How to copy the entire directory vs the contents of the directory Here directory-1 containing the file a.txt is copied to a new directory called directory-2-which now also contains the file a.txt.
To copy a directory, you need to add the -r (or -R) flag-which is shorthand for -recursive: $ ls directory-1 If you try to pass a directory as the input source, you get this error: $ cp directory-1 directory-2Ĭp: directory-1 is a directory (not copied). How to copy a directory to another directory Note: when passing multiple sources the last argument must be a directory. Here the two input sources ( first.txt and second.txt) were both copied to the directory directory-1. To copy more than one file at a time you can pass multiple input sources and a directory as destination: $ ls. directory-1/b.txtī.txt How to copy multiple files to a directory directory-1/Īfter the cp command, the previously empty directory-1 now contains the file a.txt.īy default the copied file receives the name of the original file, but you can also optionally pass a file name as well: $ cp a.txt. To copy a file to a directory that is different from your current directory, you just need to pass the path of the other directory as the destination: $ ls. If you have a file named a.txt, and you want a copy of that file named b.txt: $ lsĪ.txt b.txt If you're not familiar with the ls command, ls "lists" all the contents of a directory.īy default the cp command uses your current directory as the path. To copy a file, pass the file you want to copy and the path of where you want to copy the file to.
The basic form of this command takes an input source (or sources) that you want to copy (files or directories) and a destination to copy the files or directories to: cp source_file target_file How to copy a file to the current directory
#Mac os directory structure manual
To view the documentation or manual for the cp command, run man cp at your terminal: $ man cpĬp source_file. The cp command is a relatively simple command, but its behavior changes slightly depending on the inputs (files vs directories) and the options you pass to it. To copy files or directories in Unix-based operating systems (Linux and MacOS), you use the cp command.
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