Manual: cpio
CPIO(1) GNU CPIO CPIO(1)
NAME
cpio - copy files to and from archives
SYNOPSIS
cpio {-o|--create} [-0acvABLV] [-C BYTES] [-H FORMAT] [-M MESSAGE] [-O [[USER@]HOST:]ARCHIVE] [-F
[[USER@]HOST:]ARCHIVE] [--file=[[USER@]HOST:]ARCHIVE] [--format=FORMAT] [--message=MESSAGE] [--null] [--reset-ac‐
cess-time] [--verbose] [--dot] [--append] [--block-size=blocks] [--dereference] [--io-size=BYTES] [--quiet]
[--force-local] [--rsh-command=COMMAND] < name-list [> archive]
cpio {-i|--extract} [-bcdfmnrtsuvBSV] [-C BYTES] [-E FILE] [-H FORMAT] [-M MESSAGE] [-R [USER][:.][GROUP]] [-I
[[USER@]HOST:]ARCHIVE] [-F [[USER@]HOST:]ARCHIVE] [--file=[[USER@]HOST:]ARCHIVE] [--make-directories] [--nonmatching]
[--preserve-modification-time] [--numeric-uid-gid] [--rename] [--list] [--swap-bytes] [--swap] [--dot] [--uncondi‐
tional] [--verbose] [--block-size=BLOCKS] [--swap-halfwords] [--io-size=BYTES] [--pattern-file=FILE] [--format=FOR‐
MAT] [--owner=[USER][:.][GROUP]] [--no-preserve-owner] [--message=MESSAGE] [--force-local] [--no-absolute-filenames]
[--sparse] [--only-verify-crc] [--to-stdout] [--quiet] [--rsh-command=COMMAND] [pattern...] [< archive]
cpio {-p|--pass-through} [-0adlmuvLV] [-R [USER][:.][GROUP]] [--null] [--reset-access-time] [--make-directories]
[--link] [--quiet] [--preserve-modification-time] [--unconditional] [--verbose] [--dot] [--dereference]
[--owner=[USER][:.][GROUP]] [--no-preserve-owner] [--sparse] destination-directory < name-list
cpio {-?|--help|--usage|--version}
REPORTING BUGS
Report cpio bugs to bug-cpio@gnu.org
GNU cpio home page:
General help using GNU software:
Report cpio translation bugs to
SEE ALSO
cpio(5)
DESCRIPTION
GNU cpio copies files between archives and directories. It supports the following archive formats: old binary cpio,
old portable cpio, SVR4 cpio with and without checksum, HP cpio, and various tar formats.
The operation mode is requested by one of the following options:
-o, --create
Copy-out. Read a list of file names from the standard input and create on the standard output (unless over‐
ridden by the --file option) an archive containing these files.
-i, --extract
Copy-in. Read the archive from standard input (or from the file supplied with the --file option) and extract
files from it, or (if the -t option is given) list its contents to the standard output. If one or more pat‐
terns are supplied, read or list only files matching these patterns. The -t option alone implies -i.
-p, --pass-through
Pass-through. Read a list of file names from the standard input and copy them to the specified directory.
-?, --help
Give a short help summary and exit.
--usage
Print a short usage message and exit.
--version
Print program version and exit.
REPORTING BUGS
Report cpio bugs to bug-cpio@gnu.org
GNU cpio home page:
General help using GNU software:
Report cpio translation bugs to
OPTIONS
Operation modifiers valid in any mode
--block-size=BLOCK-SIZE
Set the I/O block size to BLOCK-SIZE * 512 bytes.
-B Set the I/O block size to 5120 bytes.
-c Use the old portable (ASCII) archive format. This is the same as -H odc.
-C, --io-size=NUMBER
Set the I/O block size to the given NUMBER of bytes.
-D, --directory=DIR
Change to directory DIR.
--force-local
Archive file is local, even if its name contains colons.
-H, --format=FORMAT
Use given archive FORMAT. Valid formats are (the number in parentheses gives maximum size for individual
archive member):
bin The obsolete binary format. (2147483647 bytes)
odc The old (POSIX.1) portable format. (8589934591 bytes)
newc The new (SVR4) portable format, which supports file systems having more than 65536 inodes. (4294967295
bytes)
crc The new (SVR4) portable format with a checksum added.
tar The old tar format. (8589934591 bytes)
ustar The POSIX.1 tar format. Also recognizes GNU tar archives, which are similar but not identical.
(8589934591 bytes)
hpbin The obsolete binary format used by HPUX's cpio (which stores device files differently).
hpodc The portable format used by HPUX's cpio (which stores device files differently).
-R, --owner=[USER][:.][GROUP]
In copy-in and copy-pass mode, set the ownership of all files created to the specified USER and/or GROUP. In
copy-out mode, store the supplied owner information in the archive.
USER and GROUP are first looked up in the system user and group databases. If not found, cpio checks if they
consist of decimal digits only and, if so, treats them as numeric UID and GID, correspondingly.
To avoid the lookup and ensure that arguments are treated as numeric values, prefix them with a plus sign,
e.g.: -R +0:+0.
--quiet
Do not print the number of blocks copied at the end of the run.
--rsh-command=COMMAND
Use remote COMMAND instead of rsh.
-v, --verbose
Verbosely list the files processed.
-V, --dot
Print a "." for each file processed.
-W, --warning=FLAG
Controls what warnings are displayed. The FLAG is one of none, to disable all warnings, all to enable them,
truncate, to enable warnings about field truncation, and no-truncate, to disable them.
Multiple -W options accumulate.
Operation modifiers valid in copy-in and copy-out modes
-F, --file=[[USER@]HOST:]ARCHIVE-FILE
Use this ARCHIVE-FILE instead of standard input (in copy-in mode) or standard output (in copy-out mode). Op‐
tional USER and HOST specify the user and host names in case of a remote archive.
-M, --message=STRING
Print STRING when the end of a volume of the backup media is reached.
Operation modifiers valid only in copy-in mode
-b, --swap
Swap both halfwords of words and bytes of halfwords in the data. Equivalent to -sS.
-f, --nonmatching
Only copy files that do not match any of the given patterns.
-n, --numeric-uid-gid
In the verbose table of contents listing, show numeric UID and GID.
-r, --rename
Interactively rename files.
-s, --swap-bytes
Swap the bytes of each halfword in the files.
-S, --swap-halfwords
Swap the halfwords of each word (4 bytes) in the files.
--to-stdout
Extract files to standard output.
-E, --pattern-file=FILE
Read additional patterns specifying filenames to extract or list from FILE.
--only-verify-crc
When reading a CRC format archive, only verify the CRC's of each file in the archive, without actually ex‐
tracting the files.
Operation modifiers valid only in copy-out mode
-A, --append
Append to an existing archive.
--device-independent, --reproducible
Create reproducible archives. This is equivalent to --ignore-devno --ignore-dirnlink --renumber-inodes.
--ignore-devno
Store 0 in the device number field of each archive member, instead of the actual device number.
--ignore-dirnlink
Store 2 in the nlink field of each directory archive member, instead of the actual number of links.
-O [[USER@]HOST:]ARCHIVE-NAME
Use ARCHIVE-NAME instead of standard output. Optional USER and HOST specify the user and host names in case of
a remote archive.
The output archive name can be specified either using this option, or using -F (--file), but not both.
--renumber-inodes
Renumber inodes when storing them in the archive.
Operation modifiers valid only in copy-pass mode
-l, --link
Link files instead of copying them, when possible.
Operation modifiers valid in copy-in and copy-out modes
--absolute-filenames
Do not strip file system prefix components from the file names. This is the default.
--no-absolute-filenames
Create all files relative to the current directory.
Operation modifiers valid in copy-out and copy-pass modes
-0, --null
Filenames in the list are delimited by null characters instead of newlines.
-a, --reset-access-time
Reset the access times of files after reading them.
-I [[USER@]HOST:]ARCHIVE-NAME
Use ARCHIVE-NAME instead of standard input. Optional USER and HOST specify the user and host names in case of
a remote archive.
The input archive name can be specified either using this option, or using -F (--file), but not both.
-L, --dereference
Dereference symbolic links (copy the files that they point to instead of copying the links).
Operation modifiers valid in copy-in and copy-pass modes
-d, --make-directories
Create leading directories where needed.
-m, --preserve-modification-time
Retain previous file modification times when creating files.
--no-preserve-owner
Do not change the ownership of the files.
--sparse
Write files with large blocks of zeros as sparse files.
-u, --unconditional
Replace all files unconditionally.
RETURN VALUE
GNU cpio exits with code 0 if it was able to successfully complete the requested operation. On errors, it exits with
code 2.
SEE ALSO
tar(1), rmt(8), mt(1).
BUG REPORTS
Report bugs to .
COPYRIGHT
Copyright © 2014--2023 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
License GPLv3+: GNU GPL version 3 or later
This is free software: you are free to change and redistribute it. There is NO WARRANTY, to the extent permitted by
law.
CPIO April 29, 2023 CPIO(1)