Unix "cp -p". Can I preserve attributes selectively?

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.

2 Answers

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.

I believe the ditto command preserves dates.

ditto src target