Re: Directory overwriting

["Roberto C. Sanchez" <roberto@familiasanchez.net>]

Rodolfo Medina wrote:
> When I copy a file into the present directory, with:
>
>  $ cp /path/to/file .
>
> , if the file already exists it is overwritten, i.e. the `old one'
> is removed and the `new one' takes its place.
> Instead, with directories it is not the same:
> when I do:
>
>  $ cp -vr /path/to/dir .
>
> , if the directory already exists it is not removed, but the new one
> just adds files to the old one.
>
> Would it be possible, and how?, to have with directory overwriting
> the same behaviour we have with file overwriting?

You could probably write a script to "replace" the current cp command:

#!/bin/bash

if [ -d $3 ] ; then
  /bin/rm -rf $3
fi

/bin/cp $1 $2 $3

Of course, you will need to handle the command line parameters more 
intelligently (this script only handle one clump of switches).

-Roberto

--
Roberto C. Sanchez
http://familiasanchez.net/~roberto