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I'd like to copy the modification and access times, but not the user ID. If I use

cp -p source target

It will copy everything.

I'm trying to copy files to a different user but keep the original dates intact.

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2 Answers 2

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6

From the cp manual of GNU coreutils:

-p same as --preserve=mode,ownership,timestamps

So, you are looking for

cp --preserve=mode,timestamps source target

But if you use some non-GNU operating system, you might not be able to use these long option with cp. In that case, you can give rsync a try, where you can specify in details which attributes should be preserved (search the man page for "preserve"):

    -H, --hard-links            preserve hard links
    -p, --perms                 preserve permissions
    -E, --executability         preserve executability
    -A, --acls                  preserve ACLs (implies -p)
    -X, --xattrs                preserve extended attributes
    -o, --owner                 preserve owner (super-user only)
    -g, --group                 preserve group
        --devices               preserve device files (super-user only)
        --specials              preserve special files
    -t, --times                 preserve modification times

So, to resemble the cp command above, use something like

rsync -pEt source target

To test the command beforehand, you can initiate a "dry-run" with -n. Add also the verbose parameter -v to see what's going on:

rsync -nv -pEt source target

However, I'm not sure, if the access time will be copied, too.

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  • Makes sense, but I'm (noobishly) not sure how to use the long options. I've been trying to test with something safer than cp ("ls --all") but I get an "illegal option" error.
    – Adam
    Oct 13, 2013 at 20:17
  • Are you using some non-GNU Un*x system? BSD for example? Honestly, I didn't paid too much attention to the flags in the question, so my answer applies to cp from the GNU coreutils. ls --all works there, too.
    – mpy
    Oct 13, 2013 at 20:31
  • I'm on a Mac using the Terminal application.
    – Adam
    Oct 13, 2013 at 20:38
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    Then, I think, your cp doesn't offer long options. I'll add an alternative possibility with rsync, perhaps that's an option for you.
    – mpy
    Oct 13, 2013 at 20:45
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    Or you could use one of the FOSS package managers for Mac OS and install GNU cp.
    – David Foerster
    Oct 13, 2013 at 23:27
1

I believe the ditto command preserves dates.

ditto src target

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1
  • This is the only solution that worked properly for me to preserve mtimes. When using cp -p..., or cp -p -r..., for some unknown reason, 4 out of 10 files preserved their mtime as expected, but the other 6 showed up with the copy time as the new mtime.
    – LOlliffe
    Aug 5, 2019 at 1:24

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