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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atf-sh
ATF-SH(1) BSD General Commands Manual ATF-SH(1)
NAME
atf-sh [-s shell] -- interpreter for shell-based test programs
SYNOPSIS
atf-sh script
DESCRIPTION
atf-sh is an interpreter that runs the test program given in script after loading the atf-sh(3) library.
atf-sh is not a real interpreter though: it is just a wrapper around the system-wide shell defined by ATF_SHELL. atf-sh executes the inter-
preter, loads the atf-sh(3) library and then runs the script. You must consider atf-sh to be a POSIX shell by default and thus should not
use any non-standard extensions.
The following options are available:
-s shell Specifies the shell to use instead of the value provided by ATF_SHELL.
ENVIRONMENT
ATF_LIBEXECDIR Overrides the builtin directory where atf-sh is located. Should not be overridden other than for testing purposes.
ATF_PKGDATADIR Overrides the builtin directory where libatf-sh.subr is located. Should not be overridden other than for testing purposes.
ATF_SHELL Path to the system shell to be used in the generated scripts. Scripts must not rely on this variable being set to select a
specific interpreter.
EXAMPLES
Scripts using atf-sh(3) should start with:
#! /usr/bin/env atf-sh
Alternatively, if you want to explicitly choose a shell interpreter, you cannot rely on env(1) to find atf-sh. Instead, you have to hardcode
the path to atf-sh in the script and then use the -s option afterwards as a single parameter:
#! /path/to/bin/atf-sh -s/bin/bash
ENVIRONMENT
ATF_SHELL Path to the system shell to be used in the generated scripts.
SEE ALSO
atf-sh(3)
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