CompTIA Linux+ XK0-006 (V8) Practice Question

The -a (archive) option is defined as the shorthand for -dR --preserve=all. That means it:

• Recurses through directories (the same effect as -R).
• Copies symbolic links as links rather than the files they point to (-d / --no-dereference).
• Preserves every attribute that cp can, including mode, ownership, timestamps, extended attributes and SELinux contexts ( --preserve=all ).

None of the other command lines meet every requirement:

• -r alone is only recursive; it does not preserve ownership, permissions or contexts.
• -Rpv is recursive and preserves mode/ownership/timestamps, but -p does not include SELinux contexts, and -R without -d will still copy links correctly yet lacks the context preservation the question demands.
• -Lra forces dereferencing of symbolic links because of -L, so links would become regular files, violating the requirement.

Therefore the only command that fulfils every condition is the one that uses cp -a.