Copy a directory on Unix

How can I copy a directory structure, dir1, to dir2, (with all the subdirectories) on Unix using the terminal window?

Dinesh Kumar

Posted 2010-12-15T15:45:40.463

Reputation: 1 029

2" cp -r /dir1 /dir2 " Is this right ?? – Dinesh Kumar – 2010-12-15T15:55:50.780

Yes, that is correct. You may want to mark one of the answers as your solution. – qroberts – 2010-12-15T15:56:41.000

Answers

117

cp -rf /source/path/ /destination/path/

-r = recursive, copies all the sub-directories

-f = force, if an existing destination file cannot be opened, remove it and try again

Note You should be careful when using the -f flag because it will forcefully overwrite anything you copy to. Thank @Nifle for this suggestion.

You may want to use the * wildcard to copy all of the files in the directory if you need to.

qroberts

Posted 2010-12-15T15:45:40.463

Reputation: 4 609

How about adding -p as well. --preserve=mode,ownership,timestamps, preserve the specified attributes (default: mode,ownership,timestamps), if possible additional attributes: context, links, xattr, all – Alex – 2019-03-28T21:15:52.230

11I don't agree that you should use the f flag. -f if an existing destination file cannot be opened, remove it and try again – Nifle – 2010-12-15T15:52:05.730

Personally I always use the -f flag. Isn't a good practice so perhaps you are right. – qroberts – 2010-12-15T15:53:54.717

If you know what it does, and you know what you are doing it's OK. But in this case with an inexperienced user it might not be suitable. – Nifle – 2010-12-15T15:57:34.427

@Nifle Yeah, I understand what you are saying. Just that if he forces it, the chances of it working are better than if he didn't. It all depends upon what you are doing and that you understand what it does. – qroberts – 2010-12-15T15:59:26.537

If you put a note in your answer about the -f flag being useful if you are copying <source> over <dest> (as in overwriting things in <dest>) I'll upvote it myself and delete my answer) – Nifle – 2010-12-15T16:02:40.397

While the cp -R answers are right (BTW the case of the flag on BSD must be capital, both are supported on linux), there is an old incantation involving tar:

$ tar cf - . | (cd DIR; tar xf - )

Why the heck would you do that? Because tar has a fairly sophisticated understanding of links both hard and symbolic.

Do you want you copy to replace existing symbolic links with one that have the same text? Or with links to the same target (adjusting relative paths to compensate)? Or with bitwise copies of the target?

If two files in the original are hard linked should the new structure have two copies of the data or just one?

Decisions, decisions. Tar has sensible defaults, but lets you be very specific about it.

dmckee --- ex-moderator kitten

Posted 2010-12-15T15:45:40.463

Reputation: 7 311

I like

cp -axv source dest

Rsync is another good tool for this

rsync -va source dest

Pete Ashdown

Posted 2010-12-15T15:45:40.463

Reputation: 423