Some issues with the cp command

ankiiit · 12-14-2011, 10:47 PM

Dear Mentors,

Please brief me about the following :-

1) When I try the following command:-

cp -r /etc/pa* ./abc

note:- abc is not existent at this point

I get the error abc is not a directory.

but when i try the following command it works.

cp -r /etc ./abc

I am confused, why the first command isn't working.

Any help in this regard would be appreciated.

Thanks in Advance
Ankit

Cedrik · 12-15-2011, 06:18 AM

In first command you tell cp to copy /etc/pa* files, dirs into ./abc
In second command you tell cp to copy /etc as ./abc

man cp

Code:

DESCRIPTION
       Copy SOURCE to DEST, or multiple SOURCE(s) to DIRECTORY.

XavierP · 12-17-2011, 07:56 AM

Moved: This thread is more suitable in Linux-General and has been moved accordingly to help your thread/question get the exposure it deserves.