diff --git a/src/nix/copy.cc b/src/nix/copy.cc
index 2ddea9e70..f29429c1a 100644
--- a/src/nix/copy.cc
+++ b/src/nix/copy.cc
@@ -57,15 +57,15 @@ struct CmdCopy : StorePathsCommand
         return {
             Example{
                 "To copy Firefox from the local store to a binary cache in file:///tmp/cache:",
-                "nix copy --to file:///tmp/cache -r $(type -p firefox)"
+                "nix copy --to file:///tmp/cache $(type -p firefox)"
             },
             Example{
                 "To copy the entire current NixOS system closure to another machine via SSH:",
-                "nix copy --to ssh://server -r /run/current-system"
+                "nix copy --to ssh://server /run/current-system"
             },
             Example{
                 "To copy a closure from another machine via SSH:",
-                "nix copy --from ssh://server -r /nix/store/a6cnl93nk1wxnq84brbbwr6hxw9gp2w9-blender-2.79-rc2"
+                "nix copy --from ssh://server /nix/store/a6cnl93nk1wxnq84brbbwr6hxw9gp2w9-blender-2.79-rc2"
             },
         };
     }