rclone/docs/content/commands/rclone_copy.md

---
date: 2016-08-24T23:47:55+01:00
title: "rclone copy"
slug: rclone_copy
url: /commands/rclone_copy/
---
## rclone copy

Copy files from source to dest, skipping already copied

### Synopsis



Copy the source to the destination.  Doesn't transfer
unchanged files, testing by size and modification time or
MD5SUM.  Doesn't delete files from the destination.

Note that it is always the contents of the directory that is synced,
not the directory so when source:path is a directory, it's the
contents of source:path that are copied, not the directory name and
contents.

If dest:path doesn't exist, it is created and the source:path contents
go there.

For example

    rclone copy source:sourcepath dest:destpath

Let's say there are two files in sourcepath

    sourcepath/one.txt
    sourcepath/two.txt

This copies them to

    destpath/one.txt
    destpath/two.txt

Not to

    destpath/sourcepath/one.txt
    destpath/sourcepath/two.txt

If you are familiar with `rsync`, rclone always works as if you had
written a trailing / - meaning "copy the contents of this directory".
This applies to all commands and whether you are talking about the
source or destination.

See the `--no-traverse` option for controlling whether rclone lists
the destination directory or not.


```
rclone copy source:path dest:path
```

### Options inherited from parent commands

```
      --acd-templink-threshold int      Files >= this size will be downloaded via their tempLink.
      --acd-upload-wait-time duration   Time to wait after a failed complete upload to see if it appears. (default 2m0s)
      --ask-password                    Allow prompt for password for encrypted configuration. (default true)
      --b2-chunk-size int               Upload chunk size. Must fit in memory.
      --b2-test-mode string             A flag string for X-Bz-Test-Mode header.
      --b2-upload-cutoff int            Cutoff for switching to chunked upload
      --b2-versions                     Include old versions in directory listings.
      --bwlimit int                     Bandwidth limit in kBytes/s, or use suffix b|k|M|G
      --checkers int                    Number of checkers to run in parallel. (default 8)
  -c, --checksum                        Skip based on checksum & size, not mod-time & size
      --config string                   Config file. (default "/home/ncw/.rclone.conf")
      --contimeout duration             Connect timeout (default 1m0s)
      --cpuprofile string               Write cpu profile to file
      --delete-after                    When synchronizing, delete files on destination after transfering
      --delete-before                   When synchronizing, delete files on destination before transfering
      --delete-during                   When synchronizing, delete files during transfer (default)
      --delete-excluded                 Delete files on dest excluded from sync
      --drive-auth-owner-only           Only consider files owned by the authenticated user. Requires drive-full-list.
      --drive-chunk-size int            Upload chunk size. Must a power of 2 >= 256k.
      --drive-formats string            Comma separated list of preferred formats for downloading Google docs. (default "docx,xlsx,pptx,svg")
      --drive-full-list                 Use a full listing for directory list. More data but usually quicker. (obsolete)
      --drive-upload-cutoff int         Cutoff for switching to chunked upload
      --drive-use-trash                 Send files to the trash instead of deleting permanently.
      --dropbox-chunk-size int          Upload chunk size. Max 150M.
  -n, --dry-run                         Do a trial run with no permanent changes
      --dump-bodies                     Dump HTTP headers and bodies - may contain sensitive info
      --dump-filters                    Dump the filters to the output
      --dump-headers                    Dump HTTP headers - may contain sensitive info
      --exclude string                  Exclude files matching pattern
      --exclude-from string             Read exclude patterns from file
      --files-from string               Read list of source-file names from file
  -f, --filter string                   Add a file-filtering rule
      --filter-from string              Read filtering patterns from a file
      --ignore-existing                 Skip all files that exist on destination
      --ignore-size                     Ignore size when skipping use mod-time or checksum.
  -I, --ignore-times                    Don't skip files that match size and time - transfer all files
      --include string                  Include files matching pattern
      --include-from string             Read include patterns from file
      --log-file string                 Log everything to this file
      --low-level-retries int           Number of low level retries to do. (default 10)
      --max-age string                  Don't transfer any file older than this in s or suffix ms|s|m|h|d|w|M|y
      --max-depth int                   If set limits the recursion depth to this. (default -1)
      --max-size int                    Don't transfer any file larger than this in k or suffix b|k|M|G
      --memprofile string               Write memory profile to file
      --min-age string                  Don't transfer any file younger than this in s or suffix ms|s|m|h|d|w|M|y
      --min-size int                    Don't transfer any file smaller than this in k or suffix b|k|M|G
      --modify-window duration          Max time diff to be considered the same (default 1ns)
      --no-check-certificate            Do not verify the server SSL certificate. Insecure.
      --no-gzip-encoding                Don't set Accept-Encoding: gzip.
      --no-traverse                     Don't traverse destination file system on copy.
      --no-update-modtime               Don't update destination mod-time if files identical.
      --onedrive-chunk-size int         Above this size files will be chunked - must be multiple of 320k.
      --onedrive-upload-cutoff int      Cutoff for switching to chunked upload - must be <= 100MB
  -q, --quiet                           Print as little stuff as possible
      --retries int                     Retry operations this many times if they fail (default 3)
      --size-only                       Skip based on size only, not mod-time or checksum
      --stats duration                  Interval to print stats (0 to disable) (default 1m0s)
      --swift-chunk-size int            Above this size files will be chunked into a _segments container.
      --timeout duration                IO idle timeout (default 5m0s)
      --transfers int                   Number of file transfers to run in parallel. (default 4)
  -u, --update                          Skip files that are newer on the destination.
  -v, --verbose                         Print lots more stuff
```

### SEE ALSO
* [rclone](/commands/rclone/)	 - Sync files and directories to and from local and remote object stores - v1.33-DEV

###### Auto generated by spf13/cobra on 24-Aug-2016