'install' command: copy files while changing permissions and owners

Table of Contents

• Basic usage
• Parameters

The ‘install’ command allows to copy files and set attributes to the copied files using a very straightforward syntax.

Basic usage

Copy from <SOURCE> to <TARGET>:

install <SOURCE> <TARGET>

install file1 file2

By default, install set the following permissions on the copied file: rwxr-xr-x or 755. Check the following section to know how to change that. <TARGET> can be a directory or a file.

Parameters

You need root permissions to change some file attributes (like the owner).

• -m <permissions>: set file permissions (using a numeric code).

  install -m 600 file1 out/file2

• -o <owner>: set the file owner.
• -g <group>: set the file group.

  install -m 600 -o ricardo -g ricardo file1 file2

• -p: preserve timestamps.

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