How to filter files when using scp to copy dir recursively?

file shell filter directory scp
derrdji picture derrdji · Aug 4, 2009 · Viewed 120.9k times · Source

I need to copy all the .class files from server to local with all dir reserved. e.g. server:/usr/some/unknown/number/of/sub/folders/me.class will be /usr/project/backup/some/unknown/number/of/sub/folders/me.class the problem is, there are many other useless files such as .svn-base files that i don't want. how can i filter them so I only scp .class files?

Answer

Gavin Gilmour picture Gavin Gilmour · Aug 4, 2009

I'd probably recommend using something like rsync for this due to its include and exclude flags, e.g:-

rsync -rav -e ssh --include '*/' --include='*.class' --exclude='*' \
server:/usr/some/unknown/number/of/sub/folders/ \ 
/usr/project/backup/some/unknown/number/of/sub/folders/

Some other useful flags:

  • -r for recursive
  • -a for archive (mostly all files)
  • -v for verbose output
  • -e to specify ssh instead of the default (which should be ssh, actually)

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