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{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"DiscussionForumPosting","headline":"Inconsistency in fs.cp operation","articleBody":"In the `fs.cp...` API, we have options such as `errorOnExist` and `force` that are intended to control what happens when the destination already exists. There is, however, a discrepancy in how the options are implemented depending on whether the src/dest are files or directories.\n\nFor instance, let's suppose we have the following directory layout:\n\n```\n~/tmp\n    | -- ~/tmp/a (file)\n    | -- ~/tmp/b (file)\n    | -- ~/tmp/c (directory)\n    |            | -- /tmp/c/1 (file)\n    | -- ~/tmp/d (directory)\n                 | -- /tmp/d/2 (file)\n```\n\nThen, in the `fs.cp` operation, let's first try copying a to b, with options `errorOnExist: true` and `force: false` we get the appropriate error indicating that the destination exists and we're not going to overwrite it:\n\n```js\n\u003e fs.cp('a', 'b', { errorOnExist: true, force: false }, console.log)\nundefined\n\u003e SystemError [ERR_FS_CP_EEXIST]: Target already exists: cp returned EEXIST (b already exists) b\n    at mayCopyFile (node:internal/fs/cp/cp:250:11)\n    at onFile (node:internal/fs/cp/cp:242:10)\n    at getStatsForCopy (node:internal/fs/cp/cp:211:12) {\n  code: 'ERR_FS_CP_EEXIST',\n  info: {\n    message: 'b already exists',\n    path: 'b',\n    syscall: 'cp',\n    errno: 17,\n    code: 'EEXIST'\n  },\n  errno: [Getter/Setter: 17],\n  syscall: [Getter/Setter: 'cp'],\n  path: [Getter/Setter: 'b']\n}\n```\n\nHowever, if we try copying c to d, with options `errorOnExist: true` and `force: false`, we happily go ahead and copy contents of 'c' over to 'd', erroring only if one of the individual files in d overlaps with a file in c\n\n```js\n\u003e fs.cp('c', 'd', { recursive: true, errorOnExist: true, force: false }, console.log)\nundefined\n\u003e null undefined\n```\n\nThis just feels wrong. `d` already exists and we're being told not to force. I would expect the behavior to be the same as copying the files. If `d` exists, this operation should fail.\n\nI don't think we can change this behavior now without it being semver-major and potentially breaking a lot of things but we really ought to have an option of enforcing that no copy is performed if `d` exists.\n\n@nodejs/fs @anonrig @dario-piotrowicz ","author":{"url":"https://github.com/jasnell","@type":"Person","name":"jasnell"},"datePublished":"2025-07-03T16:02:20.000Z","interactionStatistic":{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":"https://schema.org/CommentAction","userInteractionCount":2},"url":"https://github.com/58947/node/issues/58947"}