How to copy all files from a directory to a remote directory using scp?

My goal is copy only all files from ~/local_dir to [email protected] /var/www/html/target_dir using scp and do not create local_dir category in local_dir.

/var/www/html/target_dir/files..

but not

/var/www/html/target_dir/local_dir/files.. when use -r parameter

Answers:

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Method 1

scp has the -r argument. So, try using:

$ scp -r ~/local_dir <a href="https://getridbug.com/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection" class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="add8dec8dfedc5c2ded983cec2c0">[email protected]</a>:/var/www/html/target_dir

The -r argument works just like the -r arg in cp, it will transfer your entire folder and all the files and subdirectories inside.

Method 2

If your goal is to transfer all files from local_dir the * wildcard does the trick:

$ scp ~/local_dir/* <a href="https://getridbug.com/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection" class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="cdb8bea8bf8da5a2beb9e3aea2a0">[email protected]</a>:/var/www/html/target_dir

The -r option means “recursively”, so you must write it when you’re trying to transfer an entire directory or several directories.

From man scp:

-r 
Recursively copy entire directories. Note that scp follows symbolic links encountered in the tree traversal.

So if you have sub-directories inside local_dir, the last example will only transfer files, but if you set the -r option, it will transfer files and directories.

Method 3

Appending /. to your source directory will transfer its contents instead of the directory itself. In contrast to the wildcard solution, this will include any hidden files too.

$ scp -r ~/local_dir/. <a href="https://getridbug.com/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection" class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="eb9e988e99ab8384989fc5888486">[email protected]</a>:/var/www/html/target_dir

Credit for this solution goes to roaima, but I thought it should be posted as an actual answer, not only a comment.

Method 4

Follow these steps:

1. Copy directory local_dir with all its sub-directories:

   scp -r ~/local_dir <a href="https://getridbug.com/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection" class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="0277716770426a6d71762c616d6f">[email protected]</a> /var/www/html/target_dir

2. copy only the contents of local_dir and not the directory local_dir itself:

   scp -r ~/local_dir/* <a href="https://getridbug.com/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection" class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="8df8fee8ffcde5e2fef9a3eee2e0">[email protected]</a> /var/www/html/target_dir

3. Do not use: scp -r ~/local_dir/. [email protected] /var/www/html/target_dir as it throws an error(just tested and received the following error):

   scp: error: unexpected filename: .

Method 5

Also

rsync -avP ~/local_dir/ <a href="https://getridbug.com/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection" class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="3b4e485e497b5354484f15585456">[email protected]</a>:/var/www/html/target_dir/

should work.

And you can run it with -n at its end

rsync -avP ~/local_dir/ <a href="https://getridbug.com/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection" class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="1e6b6d7b6c5e76716d6a307d7173">[email protected]</a>:/var/www/html/target_dir -n

so that it simulates the operation and you can check that the result is what you wish for.

All methods was sourced from stackoverflow.com or stackexchange.com, is licensed under cc by-sa 2.5, cc by-sa 3.0 and cc by-sa 4.0