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Levan
Asked: 2012-10-04 07:17:28 +0800 CST

How to copy files via terminal?

  • 772

I have read about copying files with terminal but these examples will help me a lot. So here is what I want to do:

Examples:

  1. I have a file in /home/levan/kdenlive untitelds.mpg and I want to copy this file to /media/sda3/SkyDrive and do not want to delete any thing in SkyDrive directory.

  2. I have a file in /media/sda3/SkyDrive untitelds.mpg and I want to copy this file to /home/levan/kdenlive and do not want to delete any thing in kdenlive directory

  3. I want to copy a folder from home directory to sda3 and do not want to delete any thing on sda3 directory and opposite

  4. I want to cut a folder/file and copy to other place without deleting files in that directory I cut it into.

command-line

6 Answers

  1. Best Answer

    1) By using -i for interactive you will be asked if you would like to replace the file:

    cp -i /home/levan/kdenlive/untitelds.mpg /media/sda3/SkyDrive/

    or you can use -b to create a backup of your file:

    cp -b /home/levan/kdenlive/untitelds.mpg /media/sda3/SkyDrive


    2) Same as the above:

    cp (-i or -b) /media/sda3/SkyDrive/untitelds.mpg /home/levan/kdenlive


    3) Use -R for recursive and -i for interactive:

    cp -Ri ~/MyFolder /sda3/


    4) This last one can be done via the mv command, move is like cutting:

    mv -i ~/MyFile ~/OtherFolder/MyFile

    if you want to move a directory, use:

    mv -Ri ~/MyDirectory ~/OtherDirectory/
    • 222

  2. When ~/Dropbox/RECENT/ is your current directory:

    cp input.txt SORT/

    And I want to copy input.txt with another name in my current directory.

    Again with ~/Dropbox/RECENT/ as current directory:

    cp  input.txt newname.txt

    Existing filenames can be auto-completed using TAB.

    Long version of the same copy command (when you are not in ~/Dropbox/RECENT/):

    cp /home/$USER/Dropbox/RECENT/input.txt /home/$USER/Dropbox/RECENT/SORT/

    I put a / behind every directory. If SORT does NOT exist a cp will also create a file named SORT making you think something went wrong. Adding the / will have cp error out and not copy the file.

    • 13

  3. Use the cp command.

    Copying a file something.txt to file folder: use cp something.txt folder/

    Copying a file something.txt to the current directory as something2.txt: use cp something.txt something2.txt

    ubuntu@ubuntu-T100TA:~/TestFolder$ ls -l
total 8
drwxrwxr-x 2 ubuntu ubuntu 4096 Mar 12 21:53 Folder1
-rw-rw-r-- 1 ubuntu ubuntu   14 Mar 12 21:52 something.txt
ubuntu@ubuntu-T100TA:~/TestFolder$ ls -l Folder1/
total 4
-rw-rw-r-- 1 ubuntu ubuntu 14 Mar 12 21:53 something.txt
ubuntu@ubuntu-T100TA:~/TestFolder$ ls -l
total 8
drwxrwxr-x 2 ubuntu ubuntu 4096 Mar 12 21:54 folder
-rw-rw-r-- 1 ubuntu ubuntu   14 Mar 12 21:52 something.txt
ubuntu@ubuntu-T100TA:~/TestFolder$ ls -l folder/
total 0
ubuntu@ubuntu-T100TA:~/TestFolder$ cp something.txt folder/
ubuntu@ubuntu-T100TA:~/TestFolder$ ls -l folder/
total 4
-rw-rw-r-- 1 ubuntu ubuntu 14 Mar 12 21:55 something.txt
ubuntu@ubuntu-T100TA:~/TestFolder$ cp something.txt something2.txt 
ubuntu@ubuntu-T100TA:~/TestFolder$ ls -l
total 12
drwxrwxr-x 2 ubuntu ubuntu 4096 Mar 12 21:55 folder
-rw-rw-r-- 1 ubuntu ubuntu   14 Mar 12 21:55 something2.txt
-rw-rw-r-- 1 ubuntu ubuntu   14 Mar 12 21:52 something.txt
    • 4

  4. you will better add the option -a to cp command to preserve file-datetime, file-stats, etc.:

    cp -a input.txt ./SORT
cp -a input.txt newname.txt
    • 4 
  5. rsync -aAXhv /home/levan/kdenlive/untitelds.mpg  /media/sda3/SkyDrive/

    This will copy the untitelds.mpg file in the SkyDrive directory without deleting anything

    • 1

  6. use cp command. Type man cp from the terminal for more info.

    • 0