How to make scp copy hidden files?

Question

I often use SCP to copy files around - particularly web-related files. The problem is that whenever I do this, I can't get my command to copy hidden files (eg, .htaccess).

I typically invoke this:

scp -rp src/ user@server:dest/

This doesn't copy hidden files. I don't want to have to invoke this again (by doing something like scp -rp src/.* ... - and that has strange . and .. implications anyway.

I didn't see anything in the scp man page about an "include hidden files".

How can I accomplish this?

I assume that `src/.*` also copies `src/..` (the parent directory), right? — Ken Sharp, Dec 18 '15 at 13:34

score 77 · Accepted Answer · edited Dec 18 '15 at 14:00

77

That should absolutely match hidden files. The / at the end of the source says "every file under this directory". Nevertheless, testing and research bear you out. This is stupid behavior.

The "answer" is to append a dot to the end of the source:

scp -rp src/. user@server:dest/

The real answer is to use rsync.

edited Dec 18 '15 at 14:00

Ken Sharp

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answered Jun 07 '09 at 18:51

Matt Simmons

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Nice trick I did not realized this yet. – cstamas Jun 07 '09 at 19:06
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rsync -avz -e ssh --progress src/ user@server:dest/ – MikeyB Jun 07 '09 at 23:23
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I can't reproduce that behavior. `scp -r source/ host:source2` copies dot files. Works in OpenSSH 5.1 from 2007. – Mikel Mar 08 '11 at 20:33
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Note that adding a `.` at the end no longer works (2019) due to security issues. This is explained here: https://superuser.com/questions/1403473/scp-error-unexpected-filename – Stéphane Feb 12 '19 at 21:44

score 29 · Answer 2 · answered Jun 07 '09 at 18:51

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You can try rsync. It's better suited for this job:

rsync -av src/ user@server:dest/

(And its manual page is worth reading.)

answered Jun 07 '09 at 18:51

cstamas

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I _always_ use the --progress option for rsync, I can't live without it =D – Hofa Jun 07 '09 at 21:21
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@Hofa I usually use -P because it is shorter, already includes --progress and also includes --partial which can make sense if I am already interested in its progress ;-) – cstamas Mar 31 '12 at 10:27
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Use this if you need different port : rsync -av -e "ssh -p 2222" src/ user@server:dest/ – Brain90 Feb 05 '20 at 12:57

score 10 · Answer 3 · answered Jun 07 '09 at 18:52

Don't put a slash after the source directory. Your code would look like this:

scp -rp src user@server:dest/

This will create a directory 'src' under 'dest' on the remote machine, with all the hidden files included. It's probably not exactly what you want, but it will copy hidden files in src.

score 3 · Answer 4 · answered Jun 16 '15 at 13:19

3

The following will solve the problem, this has been fully tested on our continuous integration environment

scp -rp src/. user@server:dest/
example scp -rp /usr/src/code/. content001@172.11.11.11:/usr/dest/code/

Hope it helps

answered Jun 16 '15 at 13:19

stevensagaar

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After updating scp recently, this now results in `scp: error: unexpected filename: . `. Make sure to test whether it works with your distribution, fellow Googler :) – Moritz Friedrich Feb 11 '19 at 11:39

score 3 · Answer 5 · answered Jun 06 '18 at 05:51

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To copy only hidden files, Use this command

scp -rp /path_to_copy_hidden/.[!.]* user@host:/path_to_paste/

Actual game is the /.[!.]* tag that is referring to files starting with .(hidden)

answered Jun 06 '18 at 05:51

Shahzaib Hayat Khan

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score 0 · Answer 6 · answered Mar 23 '12 at 17:23

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None of the above scp solutions worked for me. However, I did find that the following worked on cygwin: scp -r directory/* host:directory The '*' matched all visible files and skipped the invisible.

answered Mar 23 '12 at 17:23

Ray Cote

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score 0 · Answer 7 · answered Jul 07 '16 at 10:31

If password login is disabled on the remote machine, and the only way to login is via public key, then you can use this:

$ rsync -av -s 'ssh -i /path/to/your/private/SSH/key' --progress user1@remote.host:/remote/source/directory/ /local/destination/directory/

It copies hidden files too.

Also please note that "user1" must have the permissions to read those files, for example you can't copy other user's ssh folders with this method.

score 0 · Answer 8 · answered Apr 27 '19 at 19:45

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As scp supports regular expressions, this will nicely do the trick for you:

scp -rp src/(*|.*) user@server:dest/

answered Apr 27 '19 at 19:45

donmutti

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score -1 · Answer 9 · edited Jun 11 '20 at 10:02

Distributed revision control handles hidden files

Because of the CVE-2018-20685 vulnerability, the /. trick can no longer be used with scp. However, distributed revision control like git or Hg Mecurial will handle hidden files like any other files. Here are the commands for my favourite Hg Mercurial:

server:$ sudo apt install mercurial
client:$ sudo apt install mercurial
client:$ hg init src
client:$ cd src/
client:$ hg addr
client:$ hg com -m "first commit"
client:$ cd
client:$ hg clone src ssh://user@server/dest/

Subsequent changes will need to be committed again with client:$ hg com -m "commit message" and then pushed using the client:$ hg push command. Learn more about pushing changes from this Hg Mercurial cheat sheet.

How to make scp copy hidden files?

9 Answers9

Distributed revision control handles hidden files