How to copy directories in OS X 10.7.3?

Question

Hi I'm trying to copy my rails_projects directory from haseebjaved/Desktop/rails_projects to my home directory, which is haseebjaved.

How can I do this via the Command Line?

Also, can I see my home directory on the UI or only via the Command Line in Mac OS X?

Is it possible to copy directories to and from my home directory via the UI? Or only via Command Line?

Thank you

Answer 1

Is there something special with that directory or are you really just asking how to copy directories?

Copy recursively via CLI:

cp -R <sourcedir> <destdir>

If you're only seeing the files under the sourcedir being copied (instead of sourcedir as well), that's happening because you kept the trailing slash for sourcedir:

cp -R <sourcedir>/ <destdir>

The above only copies the files and their directories inside of sourcedir. Typically, you want to include the directory you're copying, so drop the trailing slash:

cp -R <sourcedir> <destdir>

Answer 2

tl;dr

cp -R "/src/project 1/App" "/src/project 2"

Explanation:

Using quotes will cater for spaces in the directory names

cp -R "/src/project 1/App" "/src/project 2"

If the App directory is specified in the destination directory:

cp -R "/src/project 1/App" "/src/project 2/App"

and "/src/project 2/App" already exists the result will be "/src/project 2/App/App"

Best not to specify the directory copied in the destination so that the command can be repeated over and over with the expected result.

Inside a bash script:

cp -R "${1}/App" "${2}"