Dec 11, 2011 · You can copy the contents 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 preserves all file attributes and symlinks.

Apr 11, 2025 · How to Copy files in Linux with the cp Command. The `cp` command is a versatile tool used in Unix-like operating systems for copying files and directories. It offers three principal modes of operation, each serving different purposes. 1. Copying Between Two Files in Linux.

Mar 28, 2022 · This page shows how to use cp command to copy one file contents to another at bash shell. Let us see how to copy one file contents to another file in Linux using the CLI. The cp commands basic syntax is: cp [options] file_name new_file_name. cp original_name new_name.

What is the cp Command? The cp command can be used to copy files to a directory, copy multiple files to a single directory, and copy a file to a directory with a different name.

A file can be copied to a different directory in Linux using either the “cp” command or the “rsync” tool. Using these commands, single and multiple, as well as all the files inside a directory, can be copied from one directory to another.

How do you copy all the contents of one directory into another? For example: $ cp -a /backup/olduser/* . The problem with the above is that the globing pattern '*' matches the hidden directories '.' and '..' and you end up with a directory 'olduser' inside 'newuser', as well as the contents. You could also do something like this:

Apr 7, 2023 · Learn how to copy files and directories in Linux using the command line in this part of the Terminal Basics series. Copying files is one of the most basic yet crucial tasks you will be doing regularly. Linux has a dedicated cp command for copying both files and directories (folders).

Feb 8, 2021 · To copy a file to another directory, specify the absolute or the relative path to the destination directory. When only the directory name is specified as a destination, the copied file has the same name as the original file. In the following example, we are copying the file file.txt to the /backup directory:

Oct 7, 2020 · You can definitely use the same cp command but with the recursive option -r to copy a folder with its content to another folder. The above mentioned error also hints that you missed the -r option. All you got to do is to use the command in this fashion:

May 4, 2021 · To copy a file, pass the file you want to copy and the path of where you want to copy the file to. If you have a file named a.txt, and you want a copy of that file named b.txt: If you're not familiar with the ls command, ls "lists" all the contents of a directory. By default the cp command uses your current directory as the path.