Unix Terminal error - “cp: the -R and -r options may not be specified together.”

Question

I have bash script running on os-x unix with above command:

cp -avr source destination

The result is following error:

cp: the -R and -r options may not be specified together.

When I remove the a flag it works OK without errors.

Why and what is the meaning of this error?

Thanks,

Answer 1

Have a look at man page for cp :

-a, --archive same as -d R --preserve=all

-R, -r , --recursive copy directories recursively

So by specifying -a , you basically say:

cp -dRvr --preserve=all source destination

You have both -R and -r , and since those two are same, it warns you. To fix that, just remove -r :

cp -av source destination