Copying Directories Containing Files
Copy directories which have files in them (FreeBSD 5.2)
Posted 24.09.2005 | Updated 23.05.2006 | Contributed by Andy Mallett


By default if you try to copy a directory using the cp command, BSD will error out with the following message:

cp: dirname is a directory (not copied).

Often the directory to be copied contains files too and cp has switches aplenty for all situations. I like to use what I call priv mode which is a good way to remember the required switches..

cp  -priv  usr/local/src/phpBB2  /usr/local/apache/htdocs

Where
p      Preserve file attributes like date, time, etc.
r      Recursive.  Will also copy subdirectories.
i      Interactive.  Will prompt you if overwriting files.
v      Verbose. Will show each file as it is copied.