Rsync is a tool used to synchronise files both locally and remotely on Linux systems. Commonly used for backups and mirroring, Rsync uses a delta-transfer algorithm which sends only the differences between the files.
Some common options for Rsync commands
- -a : archive mode. Copies files recursively and will also preserve all file permissions and timestamps.
- -n : dry-run. Rsync performs a trial run without making any changes. Commonly used with
-vto see what will change before performing a real Rsync. - -P : show the progress of the transfer. Same as
--progress. - -v : verbose. This option increases the amount of information you are given during the transfer.
- --delete : delete files at the destination which do not exist at the source.
- --exclude : used to specify files to exclude from the transfer.
- --ignore-existing : skip existing files at destination. Does not affect directories.
Basic Rsync operation
To perform a copy from one location to another:
$ rsync -a '/origin/' '/destination'
Note the forward-slash at the end of the /origin/ directory name. If only
transferring one file, do not add the trailing slash. For example:
$ rsync -a 'file.txt' /tmp/
In all cases, the destination directory can be specified with or without the trailing slash.
Show progress of Rsync
To show the progress of the transfer, use the (uppercase) -P option:
$ rsync -aP '/origin/' '/destination'
Note that options can be joined together without the additional - before
each one. For example, to use archive, verbose and Progress
together:
$ rsync -avP '/origin/' '/destination'
Exclude files using Rsync
To exclude a specific file, use the --exclude option:
$ rsync -avP --exclude 'cats.jpg' "/origin/" "/destination"
To exclude more than one file, add another --exclude option:
$ rsync -avP --exclude 'cats.jpg' --exclude 'dogs.jpg' "/origin/" "/destination"
To exclude all files of the same type, e.g. all .jpg files:
$ rsync -avP --exclude '*.jpg' "/origin/" "/destination"
Ignore existing files at destination with Rsync
Use the --ignore-existing option to ignore all existing files in the
destination directory:
$ rsync -avP --ignore-existing "/origin/" "/destination"
Note that this option does not affect directories. This is a useful option for backups, for example, where a source folder contains some older files that have already been synchronised.
Delete at target
Use this option to delete files at the destination that do not exist at the origin.
$ rsync -avP --delete "/origin/" "/destination"
Note that --delete will proceed without asking for confirmation. It is
recommended to perform a dry-run when using this option by specifying -n or
--dry-run.
$ rsync -n -avP --delete "/origin/" "/destination"
#or
rsync --dry-run -avP --delete "/origin/" "/destination"