How to copy all files from a directory to a remote directory using scp?

Question

My goal is copy only all files from ~/local_dir to user@host.com /var/www/html/target_dir using scp and do not create local_dir category in local_dir.

/var/www/html/target_dir/files..

but not

/var/www/html/target_dir/local_dir/files.. when use -r parameter

Does scp * user@host.com:/var/www/html/target_dir not do what you want? If so, please [edit] with more detail of what you're trying to do & have tried so far. — Michael Homer, Sep 30 '15 at 08:05
In the first paragraph the last word should presumably be target_dir ? — zsalya, Jun 23 '23 at 09:16

parazyd · Accepted Answer · 2015-09-30T08:12:43.160

240

scp has the -r argument. So, try using:

$ scp -r ~/local_dir user@host.com:/var/www/html/target_dir

The -r argument works just like the -r arg in cp, it will transfer your entire folder and all the files and subdirectories inside.

edited Sep 30 '15 at 08:12

answered Sep 30 '15 at 08:07

parazyd

2,557
1
11
6

22

Your command created local_dir directory in /var/www/html/target_dir my goal is copy only files. – Edgaras Karka Sep 30 '15 at 08:25
2

Sorry, I got it wrong. Then just repeat the command, but like this: $ scp -r ~/local_dir user@host.com:/var/www/html/ Then rename new directory if needed. – parazyd Sep 30 '15 at 08:31
20

Or $ scp -r ~/local_dir/* user@host.com:/var/www/html/target_dir Whatever floats your boat. – parazyd Sep 30 '15 at 08:34
36

Change the wildcard * to a dot . and you'll copy the directory contents (including any dot files) without copying the directory itself. scp -pr ~/local_dir/. user@example.com:/path/to/target_dir – Chris Davies Jul 21 '17 at 22:25
1

Another alternate format is pushd local_dir; scp -r . user@host.com:/var/www/html/target_dir; popd bash provides many ways to say much the same thing. – Jesse Chisholm Dec 09 '19 at 21:18
4

Unfortunately, using . has been broken by a poorly implemented scp "bugfix" (see https://superuser.com/questions/1403473/scp-error-unexpected-filename/1403506#1403506). rsync would be a working alternative. – rivy Jun 28 '20 at 21:15

score 67 · Answer 2 · edited Jul 27 '17 at 07:01

67

If your goal is to transfer all files from local_dir the * wildcard does the trick:

$ scp ~/local_dir/* user@host.com:/var/www/html/target_dir

The -r option means "recursively", so you must write it when you're trying to transfer an entire directory or several directories.

From man scp:

-r 
Recursively copy entire directories. Note that scp follows symbolic links encountered in the tree traversal.

So if you have sub-directories inside local_dir, the last example will only transfer files, but if you set the -r option, it will transfer files and directories.

edited Jul 27 '17 at 07:01

Dmitry Grigoryev

7,313

answered Sep 30 '15 at 12:37

tachomi

7,592

3

1+ Because you need to read the comments in the accepted answer to get to the correct answer, while this one just explains it directly. – André Christoffer Andersen Jul 05 '17 at 10:01
Directories aren't copied: not a regular file. – Pathros Aug 09 '21 at 13:10
1

i don't recomand using "*" because it won't copy hidden files and directories – sbabti zied Jan 05 '23 at 09:19

score 32 · Answer 3 · answered Apr 23 '18 at 21:43

32

Appending /. to your source directory will transfer its contents instead of the directory itself. In contrast to the wildcard solution, this will include any hidden files too.

$ scp -r ~/local_dir/. user@host.com:/var/www/html/target_dir

Credit for this solution goes to roaima, but I thought it should be posted as an actual answer, not only a comment.

answered Apr 23 '18 at 21:43

raphinesse

423

6

Unfortunately, this solution has been broken by a poorly implemented scp "bugfix" (see https://superuser.com/questions/1403473/scp-error-unexpected-filename/1403506#1403506). – rivy Jun 28 '20 at 21:14

score 18 · Answer 4 · edited Sep 11 '22 at 08:38

18

Follow these steps:

Copy directory local_dir with all its sub-directories:

scp -r ~/local_dir user@host.com:/var/www/html/target_dir

copy only the contents of local_dir and not the directory local_dir itself:
```
scp -r ~/local_dir/* user@host.com:/var/www/html/target_dir
```
Do not use: scp -r ~/local_dir/. user@host.com:/var/www/html/target_dir as it throws an error(just tested and received the following error):
```
scp: error: unexpected filename: .
```

edited Sep 11 '22 at 08:38

Chris Davies

116,213
16
160
287

answered Sep 30 '19 at 06:26

Syed Faraz Umar

281
2
4

1

I also get the error of unexpected filename . However, using the wildcard does not work either cause the directory has so many files that is exceeds the character limit for commands when the wildcard gets expanded. macOS – Richard Kiefer Jan 08 '20 at 10:17
@RichardKiefer : You can use wildcards like ? with * to further isolate the search results and then pass it to scp. Try this link, it may help:
Wildcards
– Syed Faraz Umar Jan 14 '20 at 06:15
Thanks Syed, but my point was that I actually want to target all elements in the folder, and not filter any. And if my directory has too many, than the wildcard will just not work. – Richard Kiefer Jan 14 '20 at 08:33
@RichardKiefer: My apologies Richard, to get all the files copied we can use a small bash script. Use: ls -l | awk '{print $9}' and redirect all the output (which would be all the file names) to a txt file. Read the txt file, one line at a time and use that input with scp to copy the files:
input=/home/user/filename.txt while IFS= read -r line
– Syed Faraz Umar Jan 14 '20 at 09:59

Tms91 · Answer 5 · 2021-07-19T12:03:19.920

1

Also

rsync -avP ~/local_dir/ user@host.com:/var/www/html/target_dir/

should work.

And you can run it with -n at its end

rsync -avP ~/local_dir/ user@host.com:/var/www/html/target_dir -n

so that it simulates the operation and you can check that the result is what you wish for.

edited Jul 19 '21 at 12:03

answered Jul 16 '21 at 09:37

Tms91

113

1

You would need to add a trailing / to ~/local_dir (i.e. rsync -avP ~/local_dir/ etc.) to prevent the creation of /var/www/html/target_dir/local_dir on the destination side, which is one key requirement of the OP. – AdminBee Jul 16 '21 at 13:27

How to copy all files from a directory to a remote directory using scp?

5 Answers5

Linked

Related