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!
![39 Shirts – Leaving Mozilla]()
In 2001 I had just graduated from a small town high school and headed off to a small town college. I found myself in the quaint computer lab where the substandard computers featured two browsers: Internet Explorer and Mozilla. It was this lab where I fell...
![CSS 3D Folding Animation]()
Google Plus provides loads of inspiration for front-end developers, especially when it comes to the CSS and JavaScript wonders they create. Last year I duplicated their incredible PhotoStack effect with both MooTools and pure CSS; this time I'm going to duplicate...
![Chris Coyier’s Favorite CodePen Demos]()
David asked me if I'd be up for a guest post picking out some of my favorite Pens from CodePen. A daunting task! There are so many! I managed to pick a few though that have blown me away over the past few months. If you...
![dwProgressBar v2: Stepping and Events]()
dwProgressBar was a huge hit when it debuted. For those of you who didn't catch my first post, dwProgressBar is a MooTools 1.2-based progress bar which allows for as much flexibility as possible. Every piece of dwProgressBar can be controlled by CSS...
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