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

Question

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

Does `scp * [email protected]:/var/www/html/target_dir` not do what you want? If so, please [edit] with more detail of what you're trying to do & have tried so far. — Michael Homer, Sep 30 '15 at 08:05
Appending /. is no longer work. [More here](https://superuser.com/a/1403506/682279) — Tsulatsi Tamim, Mar 20 '19 at 09:13
In the first paragraph the last word should presumably be target_dir ? — zsalya, Jun 23 '23 at 09:16

parazyd · Accepted Answer · 2015-09-30T08:12:43.160

228

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

$ scp -r ~/local_dir [email protected]:/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.

edited Sep 30 '15 at 08:12

answered Sep 30 '15 at 08:07

parazyd

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Your command created `local_dir` directory in /var/www/html/target_dir my goal is copy only files. – Edgaras Karka Sep 30 '15 at 08:25
2

Sorry, I got it wrong. Then just repeat the command, but like this: `$ scp -r ~/local_dir [email protected]:/var/www/html/` Then rename new directory if needed. – parazyd Sep 30 '15 at 08:31
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Or `$ scp -r ~/local_dir/* [email protected]:/var/www/html/target_dir` Whatever floats your boat. – parazyd Sep 30 '15 at 08:34
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Change the wildcard `*` to a dot `.` and you'll copy the directory contents (including any dot files) without copying the directory itself. `scp -pr ~/local_dir/. [email protected]:/path/to/target_dir` – roaima Jul 21 '17 at 22:25
Another alternate format is `pushd local_dir; scp -r . [email protected]:/var/www/html/target_dir; popd` bash provides many ways to say much the same thing. – Jesse Chisholm Dec 09 '19 at 21:18
3

Unfortunately, using `.` has been broken by a poorly implemented `scp` "bugfix" (see ). `rsync` would be a working alternative. – rivy Jun 28 '20 at 21:15

score 63 · Answer 2 · edited Jul 27 '17 at 07:01

63

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

$ scp ~/local_dir/* [email protected]:/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.

edited Jul 27 '17 at 07:01

Dmitry Grigoryev

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answered Sep 30 '15 at 12:37

tachomi

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1+ Because you need to read the comments in the accepted answer to get to the correct answer, while this one just explains it directly. – André Christoffer Andersen Jul 05 '17 at 10:01
Directories aren't copied: `not a regular file`. – Pathros Aug 09 '21 at 13:10
1

i don't recomand using "*" because it won't copy hidden files and directories – sbabti zied Jan 05 '23 at 09:19

score 30 · Answer 3 · answered Apr 23 '18 at 21:43

30

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/. [email protected]:/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.

answered Apr 23 '18 at 21:43

raphinesse

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Unfortunately, this solution has been broken by a poorly implemented `scp` "bugfix" (see ). – rivy Jun 28 '20 at 21:14

score 16 · Answer 4 · edited Sep 11 '22 at 08:38

16

Follow these steps:

Copy directory local_dir with all its sub-directories:

scp -r ~/local_dir [email protected]:/var/www/html/target_dir

copy only the contents of local_dir and not the directory local_dir itself:
```
scp -r ~/local_dir/* [email protected]:/var/www/html/target_dir
```
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: .
```

edited Sep 11 '22 at 08:38

roaima

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answered Sep 30 '19 at 06:26

Syed Faraz Umar

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I also get the error of unexpected filename . However, using the wildcard does not work either cause the directory has so many files that is exceeds the character limit for commands when the wildcard gets expanded. macOS – Richard Kiefer Jan 08 '20 at 10:17
@RichardKiefer : You can use wildcards like ? with * to further isolate the search results and then pass it to scp. Try this link, it may help: [Wildcards](https://www.tecmint.com/use-wildcards-to-match-filenames-in-linux/) – Syed Faraz Umar Jan 14 '20 at 06:15
Thanks Syed, but my point was that I actually want to target all elements in the folder, and not filter any. And if my directory has too many, than the wildcard will just not work. – Richard Kiefer Jan 14 '20 at 08:33
@RichardKiefer: My apologies Richard, to get all the files copied we can use a small bash script. Use: `ls -l | awk '{print $9}'` and redirect all the output (which would be all the file names) to a txt file. Read the txt file, one line at a time and use that input with scp to copy the files: `input=/home/user/filename.txt while IFS= read -r line` – Syed Faraz Umar Jan 14 '20 at 09:59

Tms91 · Answer 5 · 2021-07-19T12:03:19.920

1

Also

rsync -avP ~/local_dir/ [email protected]:/var/www/html/target_dir/

should work.

And you can run it with -n at its end

rsync -avP ~/local_dir/ [email protected]:/var/www/html/target_dir -n

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

edited Jul 19 '21 at 12:03

answered Jul 16 '21 at 09:37

Tms91

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You would need to add a trailing `/` to `~/local_dir` (i.e. `rsync -avP ~/local_dir/ etc.`) to prevent the creation of `/var/www/html/target_dir/local_dir` on the destination side, which is one key requirement of the OP. – AdminBee Jul 16 '21 at 13:27

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

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