How to copy a directory with symbolic links and resolve them?

Question

I would like to recursively copy the contents of a directory which contains symbolic links (symlinks) as well as normal files with a Bash / Shell Script. I don’t know how to copy the symlink-contents. The pseudocode would look something like this:

for file in directory do
  if is symlink
    resolve symlink and copy its contents
  else 
    copy the file / folder

My directory-structure looks like this:

base/
  dir1/
  symlinkdir1*/ (--> ../somewhere/else/dirA)
    /file1
    /file2
  symlinkdir2*/ (--> ../somewhere/else/dirB)
    /file3
    /file4
  …

After the copy-procedure, I would like to have a directory-structure like this:

base/
  dir1/
  symlinkdir1/ (no symlink, actual directory)
    /file1
    /file2
  symlinkdir2/ (no symlink, actual directory)
    /file3
    /file4
  …

score 58 · Accepted Answer · edited May 21 '20 at 15:40

58

cp -rL /source /destination

r = recursive L = follow and expand symlinks

edited May 21 '20 at 15:40

Amir

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answered Jun 09 '19 at 03:01

Daniele Testa

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3

Needs a capital -R on MacOS – Jeroen Ooms Dec 30 '20 at 17:42
what's the difference between using L and not using L? The two other answers don't use it and I'm wondering what's the difference – emilBeBri Apr 16 '21 at 12:04
2

-L will replace the symlinks with the real file. That's why my answer is the correct one and the other are wrong. – Daniele Testa Aug 18 '21 at 07:53

score -4 · Answer 2 · answered May 18 '14 at 21:19

-4

Just use cp command with -r option to recursively copy. No need of a script all together,

answered May 18 '14 at 21:19

Rahul

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How to copy a directory with symbolic links and resolve them?

2 Answers2

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