UNIX rsync

rsync is a utility software and network protocol for Unix-like systems (with ports to Microsoft Windows and Apple Macintosh) that synchronizes files and directories from one location to another while minimizing data transfer by using delta encoding when appropriate. Quoting the official website: "rsync is a file transfer program for Unix systems. rsync uses the 'rsync algorithm' which provides a very fast method for bringing remote files into sync."[3] A feature of rsync not found in most similar programs/protocols[citation needed] is that the mirroring takes place with only one transmission in each direction, eliminating the message latency overhead inherent in transmitting a large number of small messages.[4] rsync can copy or display directory contents and copy files, optionally using compression and recursion.

Synopsis

Basic:

• rsync [option] ... srr [src] ... [user@]host:dest

Complete:

• Local: rsync [OPTION...] SRC... [DEST]
• Access via remote shell:
  • Pull: rsync [OPTION...] [USER@]HOST:SRC... [DEST]
  • Push: rsync [OPTION...] SRC... [USER@]HOST:DEST
• Access via rsync daemon:
  • Pull:
    • rsync [OPTION...] [USER@]HOST::SRC... [DEST]
    • rsync [OPTION...] rsync://[USER@]HOST[:PORT]/SRC... [DEST]
  • Push:
    • rsync [OPTION...] SRC... [USER@]HOST::DEST
    • rsync [OPTION...] SRC... rsync://[USER@]HOST[:PORT]/DEST

Options

See for a complete list the man pages.

Option	Alternative	Short-name	Description
-a	--archive	Archive	archive mode; equals -rlptgoD (no -H,-A,-X)
-C	--cvs-include	VCS ignore	excluding a broad range of files that you often don't want to transfer between systems. It uses a similar algorithm to CVS to determine if a file should be ignored. Ignored files: .nse_depinfo *~ #* .#* ,* _$* *$ *.old *.bak *.BAK *.orig *.rej .del-* *.a *.olb *.o *.obj *.so *.exe *.Z *.elc *.ln core .svn/ .git/ .bzr/
-c	--checksum	Checksum	skip based on checksum, not mod-time & size
-h	--human-readable	Human readable	output number in a human readable format
-n	--dry-run	Dry run	Performs a trial run with no changes mode
-q	--quiet	Quiet	Suppress non-error messages
-r	--recursive	Recursive	recurse into directories
-v	--verbose	Verbose	increase verbosity

Examples

Command example	Description
rsync -avh /home/usr/dir/ /media/disk/backup	Copies the home directory to your external disk backup using a human readable format
rsync -achrv xx yy	Copies xx to yy if archive, checksum (not time and size), human readable, recursive and verbose.

See also

• Linux, Man-pages, rsync.