cp Target is not a directory

Posted 2022-04-25 林散

"Target is not a directory" is a cp error. It happens when you have three or more arguments, and the last argument is an existing filesystem object that isn't a directory!

Of course

cp a b

works if b is a regular file, and not a directory. b is simply replaced with a. But

cp a b c

means make a copy of a and b inside directory c.