                             list from file.

                 -f          Restore all files except those matching the
                             patterns given on the command line.

                 -F archive

                 -I archive  Use the specified file as the input for the
                             archive.

                 -H format   Read an archive of the specified format.  Recog-
                             nized formats are:

                             bcpio   Old binary cpio format.

                             cpio    Old octal character cpio format.

                             sv4cpio
                                     SVR4 hex cpio format.

                             tar     Old tar format.

                             ustar   POSIX ustar format.

                 -m          Restore modification times on files.

                 -r          Rename restored files interactively.

                 -s          Swap bytes after reading data from the archive.

                 -S          Swap words after reading data from the archive.

                 -t          Only list the contents of the archive, no files
                             or directories will be created.

                 -u          Overwrite files even when the file in the archive
                             is older than the one that will be overwritten.

                 -v          Be verbose about operations.  List filenames as
                             they are copied in from the archive.

                 -z          Uncompress archive using gzip(1) format.

                 -Z          Uncompress archive using compress(1) format.

                 -6          Process old-style cpio format archives.

     -p          Copy files from one location to another in a single pass.
                 The list of files to copy are read from standard input and
                 written out to a directory relative to the specified


                 directory argument.

                 -a          Reset the access times on files that have been
                             copied.

                 -d          Create any intermediate directories as needed to
                             write the files at the new location.

                 -l          When possible, link files rather than creating an
                             extra copy.

                 -L          Follow symbolic links.

                 -m          Restore modification times on files.

                 -u          Overwrite files even when the original file being
                             copied is older than the one that will be over-
                             written.

                 -v          Be verbose about operations.  List filenames as
                             they are copied.

ERRORS
     cpio will exit with one of the following values:

     0   All files were processed successfully.

     1   An error occurred.

     Whenever cpio cannot create a file or a link when extracting an archive
     or cannot find a file while writing an archive, or cannot preserve the
     user ID, group ID, file mode or access and modification times when the -p
     option is specified, a diagnostic message is written to standard error
     and a non-zero exit value will be returned, but processing will continue.
     In the case where cpio cannot create a link to a file, cpio will not cre-
     ate a second copy of the file.

     If the extraction of a file from an archive is prematurely terminated by
     a signal or error, cpio may have only partially extracted the file the
     user wanted.  Additionally, the file modes of extracted files and direc-
     tories may have incorrect file bits, and the modification and access
     times may be wrong.

     If the creation of an archive is prematurely terminated by a signal or
     error, cpio may have only partially created the archive which may violate
     the specific archive format specification.

SEE ALSO
     pax(1),  tar(1)

BUGS
     The -s and -S options are currently not implemented.

AUTHOR
     Keith Muller at the University of California, San Diego.

OpenBSD 2.6                    February 16, 1997                             3