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sean chan
sean chan
2,092 Points
Posted by sean chan
sean chan
2,092 Points

use cp on existing directory behave differently

If I type "cp -r documents docs", a new docs directory is created under current directory. However if I use "mkdir docs" to create docs directory first, then use the "cp -r documents docs" command, the whole documents is copied into the docs(e.g. docs/documents). Is this the normal behavior? I am expecting only the content(how_to_go_home.txt) of documents being copied to docs. How can I copy the content only to an existing directory?

1 Answer

akak
akak
29,445 Points
akak
akak
29,445 Points

Yes, it's normal :)

To copy all contents of a directory to another directory use:

cp documents/* docs