Rsync specific files

CharlieParker: Do you have to use rsync , this can very well be achieved with the shell internals? What this question and its answers also lack is how to craft the command if I have recursive directories that I want to send only one type of file. It seems it only does it for the target directory Add a comment. Active Oldest Votes. FuePi 1, 19 19 silver badges 18 18 bronze badges. While it'll get you all sub-directories, if there's any. I tried this on rsync version 3. I tried with rsync 3.

Note that you can always click edit and suggest an edit to the answer : — Achal Dave. Show 12 more comments.

Gringo Suave I don't understand how did you know what the order of the --includes were? How does one craft the command if I have recursive directories that I want to send only one type of file.

It seems it only does it for the target directory. Exactly what I needed. To summarize: Not matching any pattern means a file will be copied! The algorithm quits once any pattern matches Also, something ending with a slash is matching directories like find -type d would.

Let's pull apart this answer from above. Giacomo Jim Hunziker Jim Hunziker Thank you so much for explaining what's going on.

Now there's much better chance that I won't forget the command. Of course this is in the man page somehwere, and if I'd read the whole thing carefully, I'd've seen that. Still, thanks. The other key concept is that "when using the --recursive -r option which is implied by -a , every subdir component of every path is visited left to right, with each directory having a chance for exclusion before its content.

Asked 8 years, 8 months ago. Active 1 year ago. Viewed k times. Is there a better way of doing this that is escaping me on a Monday morning? Dan Steele Dan Steele 1, 3 3 gold badges 12 12 silver badges 13 13 bronze badges. Add a comment. Active Oldest Votes.

It also tweaks the default behavior of rsync to make transferring just the specified files and directories easier: The --relative -R option is implied, which preserves the path information that is specified for each item in the file use --no-relative or --no-R if you want to turn that off. Josip Rodin 6 6 silver badges 12 12 bronze badges. Ah, missed that, sorry! Can the --files-from argument be combined with an explicit list of includes and excludes, and will the files from the list added with --files-from override existing exclude rules, such that they are included if they appear in the file?

Waqas Khan Waqas Khan 2 2 silver badges 7 7 bronze badges. Now, if you want to use the latter version, you need to keep in mind the following four remarks: Notice one needs to specify both --files-from and the source directory One needs to explicitely specify --recursive.

The file rsync-src-files is a user created file and it was placed within the src directory for this test The rsyn-src-files contain the files and folders to copy and they are taken relative to the source directory. In the example below, there are only two lines, not three Figure it out by chance. Content of rsynch-src-files is: folderName1 folderName2. K F K F 1, 11 11 silver badges 18 18 bronze badges.

Edit: atp's answer below is better. Please use that one! Wes Hardaker Wes Hardaker Unfortunately, this doesn't work with a large list or with files with spaces in the name. By default, xargs appends arguments from stdin to the end of the command line. That doesn't work as rsync needs the last argument to be the destination. Some versions of xargs can optionally insert arguments into the middle of the command line instead. That should work as long as you don't mind that it may run rsync more than once when the list of files is long.

In any case, the rsync --files-from is probably an easier and more reliable solution : — Lassi. This answer should not be the top answer, as when I and maybe more people create a script to replicate data, I do not like to have multiple files to care for, as it makes maintenance difficult in the long run. You must have asked rsync to send the whole directory e. Victoria Stuart Victoria Stuart 3, 2 2 gold badges 36 36 silver badges 28 28 bronze badges.

When analysing the problem you should activate the debug option -vv Then rsync will output which files are included or excluded by which pattern: building file list Matthias M Matthias M 9, 11 11 gold badges 72 72 silver badges 94 94 bronze badges. If you enter the trailing slash on the source, the rsync command does not create the source folder on the destination; it only copies the directory's files. When you do not use the trailing slash, rsync also creates the original directory inside the destination directory.

To copy one file to another directory on a local machine, type in the source file's full path, followed by the target destination. The command transfers the sample. If the destination directory does not exist, add a slash at the end, and rsync will create it, as is the case in our example. If you want to copy a file from the current working directory, you can enter the name of the file, not the full path. You should use this method for a small number of files. If the list is larger, you can refer to the --exclude option.

To copy a directory and its contents to another location on your machine, use the -a or -r option. We used the archive option :. The example above shows how to copy the Linux directory to the rsync directory. Note we did not use the trailing slash after Linux. Hence, the rsync tool created the Linux directory and its content inside the rsync directory. Add the IP address and the destination after the source directory.

Remember to put a colon : after the remote host's IP address, with no spaces before the destination. Enter the password for the current user to continue. If you want to use another account for the remote connection, specify it before the IP address:.

Similar to copying data locally, list multiple files or multiple directory paths you want to copy to a remote server. Follow the same syntax as with copying a single file or directory. The rsync tool can be instructed with the -e option to use a specific protocol for file transfers.

To use Rsync over SSH to transfer files remotely , append -e ssh to the rsync command. For example, to transfer sample. This command copied the DirM directory from To copy a specific file from a remote host, enter the full path of the source file and the destination on your local machine. For example:. To transfer multiple files or multiple directories from a remote server, list the paths using curly brackets after the IP address of the server.

Separate the paths with a comma. When performing a large data backup , you may want to view the progress of the transfer. Add the --progress flag to the rsync command to view the amount of data transferred, transfer speed, and the remaining time.

This option tells rsync to delete any file or directory at the destination if the source does not have it. In some scenarios, you may want to delete the source files after the transfer. For example, you may be moving a weekly backup to a new server.