rcp(1)                    User Commands                    rcp(1)



NAME
     rcp - remote file copy

SYNOPSIS
     rcp [ -p ] filename1 filename2
     rcp [ -pr ] filename...directory

AVAILABILITY
     SUNWcsu

DESCRIPTION
     The  rcp  command  copies  files  between  machines.    Each
     filename  or directory argument is either a remote file name
     of the form:

          hostname:path

     or a local file name (containing no :  characters,  or  a  /
     before any : characters).

     If a filename is not a full path  name,  it  is  interpreted
     relative  to  your  home directory on hostname.  A path on a
     remote host may be quoted (using \, ", or  ')  so  that  the
     metacharacters are interpreted remotely.

     rcp does not prompt for passwords; your current  local  user
     name  must exist on hostname and allow remote command execu-
     tion by rsh(1).

     rcp handles third party copies,  where  neither  source  nor
     target files are on the current machine.  Hostnames may also
     take the form

          username@hostname:filename

     to use username rather than your current local user name  as
     the  user name on the remote host.  rcp also supports Inter-
     net domain addressing of the remote host, so that:

          username@host.domain:filename

     specifies the username to be used,  the  hostname,  and  the
     domain  in  which that host resides.  Filenames that are not
     full path names will be interpreted  relative  to  the  home
     directory of the user named username, on the remote host.

OPTIONS
     -p    Attempt to give each copy the same modification times,
          access times, and modes as the original file.

     -r    Copy each subtree rooted at filename; in this case the
          destination must be a directory.

FILES
     $HOME/.profile

SEE ALSO
     cpio(1), ftp(1), rlogin(1), rsh(1), tar(1), hosts.equiv(4)

NOTES
     rcp is meant to copy between different hosts; attempting  to
     rcp a file onto itself, as with:

          rcp tmp/file myhost:/tmp/file

     results in a severely corrupted file.

     rcp may not correctly fail when the target of a  copy  is  a
     file instead of a directory.

     rcp can become confused by output generated by commands in a
     $HOME/.profile on the remote host.

     rcp requires that the source host have permission to execute
     commands on the remote host when doing third-party copies.

     rcp does not properly handle symbolic links.  Use  tar  (see
     tar(1))  or cpio (see cpio(1)) piped to rsh to obtain remote
     copies of directories containing  symbolic  links  or  named
     pipes.

     If you forget  to  quote  metacharacters  intended  for  the
     remote host you get an incomprehensible error message.


SunOS 5.4           Last change: 22 Mar 1994