rcp(1c)
Name
rcp − remote file copy
Syntax
rcp [ −p ] file1 file2
rcp [−r] [−p] file... directory
Description
The rcp 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 backslashes (\) before colons.
Note that the rcp 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 interpreted 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 rcp command does not prompt for passwords; your current local user name must exist on rhost and allow remote command execution via rsh(.).
The rcp 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 person implementing the rcp 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 umask() on the destination host is used.
Options
−pPreserves the modification times and modes of the source files in its copies, ignoring the umask.
−rCopies 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 rcp command is confused by output generated by commands in a .login, .profile, or .cshrc file on the remote host. In particular, ‘where are you?’ and ‘rcp: protocol screwup’ are messages which can result if output is generated by any of the startup files.