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cpWe can use the and commands in Linux Terminal rsyncto copy files and directories. cpThe command is generally used to copy files, while rsyncthe command is generally used to copy directories.

Use cpthe command to copy files

We use command in Linux and Unix operating systems cpto copy files and directories.

To abc.txtcopy the contents of a file into another file backup.txt, we use the following command.

cp abc.txt backup.txt

It abc.txtcopies the contents of to backup.txt. Both files must be in the current working directory.

If the destination file already exists, the contents of the destination file will be overwritten.

We can cpadd -ithe -d flag to the command to get a confirmation prompt before copying.

cp -i abc.txt backup.txt

Output:

cp: overwrite 'backup.txt'?

If we want to copy a file, we press Ythe key and press Enter.

To understand cpwhat the command does, we can use the flag cpof the command -v.

cp -v abc.txt backup.txt

Output:

'abc.txt' -> 'backup.txt'

It shows that abc.txtthe contents of are being copied into backup.txt.

Use cpthe command to copy the file to a directory

To copy a file to a directory, we use cpthe command. cpThe first argument of the command is the name of the file to be copied, and the second argument is the absolute or relative path to the directory where the file to be copied is located.

cp abc.txt ./test

abc.txtIt copies the files in the current working directory to testa folder in the current working directory.

If we want to copy a file under a specific directory to a different directory than the parent file, we can specify the name of the file as.

cp abc.txt ./test/test.txt

It abc.txtcopies the file to the folder testwith the name test.txt.

Copy multiple files

We can cpcopy multiple files and directories into a specific directory using the command, specifying all the source files and directories and the destination directory at the end.

cp abc.txt backup.txt test backup

This will copy the files abc.txtand backup.txtand the folder testinto the folder backup.

cpCommands can also perform pattern matching.

cp *.txt backup

.txtThis copies all files with the extension in the current working directory into backupthe folder .

Use cpthe command to copy the directory

We use the -p -ror -R-p flag along with cpthe -p command to copy a directory along with its subdirectories and files to the destination directory.

cp -r pp Project

It ppcopies the entire directory and its subdirectories and files to the target directory Project.

In this example, Projectthere will be a ppdirectory within the directory.

However, if we only want to copy files and subdirectories, we use -Tthe -p flag and -Rthe -p flag.

cp -RT pp Project

It ppcopies subdirectories and files from the directory to the target directory Project.

Use rsyncthe command to copy files and directories

rsyncIs a command line tool for synchronizing files and directories between two hosts. If both the source and destination paths represent the local host, rsyncthe command is just like the copy command.

rsync -a abc.txt backup.txt

It abc.txtcopies the contents of into backup.txt.

Here, -athe flags say to preserve symbolic links, modification times, group, ownership, and permissions while copying.

Similarly, we can also copy a directory to another directory.

rsync -a /abc /backup-abc

It abccopies the contents of directory to target directory backup-abc.

Here, if we omit the trailing slash /, the source directory will be copied to the target directory.