12-01-2005
copy only newer files? (xcopy equivalent)
Howdy folks.
I have a problem - I'm sure the answer is very simple, but I can't work it out.
I want to create a UNIX shell script that does what I've been doing in DOS batch files for years - that is, backing up files. By which I mean copying files from a source directory to a target directory, only if a) the file doesn't exist at the target, or b) the file does exist but is older than the source.
In DOS, I did something like this:
xcopy c:\path\directory\*.* x:\backup\ /d /e
Where x was a networked drive, /d meaning only copy files newer than the target, /e meaning recurse into subdirectories.
In UNIX, I'm close but no cigar yet... I have the following:
cp -r /testdir/source/ /testdir/target/
This works in that it copies files, leaving the originals behind and recursing into subdirectories, but it doesn't only copy source files if they're newer than the target. It copies eveything.
I have read in a few different places that cp accepts the -u ('update' I think) option, to make it only copy newer files, but I can't get this to work. If I write cp -u, I am told that 'u' is an 'illegal option' for cp.
So, is there a way to get the behviour I'm after? Am I right to be using cp, or is there a better function to do what I want?
Doing all this on Mac OS 10.3.9, using the terminal, tcsh.
Very grateful for any help.
Cheers.
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CPMAC(1) BSD General Commands Manual CPMAC(1)
NAME
/usr/bin/CpMac -- copy files preserving metadata and forks
SYNOPSIS
/usr/bin/CpMac [-rp] [-mac] source target
/usr/bin/CpMac [-rp] [-mac] source ... directory
DESCRIPTION
In its first form, the /usr/bin/CpMac utility copies the contents of the file named by the source operand to the destination path named by
the target operand. This form is assumed when the last operand does not name an already existing directory.
In its second form, /usr/bin/CpMac copies each file named by a source operand to a destination directory named by the directory operand. The
destination path for each operand is the pathname produced by the concatenation of the last operand, a slash, and the final pathname compo-
nent of the named file.
The following options are available:
-r If source designates a directory, /usr/bin/CpMac copies the directory and the entire subtree connected at that point. This option also
causes symbolic links to be copied, rather than indirected through, and for /usr/bin/CpMac to create special files rather than copying
them as normal files. Created directories have the same mode as the corresponding source directory, unmodified by the process' umask.
-p Causes /usr/bin/CpMac to preserve in the copy as many of the modification time, access time, file flags, file mode, user ID, and group
ID as allowed by permissions.
-mac Allows use of HFS-style paths for both source and target. Path elements must be separated by colons, and the path must begin with a
volume name or a colon (to designate current directory).
NOTES
The /usr/bin/CpMac command does not support the same options as the POSIX cp command, and is much less flexible in its operands. It cannot
be used as a direct substitute for cp in scripts.
As of Mac OS X 10.4, the cp command preserves metadata and resource forks of files on Extended HFS volumes, so it can be used in place of
CpMac. The /usr/bin/CpMac command will be deprecated in future versions of Mac OS X.
SEE ALSO
cp(1) MvMac(1)
Mac OS X April 12, 2004 Mac OS X