rsync: Smart File Sync

The right tool for almost every copy

rsync copies files between two locations (local-local, local-remote, remote-remote) but only transfers what changed. It preserves permissions, handles symlinks, can resume after a network blip, and tells you exactly what it did.

The flag set you'll always type

rsync -avzP src/ dest/

• -a — archive (recursion, perms, times, symlinks).
• -v — verbose, list each file.
• -z — compress over the wire.
• -P — partial+progress (resumable, shows progress per file).

The trailing-slash rule

• rsync -av src/ dest/ — copy contents of src into dest.
• rsync -av src dest/ — copy src itself into dest, creating dest/src/.

Trailing slash on the source is the one decision you make before every rsync.

Useful extras

• --delete — remove files in dest that aren't in src. Mirror mode. Use with care.
• --exclude='node_modules' --exclude='.git' — skip patterns.
• --exclude-from=.rsyncignore — read patterns from a file.
• --dry-run (or -n) — show what would happen without doing it. Always run with -n first.
• -e ssh — explicit transport (defaults to ssh nowadays).

Real patterns

• Backup home: rsync -avzP ~/ /Volumes/backup/home/
• Mirror to remote: rsync -avzP --delete ./site/ user@web:/srv/site/
• Pull from remote: rsync -avzP user@server:/data/ ~/local-data/