You need to use cp command to copy file to another directory or external usb disk. The command line syntax is as follows to copy files via terminal:
cp old_name new_name
OR
cp [options] old_name new_name
OR
cp source dest
OR
cp /path/to/source /path/to/dest/directory/
Examples: Copy file1.txt to /tmp directory
Open the Terminal and type the following command in the current directory to copy a file called file1.txt with the same name into /tmp/ directory:
cp file1.txt /tmp/
Use ls command to verify new files:
ls /tmp/ ls -l /tmp/ ls -l /tmp/file1.txt
You can copy multiple files into another directory. In this example, copy the files called foo.txt, bar.doc, resume.pdf into a directory called /media/backup/
cp foo.txt bar.doc resume.pdf /media/backup/
Cp command can explain what is being done with -v option:
cp -v foo.txt bar.doc resume.pdf /media/backup/
Sample session from all cp commands featured in this tutorials:
Animated gif: Ubuntu Linux copy files via terminal using cp command demo
Ubuntu make a backup of each existing destination file
In this example, copy file named birthday_party.avi to /media/usbpen/ and make a backup of each existing destination file:
cp -b birthday_party.avi /media/usbpen/
Copy ~/Documents/ folder to /media/usbpen/
Pass the -r (recursive) option to cp command. In this example, make a copy of an existing directory called ~/Documents/, inclusive of all it contents (i.e., files, subdirectories, their subdirectories, etc.), to directory called /media/usbpen/:
cp -r ~/Documents/ /media/usbpen/
Copy files interactively
Pass the -i optipn to cp command to prompts the user to the screen before copying a file that would overwrite an existing file:
cp -i file1.txt /tmp/
If you do not wish to overwrite an existing file i.e. overrides a previous -i option, try:
cp -n file1.txt /tmp/
Copy all files in a directory to another directory by using the star wildcard
To copy all files from ~/Pictures/ to /nfs/backups/pics/ directory, enter:
cp ~/Pictures/* /nfs/backups/pics/
In this example, copy all of the files in the current directory that have the filename extension .py into another existing directory called /nfs/backups/python/:
cp *.py /nfs/backups/python
Dealing with permission denied error
If you try to copy files to /root/ or any other system areas, you will see an error that read as follows:
cp backdoor3.c /usr/
cp: /usr/backdoor3.c: Permission denied
Use the sudo command to copy files when you need superuser privileges on Ubuntu Linux:
sudo cp backdoor3.c /usr/
Tip: Searching for commands without knowing their exact names
You can use apropos command to displays a list of all topics in the built-in user manual that are related to the subject. The syntax is:
apropos query apropos query | less apropos keywords | grep 'something'
In this example, get the list of editing programs/commands that are available on a system:
apropos editor apropos editor | less
Sample outputs:
ed (1) - text editor ex (1p) - text editor mcedit (1) - Internal file editor of GNU Midnight Commander nano (1) - Nano's ANOther editor, an enhanced free Pico clone psed (1) - a stream editor sed (1p) - stream editor sed (1) - stream editor for filtering and transforming text vi (1p) - screen-oriented (visual) display editor vim (1) - Vi IMproved, a programmers text editor
Finally, use whatis and man command to obtain information about the mcedit or vi command that apropos provides:
whatis mcedit whatis vi man vi man mcedit
And there you have it, cp command that copies files and directories on Ubuntu based systems. I strongly suggest that your read cp command man page or see our cp command examples pagefor more information.
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