Copy files in from, or out to, an archive that can be on a storage medium such as tape or a file on the disk.
cpio [-icdv]
pattern
cpio [-ocBv]
pattern
cpio [-padm]
pattern
-i extracts files whose names match the pattern.
-o copies files to archive files whose names are provided on standard input.
-p copies files to another directory on the same system.
-a resets access times of input files.
-B copies files using 5,120 bytes per record (the default is 512 bytes per record).
-c reads or writes header information as ASCII characters.
-d creates directories as needed.
-m retains the previous file-modification time.
-v prints a list of filenames.
The
cpio command copies files in from, and out to, archives. There are three distinct variants of the
cpio command:
cpio -o creates an archive,
cpio -i extracts from an archive, and
cpio -p copies from one directory to another.
cpio is not that popular among Linux users;
tar is much more commonly used. However, some installation programs use
cpio during the installation process.