Copy (command)

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Category:Use dmy dates from February 2019

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]

DOS

The following copies existing file fromfile to path tofile.

copy fromfile tofile

A file can be copied to a device. The following sends a file to the printer on lpt1. 

copy letter.txt lpt1

The following outputs to stdout, like the type command. 

copy letter.txt con

The following concatenates the page# files into book.txt – like cat. 

copy page1.txt+page2.txt book.txt

The command can copy files between drives.

The following uses text mode to copy text of the file; stopping when it reaches an EOF character.

copy /a doc1.txt + doc2.txt doc3.txt
copy /a *.txt doc3.txt

The following uses binary mode; concatenating files in their entirety; ignoring EOF characters.

copy /b image1.jpg + image2.jpg image3.jpg

See also

  • XCOPY – Shell command for copying files

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.Category:All articles with dead external linksCategory:Articles with dead external links from December 2023Category:Articles with permanently dead external links[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. ↑ Category:All articles with dead external linksCategory:Articles with dead external links from September 2020[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

Category:Windows commands Category:Internal DOS commands Category:MSX-DOS commands Category:OS/2 commands Category:ReactOS commands Category:Windows commands Category:Microcomputer software Category:Microsoft free software Category:Windows administration Category:File copy utilities
Category:All articles with dead external links Category:Articles with dead external links from December 2023 Category:Articles with dead external links from September 2020 Category:Articles with permanently dead external links Category:Articles with short description Category:File copy utilities Category:Internal DOS commands Category:MSX-DOS commands Category:Microcomputer software Category:Microsoft free software Category:OS/2 commands Category:ReactOS commands Category:Short description is different from Wikidata Category:Use dmy dates from February 2019 Category:Windows administration Category:Windows commands