Mac OS X in a Nutshell

Name

ditto

Synopsis

ditto [options] files directory
ditto [options] directory1 directory2
                  

Copies files and directories while preserving most file information, including resource fork and HFS metadata information when desired. ditto preserves the permissions, ownership, and timestamp of the source files in the copies. ditto overwrites identically named files in the target directory without prompting for confirmation.

ditto works like cp in the first synopsis form. However, the second form differs in that cp -r copies the entire directory1 into an existing directory2, while ditto copies the contents of directory1 into directory2, creating directory2 if it doesn’t already exist.

Options

-arch arch

When copying fat binary files, copy only the code for chip type arch. Fat binary files contain different code for different chip architectures. The -arch flag allows you to “thin” the binary by copying only the code for the specified chip. Possible values for arch include ppc, m68k, i386, hppa, and sparc.

-bom pathname

When copying a directory, include in the copy only those items listed in bom file pathname. See also mkbom for information on making a BOM (“bill-of-materials”) file.

-rsrcFork, -rsrc

When copying files, include any resource fork and HFS metadata information.

-v

Be verbose; report each directory copied.

-v

Be very verbose; report each file copied.

Example

Duplicate an entire home directory, copying the contents of directory /Users/chris into the directory Volumes/Drive 2/Users/chris ...