copying a directory to same level

copying a directory to same level

[zzapper]

Hi
(Hope this is not too dumb)

I want to duplicate directory vim73 to vim

>cp -r vim73 vim/

if directory vim does not exist then it does what I want.
However if vim/ already exists then vim73/ will be created as a sub-directory 
in vim/ eg vim/vim73

Can you explain this behaviour and how can I force it duplicate to same level 
regardless of whether directory exists



-- 
zzapper
http://zzapper.co.uk/ Technical Tips

Re: copying a directory to same level

[Mikael Magnusson]

On 21 August 2010 17:12, zzapper <david@tvis.co.uk> wrote:
> Hi
> (Hope this is not too dumb)
>
> I want to duplicate directory vim73 to vim
>
>>cp -r vim73 vim/
>
> if directory vim does not exist then it does what I want.
> However if vim/ already exists then vim73/ will be created as a sub-directory
> in vim/ eg vim/vim73
>
> Can you explain this behaviour and how can I force it duplicate to same level
> regardless of whether directory exists

mkdir vim
cp -r vim73/* vim/

-- 
Mikael Magnusson

Re: copying a directory to same level

[Andrey Borzenkov]

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On Saturday 21 of August 2010 19:12:37 zzapper wrote:
> Hi
> (Hope this is not too dumb)
> 
> I want to duplicate directory vim73 to vim
> 
> >cp -r vim73 vim/
> 
> if directory vim does not exist then it does what I want.
> However if vim/ already exists then vim73/ will be created as a
> sub-directory in vim/ eg vim/vim73
> 
> Can you explain this behaviour

This is how cp command works and is unrelated to shell.

> and how can I force it duplicate to
> same level regardless of whether directory exists

GNU cp has -T option that does exactly what you want.

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Re: copying a directory to same level

[Bart Schaefer]

On Aug 21,  3:12pm, zzapper wrote:
}
} (Hope this is not too dumb)

Not dumb, but it's a "cp" thing rather than a shell thing.

} >cp -r vim73 vim/
} 
} if directory vim does not exist then it does what I want.
} However if vim/ already exists then vim73/ will be created as a sub-directory 
} in vim/ eg vim/vim73

Referring to the "cp" documentation (GNU "info" in this case):

   If the last argument names an existing directory, `cp' copies each
   SOURCE file into that directory (retaining the same name).

Consequently what you want is:

    cp -r vim73/. vim

which will change "." to "vim" if "vim" doesn't already exist, and copy
the contents of vim73/. into vim/. if "vim" already does exist.

-- 

Re: copying a directory to same level

[zzapper]

zzapper wrote in news:Xns9DDBA4E47D3B3zzappergmailcom@80.91.229.10:

> Hi
> (Hope this is not too dumb)
> 
> I want to duplicate directory vim73 to vim
> 
>>cp -r vim73 vim/
> 
> 
> 
> 
Thanks for all responses.
In fact i had used (and forgotten) the following solution in the past  

cp -r vim73/. vim

-- 
zzapper
http://zzapper.co.uk/ Technical Tips

Re: copying a directory to same level

[Benjamin R. Haskell]

On Sat, 21 Aug 2010, zzapper wrote:

> Hi
> (Hope this is not too dumb)
> 
> I want to duplicate directory vim73 to vim
> 
> >cp -r vim73 vim/
> 
> if directory vim does not exist then it does what I want.  However if 
> vim/ already exists then vim73/ will be created as a sub-directory in 
> vim/ eg vim/vim73
> 
> Can you explain this behaviour and how can I force it duplicate to 
> same level regardless of whether directory exists

Personally, I use rsync for anything like this.  For your particular use 
case, you'd want:

rsync -r vim73/ vim/

Note the trailing slash on vim73/.  If you omit it, you'll get a 
vim/vim73/ subdirectory.  In both cases, though, the final outcome 
doesn't depend on whether vim/ already exists.


Although, it also sounds suspiciously as though you're trying to go 
against recommendations and muck about in the $VIM/ or $VIMRUNTIME/ 
directories directly (rather than making modifications in your own home 
directory).


Or, maybe you're looking for symbolic links.  I've seen on many systems:

/usr/share/vim/current -> vim72

Modified for what I assume you might want in your example, that can be 
created by:

ln -s vim73 /usr/share/vim/vim

-- 
Best,
Ben

Re: copying a directory to same level

[Benjamin R. Haskell]

On Sun, 22 Aug 2010, Benjamin R. Haskell wrote:

> On Sat, 21 Aug 2010, zzapper wrote:
> 
> > Hi
> > (Hope this is not too dumb)
> > 
> > I want to duplicate directory vim73 to vim
> > 
> > >cp -r vim73 vim/
> > 
> > if directory vim does not exist then it does what I want.  However if 
> > vim/ already exists then vim73/ will be created as a sub-directory in 
> > vim/ eg vim/vim73
> > 
> > Can you explain this behaviour and how can I force it duplicate to 
> > same level regardless of whether directory exists
> 
> Personally, I use rsync for anything like this.  For your particular use 
> case, you'd want:
> 
> rsync -r vim73/ vim/
> 
> Note the trailing slash on vim73/.  If you omit it, you'll get a 
> vim/vim73/ subdirectory.  In both cases, though, the final outcome 
> doesn't depend on whether vim/ already exists.
> 
> 
> Although, it also sounds suspiciously as though you're trying to go 
> against recommendations and muck about in the $VIM/ or $VIMRUNTIME/ 
> directories directly (rather than making modifications in your own home 
> directory).
> 
> 
> Or, maybe you're looking for symbolic links.  I've seen on many systems:
> 
> /usr/share/vim/current -> vim72
> 
> Modified for what I assume you might want in your example, that can be 
> created by:
> 
> ln -s vim73 /usr/share/vim/vim
> 
> 

Oops, sorry.  I was in Vim mailing list mode.  I didn't realize this was 
on Zsh Users.  (Nor had I seen the other responses.)  The Vim-related 
advice still stands, though.

-- 
Best,
Ben