How-to copy the contents of a folder to another folder in a different directory using terminal

Question

I would be happy if someone can bring an example syntax for the problem above.

Thank you in advance.

Answer 1

Lets say you have a folder called folder1 in your ~, inside folder1 is 1 file called file1 and 2 folders called sub1 and sub2 each with other files and folders inside them.

To copy all the contents of ~/folder1 to ~/new_folder1 you would use

cp -r ~/folder1/. ~/new_folder1

new_folder1 would then contain all the files and folders from folder1.

cp is the command to copy using a terminal, -r makes it recursively (so, current directory + further directories inside current) ~/folder1 is the origin folder, ~/new_folder1 is the destination folder for the files/folders inside the origin.

Answer 2

You can copy the content of a folder /source to another existing folder /dest with the command

cp -a /source/. /dest/

The -a option is an improved recursive option, that preserve all file attributes, and also preserve symlinks.

The . at end of the source path is a specific cp syntax that allow to copy all files and folders, included hidden ones.

Answer 3

An alternate is rsync

rsync -r source/* destination

The advantages of rsync are:

1. After the initial sync, it will then copy only the files that have changed.

2. You can use it over a network, convenient for files in $HOME, especially config files.