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 user /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

• 1

  Does

scp * user@host.com:/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, 2015 at 8:05

1

Appending /. is no longer work. More here – Tsulatsi Tamim
Mar 20, 2019 at 9:13

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.

• Your command created

local_dir directory in /var/www/html/target_dir my goal is copy only files. – Edgaras Karka
Sep 30, 2015 at 8:25

1

Sorry, I got it wrong. Then just repeat the command, but like this: $ scp -r ~/local_dir user@host.com:/var/www/html/ Then rename new directory if needed. – parazyd
Sep 30, 2015 at 8:31

17

Or $ scp -r ~/local_dir/* user@host.com:/var/www/html/target_dir Whatever floats your boat. – parazyd
Sep 30, 2015 at 8:34

26

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/. user@example.com:/path/to/target_dir – roaima
Jul 21, 2017 at 22:25

2

Unfortunately, using . has been broken by a poorly implemented scp "bugfix" (see <superuser.com/questions/1403473/scp-error-unexpected-filename/…). rsync would be a working alternative. – rivy
Jun 28, 2020 at 21:15

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.

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edited Jul 27, 2017 at 7:01


Dmitry Grigoryev6,90522 gold badges2121 silver badges5858 bronze badges

answered Sep 30, 2015 at 12:37


tachomi6,75244 gold badges2323 silver badges4444 bronze badges

• 2

  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 5, 2017 at 10:01

• Directories aren’t copied: not a regular file. – Pathros
  Aug 9, 2021 at 13:10

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24

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.

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answered Apr 23, 2018 at 21:43


raphinesse34322 silver badges66 bronze badges

• 5

  Unfortunately, this solution has been broken by a poorly implemented scp "bugfix" (see <superuser.com/questions/1403473/scp-error-unexpected-filename/…). – rivy
  Jun 28, 2020 at 21:14

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15

Follow these steps:

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

   scp -r ~/local_dir user@host.com:/var/www/html/target_dir 

2. 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 

3. 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: . 

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edited Sep 11 at 8:38


roaima93.4k1313 gold badges120120 silver badges229229 bronze badges

answered Sep 30, 2019 at 6:26


Syed Faraz Umar25122 silver badges44 bronze badges

• 1

  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 8, 2020 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 – Syed Faraz Umar
  Jan 14, 2020 at 6:15
• 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, 2020 at 8:33
• @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, 2020 at 9:59

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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.

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edited Jul 19, 2021 at 12:03

answered Jul 16, 2021 at 9:37


Tms9110344 bronze badges

• 1

  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, 2021 at 13:27

source : https://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/232946/how-to-copy-all-files-from-a-directory-to-a-remote-directory-using-scp