RCP(1c,C)                   AIX TCP/IP User s Guide                   RCP(1c,C)



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rcp



PURPOSE

Copies and transfers remote files.

SYNTAX


       +------+   +-- file1 --- file2 --------------+
rcp ---|      |---| +------+                        |---|
       +- -p -+   +-|      |--- file --- directory -+
                    +- -r -+ ^        |
                             +--------+


DESCRIPTION

The rcp command copies files between machines.  It is generally used to access
files outside your cluster.  Each file argument is either a local file name or
a remote file name.  The local file name must contain either no colon (:)
characters or a slash (/) before any colons.

The remote file name has the form:

  [[user name@]machine:] [pathname] file

You may specify a remote host, a particular user account on that host, a
pathname and a file name.  All but the file name are optional.  If user name is
specified, @machine: must be specified with it.

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

The rcp command does not prompt for passwords.  Ordinarily, your current local
user name must exist on rhost and must allow remote execution via rsh.  Also,
an .rhosts file must exist on rhost and it must contain the name of your local
host.

To transfer files to or from a remote machine that does not have a login for
your current local user name, there is an alternate form of the command.  The
following formats allow you to specify a different account name at the far end
of the connection:

  rcp name@machine:file file
  rcp file name@machine:file





Processed April 9, 1991            RCP(1c,C)                                  1






RCP(1c,C)                   AIX TCP/IP User s Guide                   RCP(1c,C)



The rcp command can also handle remote-to-remote copies, where neither the
source nor the target files are on the machine where rcp is expected to run.

A remote host name may be specified in the user@host format.  The remote user
name given can be different from the local user name.  The destination host
name may also take the form rhost.rname, to support hosts that are running
4.2BSD versions of rcp.

Note:  The command is confused by any output generated by commands in .cshrc in
the event that csh is the login shell of the remote machine.

FLAGS

The rcp command options are:

-p  Causes the rcp command to attempt to preserve (duplicate) in its copies the
    modification times and modes of the source files, ignoring the umask.

-r  Copies each subtree rooted, if any of the source files are directories.  By
    default, the mode and owner of file2 are preserved if it already existed.
    Otherwise, the mode of the source file modified by the umask on the
    destination host that is used.

EXAMPLES

  1. Remote-copy the file myfile.1 from the local host to the remote host named
    remote_host, and name the file myfile.2 on the remote host. Then copy the
    file myfile.2 from the remote host back to the local host.

      $ rcp myfile.1 remote_host:myfile.2
      $ rcp remote_host:myfile.2 myfile.3

  2. A user "John" logged into host6 can execute the following commands,
    provided that he has appropriate access privileges:

      $ rcp mary@host7:oldfile fred@host8:newfile
      $ rcp mary@host7:oldfile vax4_2bsd.fred:newfile

RELATED INFORMATION

In this book:
"ftp"
"rsh, remsh"
"rlogin"
".rhosts"
"hosts.equiv"
cp, refer to AIX Operating System Commands Reference








Processed April 9, 1991            RCP(1c,C)                                  2