How to Copy Files and Directories in Linux Terminal

Like any other operating system, you can copy and paste files and directories (folders) into a Linux distribution using the desktop interface. But you can save time by copying these files to the terminal. Here’s how.

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Copy files and directories in Linux

cp and rsync are two of the most popular commands you can use to quickly copy files and directories in Linux. We will introduce you to both.

Using the cp command

cp stands for copy and is, you guessed it, used to copy files and directories in Linux. You can use cp to copy files to one directory, copy one directory to another, and copy multiple files to a single directory. Here are all the examples that demonstrate the use of the cp order.

Consider cpthe syntax of in its simplest form.

cp [file] [directory]

An example of its use would look like this.

cp Test1.txt copy_Test1_here/

The above command will copy the text file Test1.txt to the copy_Test1_here/ phone book.

If you have multiple files that you need to copy to a directory, just list each file with a space in between.

cp Test1.txt Test2.txt Test3.txt Test4.txt copy_all_Tests_here/

You can also copy a file to a directory but save it under a different name. Here is the syntax for it.

cp [file] [directory]/[new filename]

This will copy the contents of the first thumbnail and save it to the directory under the new filename. A concrete example of the same would look like this.

Since there is a file Test1.txt which must be copied to the directory copy_Test1_here like Test2.txt :

cp Test1.txt copy_Test1_here/Test2.txt

Want to keep it in the same directory? You can copy a file and rename it like this:

cp Test1.txt Test2.txt

Want to copy an entire directory? suppose that dir_1 and dir_2 are two directories in /Desktop . To copy dir_1 for dir_2 using the cp command, here is what you need to type.

cp -a dir_1 dir_2

option here -a stands for “archive” and is used to let the computer know that we are dealing with directories. The command copies the directory dir_1 for dir_2 .

If you are unsure whether the file or directory was copied to the destination location, you can also use the option -v to print the names of files or directories that have been copied (like computer program output).

For example, suppose there is a file Test_Example which should be copied to dir_1 . To view the output of the copy operation, you would use the -v option.

cp -v Test_Example.txt dir_1

The output would look like this:

'Test_Example.txt' -> 'dir_1/Test_Example.txt

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Using the Rsync Command

the rsync The command stands for “Remote Sync” and is mainly used to transfer files and directories between computers on the same network. However, it also allows copying files and directories on the same PC. Here are some examples.

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Considering that we have two directories dir_1 , dir_2 and a file Test.txt in dir_1 . If we want to copy the file to dir_2 Here is what rsync command to do the same would look like.

rsync -v dir_1/Test.txt dir_2

Right here -v is short for “verbose”. This brings up the file transfer details, similar to -v possibility in the cp order. This allows you to confirm that the copy was successful. Here is what the output will be in our case:

sent 110 bytes  received 35 bytes 290.00 bytes/sec
total size is 24 speedup is 0.17

You can also copy multiple files at once from one directory to another. Suppose you are in /Desktop in which there are two directories dir_1 and dir_2 . dir_1 has four files test1 , test2 , test3 and test4 and you want to copy them into dir_2. Here is how you can do it using rsync:

rsync -v dir_1/Test1.txt dir_1/Test2.txt dir_1/Test3.txt dir_1/Test4.txt dir_2

The above command will copy the files test1 , test2 , test3 and test4 to the directory dir_2 .

To copy one directory to another, use the -a option. Here is an example of copying directories using Rsync.

rsync -av dir_1 dir_2

If you are new to Linux and the commands seem difficult to follow, be sure to take your time and familiarize yourself with the basic Linux commands first. You can also learn a lot about commands using the man order.

Apart from rsync and cpthe install The command also lets you copy files in Linux.

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