How can I copy a file on Unix using C?

Question

I\'m looking for the Unix equivalent of Win32\'s CopyFile, I don\'t want to reinvent the wheel by writing my own version.

Answer 1

sprintf( cmd, "/bin/cp -p \'%s\' \'%s\'", old, new);

system( cmd);

Add some error checks...

Otherwise, open both and loop on read/write, but probably not what you want.

...

UPDATE to address valid security concerns:

Rather than using "system()", do a fork/wait, and call execv() or execl() in the child.

execl( "/bin/cp", "-p", old, new);