cp (copy files and directories) in Linux CLI - Practice Problems & Coding Challenges

Challenge - 5 Problems

💻 Command Output

intermediate

What is the output of this cp command?

You have a file named file1.txt with content Hello. You run the command cp file1.txt file2.txt. What will be the content of file2.txt after this command?

A file2.txt will contain the text 'Hello'

B file2.txt will be empty

C file2.txt will contain the text 'file1.txt'

D The command will fail with an error

💡 Hint

Think about what the cp command does when copying a file.

The cp command copies the content of the source file to the destination file. So file2.txt will have the same content as file1.txt, which is 'Hello'.

💻 Command Output

intermediate

What happens when copying a directory without -r?

You have a directory named dir1 containing files. You run cp dir1 dir2 without any options. What will happen?

A dir1 is renamed to dir2

B The directory dir1 and its contents are copied to dir2

C dir2 is created as an empty directory

D An error occurs saying 'omitting directory dir1'

💡 Hint

cp needs a special option to copy directories.

Without the -r (recursive) option, cp cannot copy directories and will show an error 'omitting directory dir1'.

📝 Syntax

advanced

Which cp command copies directory contents but not the directory itself?

You want to copy all files and subdirectories inside source_dir into target_dir without creating source_dir inside target_dir. Which command does this?

A cp -r source_dir/* target_dir

B cp source_dir target_dir

C cp -r source_dir target_dir

D cp -r target_dir source_dir

💡 Hint

Using a wildcard copies contents inside the directory.

Using source_dir/* copies all contents inside source_dir into target_dir, without copying the source_dir folder itself.

🚀 Application

advanced

How to copy files preserving attributes and showing progress?

You want to copy a large file bigfile.iso to /backup preserving all file attributes (timestamps, permissions) and see progress during copy. Which cp command should you use?

A cp bigfile.iso /backup

B cp -pv bigfile.iso /backup

C cp -r bigfile.iso /backup

D cp -p bigfile.iso /backup

💡 Hint

Look for options that preserve attributes and show verbose output.

The -p option preserves file attributes, and -v shows progress (verbose). So -pv together copies with attributes and shows progress.

🔧 Debug

expert

Why does this cp command fail with 'No such file or directory'?

You run the command cp -r /home/user/docs/* /backup/docs but get the error cp: cannot stat '/home/user/docs/*': No such file or directory. What is the most likely cause?

A The /backup/docs directory does not exist

B The cp command does not support wildcards

C The shell did not expand the wildcard because the directory is empty

D You need to use sudo to copy files

💡 Hint

Think about what happens if the wildcard matches no files.

If the source directory is empty, the shell does not expand the wildcard, so cp tries to copy the literal string '*', which does not exist, causing the error.