CopyFiles

CopyFiles is a basic file system operation in computing that duplicates files from a source location to a destination, optionally preserving metadata like timestamps, permissions, and ownership. It is a common operation in backups, software deployment, data migration, and file synchronization.

Typical features include recursive copying of directories, handling of existing files (overwrite, skip, or versioning), and options to preserve metadata and permissions. Some tools also provide filter patterns, progress reporting, retries on transient errors, and atomicity options for critical copies.

Common implementations: In Unix-like systems the cp command is used, with options such as -R for recursive and -a for archive mode to preserve attributes. Windows environments offer Copy-Item in PowerShell, xcopy and robocopy; the Windows API provides CopyFile and CopyFileEx. Dedicated file synchronization tools may implement CopyFiles semantics with delta transfers and checksums.

Use cases: Creating backups of documents, deploying application assets from a build to a deployment environment, migrating user data between storage locations, or cloning directories for testing.

Considerations: Permissions and access control lists may affect what can be copied; symbolic and hard links may be treated differently by tools; copying large trees may require streaming and error handling; network paths introduce latency and failure modes; ensure data integrity by checksums if needed.

See also: File copy, cp, Copy-Item, robocopy, rsync, file synchronization.