Learn how to copy files and directories with ease using Ditto from the Mac Terminal.
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Most long-time command line users rely on the cp command to copy files and directories, but Mac OS X provides another solution with the ‘same’ command. The same is a little more advanced, but it can be useful for ‘cp’ for a number of reasons, as it not only preserves ownership and permissions, but also file forks and file and folder metadata. In addition, the same can be used to copy a file or folder to the source directory, but if that source does not already exist, it will create it automatically. If the destination folder exists, the copied content is merged into one of those destination directories. Finally, the same also follows symbolic links, which makes it especially handy if you are a heavy user of the ln command.
We better understand the ditto command by looking at a few examples with real syntax.
Copying files / folders in the same way
At its simplest, it works in the same way as the cp command, with basic syntax as follows:
same source
For example, to copy ~ / Desktop / FluffyBackups to / Volumes / FluffyBackups /, just type the following:
same ~ / Desktop / FluffyBackups / Volumes / FluffyBackups /
Again, this preserves all metadata about the ownership and resources of the copied files, which can be especially important if you are copying files from one user directory to another, or if you want to preserve some file editing time.
If you are unsure of the source and destination content, you can always compare the two to a command or diff command before continuing to use the same command.
The same is used to merge applications and folders
Remember that the same checks to see if the destination already exists, and if it does, it links the source directories to the destination. This is important and very useful, so it’s one of the easiest ways to merge directories from the command line in OS X (although it’s now easy in the Finder as well).
same ~ / Pictures / Autumn2015 / / Items / PhotoBackup / 2021 /
This would take all the images from autumn 2021 and copy them to the existing directory “2020”, merging the content from source to destination. The merge behavior occurs again when the object already exists, if the object does not exist, it is created as specified or with the source name.
If you also copy data from directories with symbolic links, using the -V (verbose all) flag is valuable because it shows all copied files and symbolic links. Note -v is different from -v, which only displays files as output and not symbolic links.
Copy without metadata using the same
If for some reason you don’t want to copy metadata and resource forks, use the -norsrc flag like this:
same -V –norsrc ~ / sample / folder / volumes / NoMetadataBackups
–Using the Norsrc flag type overcomes the same main benefit, but can be useful in some cases.
You can learn much more about the excellent same command by reading the manual page that can be accessed in OS X by typing:
man the same
As usual, use the arrow keys to navigate up and down the manual page.
Before you strongly trust the same, be sure to try it a few times with irrelevant file transfers and directory mergers to understand how it works with your intended use.
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