How to copy the contents of a folder to another folder via terminal in Ubuntu?

Introduction

Ubuntu is a popular operating system that is based on the Linux kernel. It has a command-line interface that allows users to perform various tasks such as copying files and folders. In this blog post, we will discuss how to copy the contents of a folder to another folder via terminal in Ubuntu.

Understanding the Command-Line Interface

The command-line interface is a text-based interface that allows users to interact with the operating system by typing commands. In Ubuntu, the terminal is the command-line interface that provides access to the file system and other system utilities.

The terminal is a powerful tool that can be used to perform various tasks such as managing files and folders, installing software, and configuring the system. Understanding how to use the terminal is essential for any Ubuntu user who wants to take full advantage of the operating system.

Copying the Contents of a Folder to Another Folder

The syntax for copying the contents of a folder to another folder via terminal in Ubuntu is as follows:

cp -r /path/to/source/folder /path/to/destination/folder

Let’s break down the command to understand what each part means:

• cp: This is the command for copying files and folders in Linux.
• -r: This option tells the command to copy the folder recursively, including all of its subdirectories and files.
• /path/to/source/folder: This is the path to the folder that you want to copy.
• /path/to/destination/folder: This is the path to the folder where you want to copy the contents of the source folder.

For example, if you want to copy the contents of the /home/user/documents folder to the /home/user/backups folder, you would use the following command:

cp -r /home/user/documents /home/user/backups

This command will copy all of the files and subdirectories in the /home/user/documents folder to the /home/user/backups folder.

Copying Only Selected Files

Sometimes, you may only want to copy specific files from one folder to another. You can use the following command to copy only selected files:

cp /path/to/source/folder/file1 /path/to/destination/folder

This command will copy file1 from the /path/to/source/folder folder to the /path/to/destination/folder folder.

You can also copy multiple files by separating them with spaces:

cp /path/to/source/folder/file1 /path/to/source/folder/file2 /path/to/destination/folder

This command will copy file1 and file2 from the /path/to/source/folder folder to the /path/to/destination/folder folder.

Copying Files and Preserving Permissions

When you copy files and folders, the permissions and ownership of the files may change. To preserve the permissions and ownership of the files, you can use the -p option. The -p option stands for “preserve” and will copy the files while preserving their permissions and ownership.

Here is the syntax for using the -p option:

cp -rp /path/to/source/folder /path/to/destination/folder

This command will copy the contents of the /path/to/source/folder folder to the /path/to/destination/folder folder while preserving the permissions and ownership of the files.

Conclusion

The command-line interface is a powerful tool that can be used to perform various tasks in Ubuntu. Understanding how to copy files and folders via terminal is essential for any Ubuntu user. In this blog post, we discussed the syntax for copying the contents of a folder to another folder via terminal in Ubuntu. We also discussed how to copy only selected files, how to preserve permissions and ownership while copying files, and more.

To copy the contents of a folder to another folder via terminal in Ubuntu, you can use the cp command. Here is the syntax:

cp -r source_folder destination

• The -r flag stands for “recursive,” and it tells the cp command to copy the contents of the source folder, including any subdirectories and their contents.
• source_folder is the path to the folder you want to copy.
• destination is the path to the destination folder where you want to copy the contents of the source folder.

For example, if you want to copy the contents of a folder called folder1 located in your home directory to a folder called folder2 also located in your home directory, you would use the following command:

cp -r folder1 folder2

This will copy all the files and subdirectories in folder1 to folder2.

Keep in mind that this command will overwrite any existing files in the destination folder with the same name as the files being copied. If you want to preserve the existing files and only copy new or modified files, you can use the rsync command instead.

rsync -av source_folder/ destination

• The -a flag stands for “archive” and tells rsync to preserve the file attributes and permissions of the source files.
• The -v flag stands for “verbose” and tells rsync to display the names of the files it is transferring.

I hope this helps! Let me know if you have any questions.

First of all, you need to know the name of the source folder and the name of the destination folder. For example: if the source folder is called “catpics” and the destination folder is called “albums”, you have /catpics and /albums.

The native command of the terminal that makes the copy is called “cp”. The “cp” command has some attributes that need to be defined to detail how the copy will be made.

The syntax for making a copy of the contents of one folder to another is as follows:

cp -a /catpics/. /albums/

This -a is used to make the copy recursive, preserve all file attributes, ownership, timestamps, and maintain symlinks.

O . placed after the source folder path tells cp to copy all your files and subfolders, including hidden files.

On the other hand, if you want to copy the folder “catpics” to “albums”, remove the period after the path of the source folder, as in the following example:

cp -a /catpics/ /albums/

Take advantage of the command that is one of the most used by terminal users on unix systems around the world.