cp : short way of copying

Question

I don't remember exactly but there was either cp or mv command which I was able to do something like this with:

cp file{.cpp, .cpp.org}

Which would copy file.cpp and make a copy named file.cpp.org. Any suggestions?

Answer 1

This is a property of the shell, and not a property of the command itself. Check for more info: http://wiki.bash-hackers.org/syntax/expansion/brace

On the command line,

file{.cpp,.cpp.org}

will always expand to

file.cpp file.cpp.org

In your example, it would be shorter to just type

file.cpp{,.org}