How to override all folders with cp?

Question

I have two folders, and I would like to do:

 cp -R folder1/ folder2/

So that I all the sub folders missing in folder2 will be created, and there files copied. And all the folders in folder2 that are missing from folder1 stay the same.

score 5 · Answer 1 · edited Apr 13 '17 at 12:36

5

cp -fR folder1/ folder2/

the -f flag forces the dest file to be deleted if cannot be opened

see man page for cp

Also, another option would be to use rsync, see this answer for example:

How to overwrite target files with mv?

edited Apr 13 '17 at 12:36

Community

1

answered Feb 23 '17 at 16:07

impalle

304

score 3 · Accepted Answer · answered Feb 23 '17 at 16:06

3

cp -R folder1/. folder2/

You can use folder1/* instead, if you don't mind that * will not match "hidden" files which begin with a . like .bash_profile.

If there are files in folder2 with the same name as files in folder1, they will be overwritten without prompting or warning.

answered Feb 23 '17 at 16:06

sourcejedi

50,249

and the files that only exists in folder2 wont be deleted ? – Bionix1441 Feb 23 '17 at 16:12
1

no. cp doesn't delete files. (rsync does if you pass --delete). – sourcejedi Feb 23 '17 at 17:22

score 1 · Answer 3 · answered Feb 23 '17 at 16:19

1

Don't use cp, instead use mv, Because: cp copy all files and it spreads time and I/O, But mv only change inode: So:

mv -f dir1/ dir2

answered Feb 23 '17 at 16:19

PersianGulf

10,850

How to override all folders with cp?

3 Answers3