Can I verbose output during a copy command processing?

Question

Situation: If I entered a copy command like cp -rf /src/ /dsc/ then I am waiting several minutes for copy large directories. I forgot to put -v flag to verbose an output, Can I do it during copying?

score 138 · Answer 1 · edited Jun 29 '16 at 12:18

138

This question seems to be old, but for the cp command you've got the --verbose option.

So the command works as follows:

cp --verbose -rf /src/ /dsc/

edited Jun 29 '16 at 12:18

grooveplex

2,506
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answered Jun 29 '16 at 09:10

myolli4

1,489

score 46 · Accepted Answer · answered Dec 22 '12 at 11:20

46

No you can't, but you could use the watch command to look at the destination directory to see how the process is progressing, eg.

watch ls -l /dsc/

answered Dec 22 '12 at 11:20

fabricator4

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score 17 · Answer 3 · answered Feb 18 '16 at 16:49

You could always use rsync instead, you'll atleast get to see the files that are being copied

rsync -rva /src/ /dst/

Of-course this only works before you start copying as an alternative to cp. The good news is though that rsync will only copy the files it needs to so you can kill your long-running cp command run the rsync command and it will pick up where cp left off.

score 8 · Answer 4 · answered Jun 20 '15 at 16:13

8

I propose :

watch du -sh /dsc/

answered Jun 20 '15 at 16:13

odile

81

Vitalii Kyktov · Answer 5 · 2014-03-30T07:12:33.117

3

I recommend to use Midnight Commander in case when you need to see a progress of files copying.

Install Midnight commander:
```
apt-get install mc
```
Open it:
```
mc
```
On first panel open source, on second - destination. Start copying using "F5".

MC will display nice and informative progress dialog.

edited Mar 30 '14 at 07:12

answered Mar 28 '14 at 14:56

Vitalii Kyktov

51

Can I verbose output during a copy command processing?

5 Answers5