up vote 2 down vote favorite
share [g+] share [fb]

Does anyone know how I would turn off the interactive mode when using cp?

I am trying to copy a directory recursively into another and for each file that is getting overwritten I have to answer 'y'.

The command I am using is:

cp -r /usr/share/drupal-update/* /usr/share/drupal

But I get asked to confirm each overwrite:

cp: overwrite `./CHANGELOG.txt'? y  
cp: overwrite `./COPYRIGHT.txt'? y  
cp: overwrite `./INSTALL.mysql.txt'? y  
cp: overwrite `./INSTALL.pgsql.txt'? y  
...

I am using ubuntu server version jaunty.
Thanks!

link|improve this question
Removing the alias is typically "unalias". It is also a bad idea to change the question, as the answers no longer makes sense. – pehrs Mar 6 '10 at 18:26
I agree that it is a bad idea to change the question - but the question was never changed - I just added tags. – Faisal Vali Apr 17 '10 at 2:49
feedback

3 Answers

up vote 6 down vote accepted

Execute:

alias cp

and see if cp has been aliased to "cp -i"

In that case run: 

\cp -r /usr/share/drupal-update/* /usr/share/drupal

to ignore the alias

link|improve this answer
Thanks - that did it :) – Faisal Vali Mar 6 '10 at 17:11
I would suggest finding where the alias was made and removing it... hopefully they put it in a local file. This hand holding is on my reasons for not using *buntu – xenoterracide Aug 3 '10 at 6:11
feedback
up vote 3 down vote

cp -f will not ask for confirmation (that's force) So do 

cp -fr /usr/share/drupal-update/* /usr/share/drupal
link|improve this answer
cp -fr is still asking for confirmation :( – Faisal Vali Mar 6 '10 at 16:18
--remove-destination maybe? – TonyUser Mar 6 '10 at 16:26
--remove-destination can indeed help in that case. It's typically an access rights problem if it's needed. – pehrs Mar 6 '10 at 16:34
feedback
up vote 0 down vote

Personally I'm such a huge fan of rsync that I tend to use it even when copying files around locally. OK, not when I have only a simple copy operation ahead, but during larger transfers, yes.

Why? Because rsync has great versatility when it comes to recursive transfers, dry runs, including/excluding, preserving various permissions, continuing interrupted operations and so on.

link|improve this answer
feedback

Your Answer

 
or
required, but never shown

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.