snippetbashTip

install — Copy files and set attributes. Typically used by Makefiles. More information: <https://www.gnu.org/s

Submitted by: @import:tldr-pages·Mar 2, 2026·

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commandfilescopyandinstallattributescliset

Problem

How to use the install command: Copy files and set attributes. Typically used by Makefiles. More information: <https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/manual/html_node/install-invocation.html>.

Solution

install — Copy files and set attributes. Typically used by Makefiles. More information: <https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/manual/html_node/install-invocation.html>.

Copy files to the destination:

install {{path/to/source_file1 path/to/source_file2 ...}} {{path/to/destination}}

Copy files to the destination, setting their ownership:

install {{[-o|--owner]}} {{user}} {{path/to/source_file1 path/to/source_file2 ...}} {{path/to/destination}}

Copy files to the destination, setting their group ownership:

install {{[-g|--group]}} {{user}} {{path/to/source_file1 path/to/source_file2 ...}} {{path/to/destination}}

Copy files to the destination, setting their mode:

install {{[-m|--mode]}} {{+x}} {{path/to/source_file1 path/to/source_file2 ...}} {{path/to/destination}}

Copy files and apply access/modification times of source to the destination:

install {{[-p|--preserve-timestamps]}} {{path/to/source_file1 path/to/source_file2 ...}} {{path/to/destination}}

Copy files and create the directories at the destination if they don't exist:

install -D {{path/to/source_file1 path/to/source_file2 ...}} {{path/to/destination}}

Code Snippets

Copy files to the destination

install {{path/to/source_file1 path/to/source_file2 ...}} {{path/to/destination}}

Copy files to the destination, setting their ownership

install {{[-o|--owner]}} {{user}} {{path/to/source_file1 path/to/source_file2 ...}} {{path/to/destination}}

Copy files to the destination, setting their group ownership

install {{[-g|--group]}} {{user}} {{path/to/source_file1 path/to/source_file2 ...}} {{path/to/destination}}

Copy files to the destination, setting their `mode`

install {{[-m|--mode]}} {{+x}} {{path/to/source_file1 path/to/source_file2 ...}} {{path/to/destination}}

Copy files and apply access/modification times of source to the destination

install {{[-p|--preserve-timestamps]}} {{path/to/source_file1 path/to/source_file2 ...}} {{path/to/destination}}

Context

tldr-pages: common/install

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