Copying files (not directory)

[MCubitt]

Take this structure:
/data/files/backup

I want to copy the files inside /data/files
to /data/files/backup

If I use
cp /data/files/* /data/files/backup
UNIX complains that the backup is a directory so I should use -r or -R

If I include -r or -R it complains it is a recursive copy.

How do I tell it to copy only FILES?

 

[bi]

If you cd into /data/files and then do

cp -p * backup

it will work. you could also do a find command, but that's not really necessary.

the -p in the cp command preserves the ownership, permissions and timestamp of the files you are copying. sometimes that is very important. If you don't use the -p, the timestamp will change, permissions may change, and if you aren't the owner of the files, so will the ownership.

 

[MCubitt]

I am in the source directory and enter cp -p * backup, the output:
$ cp -p * backup
cp: 0653-436 backup is a directory.
Specify -r or -R to copy.


which is the same result as specifying the source diretcory. I think the message is purely a warning and the reason the system appears to "hang" is that one of the files (I just discovered) is rather large! So it is still copying.

The -p flag was good to know so not a wated post. Thanks bi.

 

[LHLTech]

An example using 'find' and 'cpio' would be something like

find ./ -type f | cpio -puvd ./backup


But I can't help feeling this is over-egging the pudding. Works though...

LHLTech

IBM Certified ATE

 

[khalidmughal]

You can also use this command

ls -et | grep "^-" | awk '{print$9}' | xargs -t -I {} cp {} backup

By using this command only the files will copy into backup directory.


Khalid Mahmood