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My goal is copy only all files from ~/local_dir to user@host.com /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
scp has the -r argument. So, try using:
$ scp -r ~/local_dir user@host.com:/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.
local_dir directory in /var/www/html/target_dir my goal is copy only files.
Sep 30, 2015 at 8:25
$ scp -r ~/local_dir user@host.com:/var/www/html/ Then rename new directory if needed.
$ scp -r ~/local_dir/* user@host.com:/var/www/html/target_dir Whatever floats your boat.
* to a dot . and you'll copy the directory contents (including any dot files) without copying the directory itself. scp -pr ~/local_dir/. user@example.com:/path/to/target_dir
. has been broken by a poorly implemented scp "bugfix" (see <superuser.com/questions/1403473/scp-error-unexpected-filename/…). rsync would be a working alternative.
If your goal is to transfer all files from local_dir the * wildcard does the trick:
$ scp ~/local_dir/* user@host.com:/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.
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/. user@host.com:/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.
scp "bugfix" (see <superuser.com/questions/1403473/scp-error-unexpected-filename/…).
Follow these steps:
Copy directory local_dir with all its sub-directories:
scp -r ~/local_dir user@host.com:/var/www/html/target_dir
copy only the contents of local_dir and not the directory local_dir itself:
scp -r ~/local_dir/* user@host.com:/var/www/html/target_dir
Do not use: scp -r ~/local_dir/. user@host.com:/var/www/html/target_dir as it throws an error(just tested and received the following error):
scp: error: unexpected filename: .
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
Jan 14, 2020 at 9:59
Also
rsync -avP ~/local_dir/ user@host.com:/var/www/html/target_dir/
should work.
And you can run it with -n at its end
rsync -avP ~/local_dir/ user@host.com:/var/www/html/target_dir -n
so that it simulates the operation and you can check that the result is what you wish for.
/ 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.
scp * user@host.com:/var/www/html/target_dirnot do what you want? If so, please edit with more detail of what you're trying to do & have tried so far.