Uses shell expansion to create a back-up called file.txt.bak
Remember to backup everything before changing it so you can restore all to normal.
Utilizes shell expansion of {} to give the original filename and a new filename as arguments to `cp`. Can easily be extended to make multiple copies. Show Sample Output
This inserts timestamp instead of .bak extension.
Use shell expansion to create a back-up copy (file.txt.bak) of a file (file.txt) and keep the original last modified date and time.
Any thoughts on this command? Does it work on your machine? Can you do the same thing with only 14 characters?
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$ cp -bfS.bak filename filename
could be shortened to$ cp -bfS.bak filename{,}
...and if you don't mind the default backup suffix (~), it could be even shorter:$ cp -bf filename{,}
Personally, when doing backups, I prefer to throw in the -a flag, so:$ cp -abf filename{,}