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!
![Responsive Images: The Ultimate Guide]()
Chances are that any Web designers using our Ghostlab browser testing app, which allows seamless testing across all devices simultaneously, will have worked with responsive design in some shape or form. And as today's websites and devices become ever more varied, a plethora of responsive images...
![5 Ways that CSS and JavaScript Interact That You May Not Know About]()
CSS and JavaScript: the lines seemingly get blurred by each browser release. They have always done a very different job but in the end they are both front-end technologies so they need do need to work closely. We have our .js files and our .css, but...
![Page Visibility API]()
One event that's always been lacking within the document is a signal for when the user is looking at a given tab, or another tab. When does the user switch off our site to look at something else? When do they come back?
![Introducing MooTools Templated]()
One major problem with creating UI components with the MooTools JavaScript framework is that there isn't a great way of allowing customization of template and ease of node creation. As of today, there are two ways of creating:
new Element Madness
The first way to create UI-driven...
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