NAME
cpio - copy file archives in and out

SYNOPSIS
cpio -o[ aBcv ]
cpio -i[ BbcdfmrSstuv6 ] [ patterns ]
cpio -p[ adlmruv ] directory

DESCRIPTION
cpio-o (copy out) reads the standard input to obtain a list of path
names and copies those files onto the standard output together with
path name and status information. Output is padded to a 512-byte
boundary.

cpio-i (copy in) extracts files from the standard input, which is
assumed to be the product of a previous cpio-o. Only files with
names that match patterns are selected. Patterns are given in the
name-generating notation of sh(1). In patterns, meta-characters
’?’, ’*’, and ’[...]’ also match the slash ’/’ character. Multiple
patterns may be specified and if there are none, the default is *
(i.e., select all files). The extracted files are conditionally
created and copied into the current directory tree based upon the
options described below. The permissions of the files will be
those of the previous cpio-o. The owner and group of the files
will be that of the current user unless the user is super-user,
which causes cpio to retain the owner and group of the files of the
previous cpio-o.

cpio-p (pass) reads the standard input to obtain a list of path
names of files that are conditionally created and copied into the
destination directory tree based upon the options described below.

The meanings of the available options are:

a Reset access times of input files after they have been copied.

B Input/output is to be blocked 5,120 bytes to the record.

b Swap both bytes and halfwords. Use only with the -i option.

c Write header information in ASCII character form for
portability.

d Directories are to be created as needed.

f Copy in all files except those in patterns.

l Whenever possible, link files rather than copying them.
Usable only with the -p option.

m Retain previous file modification time. This option is
ineffective on directories that are being copied.

r Interactively rename files. If the user types a null line,
the files is skipped.

S Swap halfwords. Use only with the -i option.

s Swap bytes. Use only with the -i option.

t Print a table of contents of the input. No files are created.

u Copy unconditionally (normally, an older file will not replace
a newer file with the same name).

v Verbose: causes a list of file names to be printed. When used
with the t option, the table of contents looks like the output
of an ls -l command (see ls(1)).

6 Process an old (i.e., UNIX System Sixth Edition format) file.
Only useful with -i (copy in).

EXAMPLES
The first example below copies the contents of a directory into an
archive; the second duplicates a directory hierarchy:

ls | cpio -o >/dev/rmt/0m

cd olddir
find . -depth -print | cpio -pdl newdir

The trivial case
"find . -depth -print | cpio -oB >/dev/fmt/0m"
can be handled more efficiently by:
find . -cpio /dev/rmt/0m