diff --git a/src/cp/cp.rs b/src/cp/cp.rs
index c4e49a600..c0c2babd2 100644
--- a/src/cp/cp.rs
+++ b/src/cp/cp.rs
@@ -579,7 +579,7 @@ impl Options {
         let recursive = matches.is_present(OPT_RECURSIVE) || matches.is_present(OPT_RECURSIVE_ALIAS)
             || matches.is_present(OPT_ARCHIVE);
 
-        let backup = matches.is_present(OPT_BACKUP) || matches.is_present(OPT_SUFFIX);
+        let backup = matches.is_present(OPT_BACKUP) || (matches.occurrences_of(OPT_SUFFIX) > 0);
 
         // Parse target directory options
         let no_target_dir = matches.is_present(OPT_NO_TARGET_DIRECTORY);
diff --git a/tests/test_cp.rs b/tests/test_cp.rs
index d47fbb5c9..c74b47f58 100644
--- a/tests/test_cp.rs
+++ b/tests/test_cp.rs
@@ -31,6 +31,23 @@ fn test_cp_cp() {
 }
 
 
+#[test]
+fn test_cp_existing_target() {
+    let (at, mut ucmd) = at_and_ucmd!();
+    let result = ucmd.arg(TEST_HELLO_WORLD_SOURCE)
+        .arg(TEST_EXISTING_FILE)
+        .run();
+
+    assert!(result.success);
+
+    // Check the content of the destination file
+    assert_eq!(at.read(TEST_EXISTING_FILE), "Hello, World!\n");
+
+    // No backup should have been created
+    assert!(!at.file_exists(&*format!("{}~", TEST_EXISTING_FILE)));
+}
+
+
 #[test]
 fn test_cp_duplicate_files() {
     let (at, mut ucmd) = at_and_ucmd!();