Copying files in bash

Question

I want to copy all files (included sub-folders) from $HOME directory to Desktop in bash. And as you know the Desktop is in $HOME. So, when I copy all files I get the message like this:

cannot copy a directory, '/home/adminuser/Desktop', into itself, '/home/adminuser/Desktop/'.

And I don't know the suitable code to exclude the folder Desktop. I use this: cp -r $HOME/* ~/Desktop/

Does anybody know a code for it or can anybody help me?

Do you actually mean copy, or do you mean move? Just asking because it's more common to want to move files around rather than duplicating them... — Kusalananda, Jan 13 '17 at 19:07

score 1 · Answer 1 · 2017-01-13T19:33:42.907

1

Use rsync

rsync -av --progress $HOME/* $HOME/Desktop --exclude 'Desktop/'

edited Jan 13 '17 at 19:33

answered Jan 13 '17 at 19:23

This would also exclude hidden files – SYN Jan 13 '17 at 19:24
Done. Now it will exclude only dirs called Desktop/ – Jan 13 '17 at 19:26

score 1 · Answer 2 · answered Jan 13 '17 at 19:24

1

You could do this using rsync:

rsync -avWxP --exclude Desktop /home/user/ /home/user/Desktop/

answered Jan 13 '17 at 19:24

SYN

2,863

Copying files in bash

2 Answers2