How to copy or move files without being asked to overwrite?

shell alias cp

104,808

Solution 1

For force overwrite without asking you should use the command mv and the option "-f", use man to see the options.

man mv:

   -f, --force
          do not prompt before overwriting

Example:

mv -f test.tmp test.txt

Solution 2

cp appears to be either aliased to something which is causing problems, or it is a function. You can remove the alias/function:

unalias cp
unset -f cp

If you'd rather just override it right now, you can use the command command to override any alias/function definitions:

command cp [...]

If you'd rather totally remove this, you probably have to look in your bash startup files.

Solution 3

You probably have an alias for cp. You can override this alias by doing:

\cp -f hello /home3

This has the adventage of not modifying your aliases setup, as it is overriding it just for this call.

Solution 4

Try cp -rv /sourcefileordirectory /Destinationfolder

View more solutions

104,808

user2935706

Updated on September 18, 2022

Comments

user2935706 almost 2 years

What I've tried:

root@host [/home1]# cp -f hello /home3
cp: omitting directory `hello'
root@host [/home1]# cp -rf hello /home3
cp: overwrite `/home3/hello/.buildpath'? y
cp: overwrite `/home3/hello/.bash_logout'? y
cp: overwrite `/home3/hello/.project'? ^C

They always ask me whether I want to overwrite. Using mv doesn't work either. So what should I do?

Other things I tried:

root@host [/home1]# cp -rf hello /home3
cp: overwrite `/home3/hello/.buildpath'? y
cp: overwrite `/home3/hello/.bash_logout'? y
cp: overwrite `/home3/hello/.project'? ^C
root@host [/home1]# cp -force hello /home3
cp: invalid option -- 'o'
Try `cp --help' for more information.
root@host [/home1]# cp --remove-destination hello /home4
cp: omitting directory `hello'
root@host [/home1]# cp --remove-destination hello /home3
cp: omitting directory `hello'
root@host [/home1]# cp --remove-destination -r hello /home3
cp: overwrite `/home3/hello/.buildpath'? ^C
root@host [/home1]#

Raphael Ahrens almost 11 years

Could you give the output of alias cp?
user almost 11 years

Also, type cp as well as ls -l on one of the target files may provide useful information.
user2935706 almost 11 years

cp is copy. Okay it may be an alias. So what's the command?

sendmoreinfo almost 11 years

\cp will also avoid the alias.
user2935706 almost 11 years

will t his work? What does -rv mean?
JNat over 9 years

-rv means recursive and verbose. So this should copy the files and subfolders, and output the progress to the terminal.
Gerry about 9 years

Yup, you are correct which cp => alias cp='cp -i; /bin/cp. Thanks Amazon!