Rsync<\/em>, which stands for “remote sync”, is a remote and local file synchronization tool. It uses an algorithm that minimizes the amount of data copied by only moving the portions of files that have changed.<\/p>\n In this guide, we will cover the basic usage of this powerful utility. We will be using an Ubuntu 12.04 VPS in the examples, but you can use any modern Linux distribution to follow along.<\/p>\n Rsync is a very flexible network-enabled syncing tool. It can also<\/em> refer to the network protocol developed to utilize this tool.<\/p>\n When we reference rsync in this guide, we are mainly referring to the utility, and not the protocol.<\/p>\n Due to its ubiquity on Linux and Unix-like systems and its popularity as a tool for system scripts, it is included on most Linux distributions by default.<\/p>\n The basic syntax of rsync is very straight forward, and operates in a way that is similar to ssh, scp, and cp.<\/p>\n We will create two test directories and some test files with the following commands:<\/p>\n We now have a directory called We also have an empty directory called To sync the contents of The -r<\/strong> option means recursive, which is necessary for directory syncing.<\/p>\n We could also use the -a<\/strong> flag instead:<\/p>\n The -a<\/strong> option is a combination flag.<\/p>\n It stands for “archive” and syncs recursively and preserves symbolic links, special and device files, modification times, group, owner, and permissions.<\/p>\n It is more commonly used than -r<\/strong> and is usually what you want to use.<\/p>\n You may have noticed that there is a trailing slash (\/) at the end of the first argument in the above commands:<\/p>\n This is necessary to mean “the contents of The alternative, without the trailing slash, would place Always double-check your arguments before executing an rsync command.<\/p>\n Rsync provides a method for doing this by passing the -n<\/strong> or –dry-run<\/strong> options. The -v<\/strong> flag (for verbose) is also necessary to get the appropriate output:<\/p>\n Compare this output to the output we get when we remove the trailing slash:<\/p>\n You can see here that the directory itself is transfered.<\/p>\nWhat Is Rsync?<\/h2>\n
Basic Syntax<\/h2>\n
cd ~\nmkdir dir1\nmkdir dir2\ntouch dir1\/file{1..100}\n<\/code><\/pre>\ndir1<\/code> with 100 empty files in it.<\/p>\nls dir1\n<\/code><\/pre>\nfile1 file18 file27 file36 file45 file54 file63 file72 file81 file90\nfile10 file19 file28 file37 file46 file55 file64 file73 file82 file91\nfile100 file2 file29 file38 file47 file56 file65 file74 file83 file92\nfile11 file20 file3 file39 file48 file57 file66 file75 file84 file93\nfile12 file21 file30 file4 file49 file58 file67 file76 file85 file94\nfile13 file22 file31 file40 file5 file59 file68 file77 file86 file95\nfile14 file23 file32 file41 file50 file6 file69 file78 file87 file96\nfile15 file24 file33 file42 file51 file60 file7 file79 file88 file97\nfile16 file25 file34 file43 file52 file61 file70 file8 file89 file98\nfile17 file26 file35 file44 file53 file62 file71 file80 file9 file99\n<\/code><\/pre>\ndir2<\/code>.<\/p>\ndir1<\/code> to dir2<\/code> on the same system, type:<\/p>\nrsync -r dir1\/ dir2\n<\/code><\/pre>\nrsync -a dir1\/ dir2\n<\/code><\/pre>\nAn Important Note<\/h3>\n
rsync -a dir1\/<\/span> dir2\n<\/pre>\ndir1<\/code>“.<\/p>\ndir1<\/code>, including the directory, within dir2<\/code>. This would create a hierarchy that looks like:<\/p>\n~\/dir2\/dir1\/[files]\n<\/code><\/pre>\nrsync -anv dir1\/ dir2\n<\/code><\/pre>\nsending incremental file list\n.\/\nfile1\nfile10\nfile100\nfile11\nfile12\nfile13\nfile14\nfile15\nfile16\nfile17\nfile18\n. . .\n<\/code><\/pre>\nrsync -anv dir1 dir2\n<\/code><\/pre>\nsending incremental file list\ndir1\/\ndir1\/file1\ndir1\/file10\ndir1\/file100\ndir1\/file11\ndir1\/file12\ndir1\/file13\ndir1\/file14\ndir1\/file15\ndir1\/file16\ndir1\/file17\ndir1\/file18\n. . .\n<\/code><\/pre>\n