# Cp -n command **URL:** \ **Category:** UNIX for Beginners Q & A\ **Created:** [June 24, 2018, 11:05pm UTC](https://community.unix.com/t/cp-n-command/372899 "2018-06-24T23:05:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![zam](https://community.unix.com/letter_avatar/zam/32/6_22734026db12803ebb3e059622ac3534.png) [@zam](https://community.unix.com/u/zam)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2018, 11:05pm UTC](https://community.unix.com/t/cp-n-command/372899/1 "2018-06-24T23:05:10Z")
I would like to find a substitute cp -n command in HP-UX ```nohighlight cp -n -n, --no-clobber ``` ``` do not overwrite an existing file \(overrides a previous -i option\) ``` Thanks ---------- Post updated at 12:35 PM ---------- Previous update was at 11:54 AM ---------- I could not find this info in man pages and yes I can write a function to do this but thought to ask in case I missed something ---
**Author:** ![rbatte1](https://community.unix.com/letter_avatar/rbatte1/32/6_22734026db12803ebb3e059622ac3534.png) [@rbatte1](https://community.unix.com/u/rbatte1)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2018, 3:45am UTC](https://community.unix.com/t/cp-n-command/372899/2 "2018-06-25T03:45:11Z")
Would you like to switch on `-n` by default or prevent it working at all? I'm not sure which way round you mean. Perhaps you have scripts that use it, but it doesn't work on HP-UX and you want your scripts to be portable. Is that what you are saying? Sorry for being confused. Robin ---
**Author:** ![zam](https://community.unix.com/letter_avatar/zam/32/6_22734026db12803ebb3e059622ac3534.png) [@zam](https://community.unix.com/u/zam)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2018, 5:12am UTC](https://community.unix.com/t/cp-n-command/372899/3 "2018-06-25T05:12:16Z")
Hi, thanks to reply, I meant that I would prefer to use cp -n option or similar switch on HP-UX if there is one as I did it on Linux. But I could not find it on HP-UX. I thought maybe there is something similar that I am just don't know of. I am just saying that if there is nothing like that on HP-UX I will write a small script for that. And it's not a an issue. Thanks again Cheers ---
**Author:** ![achenle](https://community.unix.com/letter_avatar/achenle/32/6_22734026db12803ebb3e059622ac3534.png) [@achenle](https://community.unix.com/u/achenle)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2018, 8:14am UTC](https://community.unix.com/t/cp-n-command/372899/4 "2018-06-25T08:14:43Z")
"cp -n" is a GNU extension to the [POSIX standard "cp" utility](http://pubs.opengroup.org/onlinepubs/9699919799/utilities/cp.html). As it's a platform-specific, non-standard extension, it's not necessarily going to be available on other, non-GNU platforms. ---
**Author:** ![MadeInGermany](https://community.unix.com/letter_avatar/madeingermany/32/6_22734026db12803ebb3e059622ac3534.png) [@MadeInGermany](https://community.unix.com/u/MadeInGermany)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2018, 1:22pm UTC](https://community.unix.com/t/cp-n-command/372899/5 "2018-06-25T13:22:08Z")
You can try the trick ```nohighlight cp -i ... < /dev/null ``` ---
**Author:** ![wbport](https://community.unix.com/letter_avatar/wbport/32/6_22734026db12803ebb3e059622ac3534.png) [@wbport](https://community.unix.com/u/wbport)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2018, 2:05pm UTC](https://community.unix.com/t/cp-n-command/372899/6 "2018-06-25T14:05:23Z")
If the output file doesn't exist, you are good to go. \* If the output is a directory, check it for the presence of your input file. \* - Possible extra check: do you have execute and write permissions in the current or target directory? ---
**Author:** ![RudiC](https://community.unix.com/letter_avatar/rudic/32/6_22734026db12803ebb3e059622ac3534.png) [@RudiC](https://community.unix.com/u/RudiC)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2018, 2:35pm UTC](https://community.unix.com/t/cp-n-command/372899/7 "2018-06-25T14:35:46Z")
> [@madeingermany](#): > > You can try the trick > > ```plaintext > cp -i ... < /dev/null > > ``` Very nifty trick! You might want to suppress the confirmation question as well: ```plaintext cp -i . . . /dev/null ``` EDIT: or even `cp -i . . . &0` ? ---
**Author:** ![zam](https://community.unix.com/letter_avatar/zam/32/6_22734026db12803ebb3e059622ac3534.png) [@zam](https://community.unix.com/u/zam)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2018, 3:38am UTC](https://community.unix.com/t/cp-n-command/372899/8 "2018-06-26T03:38:52Z")
Thank everyone you for your replies, yes it works! ---------- Post updated at 05:08 PM ---------- Previous update was at 05:07 PM ---------- I used this one as it suppresses all output cp -i . . . \&0