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Does cp command have any option to overwrite the destination file which is a symbolic link?
The problem is as follows:
[dthnguyen@dthnguyen test]$ ls -l total 8 -rw-rw-r--. 1 dthnguyen dthnguyen 5 Feb 21 09:07 a.txt lrwxrwxrwx. 1 dthnguyen dthnguyen 7 Feb 21 08:55 b.txt -> ./a.txt -rw-rw-r--. 1 dthnguyen dthnguyen 5 Feb 21 08:55 c.txt [dthnguyen@dthnguyen test]$ cp c.txt b.txt After do the copy, a.txt has the content of c.txt, b.txt still links to a.txt. The expected result is a.txt holds the old content, b.txt is a new regular file that has the same content as c.txt.
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Overwriting Symlinks If you try to create a symbolic link that already exists , the ln command will print an error message. To overwrite the destination path of the symlink, use the -f ( --force ) option.
By default, cp will overwrite files without asking. If the destination file name already exists, its data is destroyed. If you want to be prompted for confirmation before files are overwritten, use the -i (interactive) option.
Usually, when you run a cp command, it overwrites the destination file(s) or directory as shown. To run cp in interactive mode so that it prompts you before overwriting an existing file or directory, use the -i flag as shown.
To remove a symbolic link, use either the rm or unlink command followed by the name of the symlink as an argument. When removing a symbolic link that points to a directory do not append a trailing slash to the symlink name.
Tell cp to remove it first.
cp --remove-destination c.txt b.txt If you love us? You can donate to us via Paypal or buy me a coffee so we can maintain and grow! Thank you!
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