Copyright Digital Equipment Corp. All rights reserved.
Qualifiers
/ALLOCATION
/ALLOCATION=number-of-blocks
Forces the initial allocation of the output file to the
specified number of 512-byte blocks. If you do not specify the
/ALLOCATION qualifier, or if you specify it without the number-
of-blocks parameter, the initial allocation of the output file is
determined by the size of the input file being copied.
/BACKUP
Modifies the time value specified with the /BEFORE or the
/SINCE qualifier. The /BACKUP qualifier selects files according
to the dates of their most recent backups. This qualifier
is incompatible with the /CREATED, /EXPIRED, and /MODIFIED
qualifiers, which also allow you to select files according
to time attributes. If you specify none of these four time
qualifiers, the default is the /CREATED qualifier.
/BEFORE
/BEFORE[=time]
Selects only those files dated prior to the specified time. You
can specify time as absolute time, as a combination of absolute
and delta times, or as one of the following keywords: BOOT,
LOGIN, TODAY (default), TOMORROW, or YESTERDAY. Specify one of
the following qualifiers with the /BEFORE qualifier to indicate
the time attribute to be used as the basis for selection:
/BACKUP, /CREATED (default), /EXPIRED, or /MODIFIED.
For complete information on specifying time values, see the
OpenVMS User's Manual or the online help topic Date.
/BLOCK_SIZE
/BLOCK_SIZE=n
Overrides the default block size (124) used by COPY. You can
specify a value in the range of 1 through 2**31-1.
/BY_OWNER
/BY_OWNER[=uic]
Selects only those files whose owner user identification code
(UIC) matches the specified owner UIC. The default UIC is that of
the current process.
Specify the UIC by using standard UIC format as described in the
VSI OpenVMS Guide to System Security.
/CONCATENATE
/CONCATENATE (default)
/NOCONCATENATE
Creates one output file from multiple input files when you do not
use the asterisk (*) or percent sign (%) wildcard characters
in the output file specification. The /NOCONCATENATE qualifier
generates multiple output files. A wildcard character in an input
file specification results in a single output file consisting
of the concatenation of all input files matching the file
specification.
Files from Files-11 On-Disk Structure Level 2 and 5 disks
are concatenated in alphanumeric order. If you specify an
asterisk (*) or percent sign (%) wildcard character in the file
version field, files are copied in descending order by version
number. Files from Files-11 On-Disk Structure Level 1 disks are
concatenated in random order.
/CONFIRM
/CONFIRM
/NOCONFIRM (default)
Controls whether a request is issued before each copy operation
to confirm that the operation should be performed on that file.
The following responses are valid:
YES NO QUIT
TRUE FALSE Ctrl/Z
1 0 ALL
<Return>
You can use any combination of uppercase and lowercase letters
for word responses. You can abbreviate word responses to one or
more letters (for example, T, TR, or TRU for TRUE), but these
abbreviations must be unique. Affirmative answers are YES, TRUE,
and 1. Negative answers include: NO, FALSE, 0, and pressing
Return. Entering QUIT or pressing Ctrl/Z indicates that you want
to stop processing the command at that point. When you respond by
entering ALL, the command continues to process but no further
prompts are given. If you type a response other than one of
those in the list, DCL issues an error message and redisplays
the prompt.
/CONTIGUOUS
/CONTIGUOUS
/NOCONTIGUOUS
Specifies that the output file must occupy contiguous physical
disk blocks. By default, the COPY command creates an output file
in the same format as the corresponding input file. Also, by
default, if not enough space exists for a contiguous allocation,
the COPY command does not report an error. If you copy multiple
input files of different formats, the output file may or may not
be contiguous. You can use the /CONTIGUOUS qualifier to ensure
that files are copied contiguously.
The /CONTIGUOUS qualifier has no effect when you copy files to
or from tapes because the size of the file on tape cannot be
determined until after it is copied to the disk. If you copy a
file from a tape and want the file to be contiguous, use the COPY
command twice: once to copy the file from the tape, and a second
time to create a contiguous file.
/CREATED
/CREATED (default)
Modifies the time value specified with the /BEFORE or the /SINCE
qualifier. The /CREATED qualifier selects files based on their
dates of creation. This qualifier is incompatible with the
/BACKUP, /EXPIRED, and /MODIFIED qualifiers, which also allow
you to select files according to time attributes. If you specify
none of these four time qualifiers, the default is the /CREATED
qualifier.
/EXCLUDE
/EXCLUDE=(filespec[,...])
Excludes the specified files from the copy operation. You can
include a directory but not a device in the file specification.
The asterisk (*) and the percent sign (%) wildcard characters
are allowed in the file specification; however, you cannot use
relative version numbers to exclude a specific version. If you
specify only one file, you can omit the parentheses.
/EXPIRED
Modifies the time value specified with the /BEFORE or the /SINCE
qualifier. The /EXPIRED qualifier selects files according to
their expiration dates. (The expiration date is set with the
SET FILE/EXPIRATION_DATE command.) The /EXPIRED qualifier
is incompatible with the /BACKUP, /CREATED, and /MODIFIED
qualifiers, which also allow you to select files according
to time attributes. If you specify none of these four time
qualifiers, the default is the /CREATED qualifier.
/EXTENSION
/EXTENSION=n
Specifies the number of blocks to be added to the output
file each time the file is extended. If you do not specify
the /EXTENSION qualifier, the extension attribute of the
corresponding input file determines the default extension
attribute of the output file.
/LOG
/LOG
/NOLOG (default)
Controls whether the COPY command displays the file
specifications of each file copied.
When you use the /LOG qualifier, the COPY command displays the
following for each copy operation:
o The file specifications of the input and output files
o The number of blocks or the number of records copied
(depending on whether the file is copied on a block-by-block
or record-by-record basis)
o The total number of new files created
/MODIFIED
Modifies the time value specified with the /BEFORE or the /SINCE
qualifier. The /MODIFIED qualifier selects files according to
the dates on which they were last modified. This qualifier
is incompatible with the /BACKUP, /CREATED, and /EXPIRED
qualifiers, which also allow you to select files according
to time attributes. If you specify none of these four time
modifiers, the default is the /CREATED qualifier.
/OVERLAY
/OVERLAY
/NOOVERLAY (default)
Requests that data in the input file be copied into the existing
specified file, overlaying the existing data, rather than
allocating new space for the file. The physical location of
the file on disk does not change; however, for RMS indexed and
relative files, if the output file has fewer blocks allocated
than the input file, the copy fails giving an RMS-E-EOF error.
The /OVERLAY qualifier is ignored if the output file is written
to a non-file-structured device.
/PROTECTION
/PROTECTION=(ownership[:access][,...])
Specifies protection for the output file.
o Specify the ownership parameter as system (S), owner (O),
group (G), or world (W).
o Specify the access parameter as read (R), write (W), execute
(E), or delete (D).
The default protection, including any protection attributes not
specified, is that of the existing output file. If no output file
exists, the current default protection applies.
For more information on specifying protection codes, see the VSI
OpenVMS Guide to System Security.
/READ_CHECK
/READ_CHECK
/NOREAD_CHECK (default)
Reads each record in the input files twice to verify that it has
been read correctly.
/REPLACE
/REPLACE
/NOREPLACE (default)
Requests that, if a file exists with the same file specification
as that entered for the output file, the existing file is to
be deleted. The COPY command allocates new space for the output
file. In general, when you use the /REPLACE qualifier, include
version numbers with the file specifications. By default, the
COPY command creates a new version of a file if a file with
that specification exists, incrementing the version number. The
/NOREPLACE qualifier signals an error when a conflict in version
numbers occurs.
/SINCE
/SINCE[=time]
Selects only those files dated on or after the specified time.
You can specify time as absolute time, as combination of absolute
and delta times, or as one of the following keywords: BOOT,
JOB_LOGIN, LOGIN, TODAY (default), TOMORROW, or YESTERDAY.
Specify one of the following qualifiers with the /SINCE qualifier
to indicate the time attribute to be used as the basis for
selection: /BACKUP, /CREATED (default), /EXPIRED, or /MODIFIED.
For complete information about specifying time values, see the
OpenVMS User's Manual or the online help topic Date.
/STYLE
/STYLE=keyword
Specifies the file name format for display purposes.
The valid keywords for this qualifier are CONDENSED and EXPANDED.
Descriptions are as follows:
Keyword Explanation
CONDENSED Displays the file name representation of what is
(default) generated to fit into a 255-length character string.
This file name may contain a DID or FID abbreviation
in the file specification.
EXPANDED Displays the file name representation of what is
stored on disk. This file name does not contain any
DID or FID abbreviations.
The keywords CONDENSED and EXPANDED are mutually exclusive. This
qualifier specifies which file name format is displayed in the
output message, along with the confirmation if requested.
File errors are displayed with the CONDENSED file specification
unless the EXPANDED keyword is specified.
See the OpenVMS User's Manual for more information.
/SYMLINK
/SYMLINK=keyword
/NOSYMLINK (default)
If the input file is a symbolic link, the file to which the
symbolic link refers is the file that is copied.
The /SYMLINK qualifier indicates that any input symbolic link is
copied.
If the file named in the command is a symlink, the command
operates on the symlink target. The valid keywords for this
qualifier are [NO]WILDCARD and [NO]ELLIPSIS. Descriptions are
as follows:
Keyword Explanation
NOWILDCARD Indicates that symlinks are disabled during directory
wildcard searches.
WILDCARD Indicates that symlinks are enabled during wildcard
searches.
NOELLIPSIS Indicates that symlinks are matched for all wildcard
fields except for ellipsis.
ELLIPSIS Equivalent to WILDCARD (included for command
symmetry).
/TRUNCATE
/TRUNCATE (default)
/NOTRUNCATE
Controls whether the COPY command truncates an output file at
the end-of-file (EOF) when copying it. This operation can only be
used with sequential files.
By default, the actual size of the input file determines the size
of the output file. If you select /NOTRUNCATE, the allocation of
the input file determines the size of the output file.
/VOLUME
/VOLUME=n
Places the output file on the specified relative volume number of
a multivolume set. By default, the COPY command places the output
file arbitrarily in a multivolume set.
/WRITE_CHECK
/WRITE_CHECK
/NOWRITE_CHECK (default)
Reads each record in the output file after it is written to
verify that the record copied successfully and that the file
can be read subsequently without error.
NOTE
Some hardware devices, such as TK50 tape drives, verify data
integrity as part of their hardware function. For devices
such as these, you do not need to use /WRITE_CHECK. For
information about which devices provide automatic write
checking, consult your hardware documentation.