Copy a Directory from Command Line
Copying a directory for the sake of backup is something I do often, especially when I'm trying to figure out why something isn't working when I use an external library. I'll copy the directory structure as a backup, mess around with the original source until I find a solution, then restore the original and change my overall system code to bring in my revised version.
You can't just use cp to copy a directory structure -- you'll see cp: myDir is a directory (not copied). You'll need to add a few additional flags to copy a directory structure:
cp -Rp source source_copy
The above command copies the directory recursively while keeping the same permissions!
![From Webcam to Animated GIF: the Secret Behind chat.meatspac.es!]()
My team mate Edna Piranha is not only an awesome hacker; she's also a fantastic philosopher! Communication and online interactions is a subject that has kept her mind busy for a long time, and it has also resulted in a bunch of interesting experimental projects...
![Responsive and Infinitely Scalable JS Animations]()
Back in late 2012 it was not easy to find open source projects using requestAnimationFrame() - this is the hook that allows Javascript code to synchronize with a web browser's native paint loop. Animations using this method can run at 60 fps and deliver fantastic...
![Camera and Video Control with HTML5]()
Client-side APIs on mobile and desktop devices are quickly providing the same APIs. Of course our mobile devices got access to some of these APIs first, but those APIs are slowly making their way to the desktop. One of those APIs is the getUserMedia API...
![MooTools OpenLinks Class – Updated]()
A long time back I coded a MooTools class called OpenLinks. The class is quite useful but the code...sucks. I've gotten much better with MooTools over the past years so I thought I'd go back and update the class to be better, faster...
Why do you have the
-sflag in there? Looking at the--helpforcp, that’s the option to “make symbolic links instead of copying”, and according to Stack Overflow http://stackoverflow.com/questions/1240636 , that doesn’t even work recursively (with the-Rflag). (Nor can I see why you would want to copy an entire directory recursively only for it to be populated with symlinks, especially “for the sake of backup”.) Typo?EDIT: David has since corrected the error in question.
Another great option that I somehow always forget to use is -a (archive), used like so:
It copies structure and permissions and also preserves symlinks.
Just use rsync, faster and more options. )
Good to know. But I agree with @John
I prefer to use rsync for this purpose