I am a new Linux user. I use scp to upload files to net-storage provided CDN company. I do not want to overwrite the existing files. How can I prevent overwriting of files when using scp command under Linux, Mac OS X or Unix like operating systems?
Short answer – Not possible.
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Long answer
The scp command will always overwrite the already present files if owner has write permissions. I suggest that you use the rsync command. The syntax is
rsync --ignore-existing file1 user@server1:/dest/
rsync --ignore-existing file.to.upload user@server1.cyberciti.biz:/path/to/dest/
### add ssh, just in case ;) ###
rsync -e ssh --ignore-existing file.to.upload user@server1.cyberciti.biz:/path/to/dest/
rsync -avP --ignore-existing *.png user@server1.cyberciti.biz:/stoage/static/c/cyberciti.biz/images/
rsync --ignore-existing file1 /path/to/dest/ |
rsync --ignore-existing file1 user@server1:/dest/
rsync --ignore-existing file.to.upload user@server1.cyberciti.biz:/path/to/dest/
### add ssh, just in case ;) ###
rsync -e ssh --ignore-existing file.to.upload user@server1.cyberciti.biz:/path/to/dest/
rsync -avP --ignore-existing *.png user@server1.cyberciti.biz:/stoage/static/c/cyberciti.biz/images/
rsync --ignore-existing file1 /path/to/dest/
The --ignore-existing option skip updating files that exist on receiver such as server1.cyberciti.biz.
Shell script example
The following script will upload files from your computer to the remote server using the rsync command. First, make sure you setup the public key authentication:
#!/bin/bash
# Purpose: Batch file uploader from my desktop to the remote server
# Author: nixCraft <www.cyberciti.biz> under GPL v2.x+
# -----------------------------------------------------------------
_server="server1.cyberciti.biz"
_user="nixcraft"
## static url mapping ##
_cdnbase="http://static.cyberciti.org/images"
_dest="/var/www/images/"
_cdnurls=""
_isuploaded=0
_files="$@"
## rsync args ##
_args="-aPv --ignore-existing"
## fail safe ##
[[ "$_files" == "" ]] && { echo "Usage: $0 file1.png file2.png"; exit 0; }
## Let us start uploading files. Bash for loop allows us to do a few more additional things,
## but I am keeping it simple here for demo purpose
for i in $_files
do
# make sure $i file exist #
if [ -f "$i" ]
then
rsync "$_args" "$i" ${_user}@${_server}:${_dest}
_cdnurls="${_cdnurls}\n${_cdnbase}/${i##*/}"
_isuploaded=1
else
echo "Error $i file not found."
fi
done
if [ $_isuploaded -eq 1 ]
then
echo "CDN urls:"
echo -e "$_cdnurls"
echo
fi |
#!/bin/bash
# Purpose: Batch file uploader from my desktop to the remote server
# Author: nixCraft <www.cyberciti.biz> under GPL v2.x+
# -----------------------------------------------------------------
_server="server1.cyberciti.biz"
_user="nixcraft" ## static url mapping ##
_cdnbase="http://static.cyberciti.org/images" _dest="/var/www/images/"
_cdnurls=""
_isuploaded=0
_files="$@"
## rsync args ##
_args="-aPv --ignore-existing"
## fail safe ##
[[ "$_files" == "" ]] && { echo "Usage: $0 file1.png file2.png"; exit 0; } ## Let us start uploading files. Bash for loop allows us to do a few more additional things,
## but I am keeping it simple here for demo purpose
for i in $_files
do
# make sure $i file exist #
if [ -f "$i" ]
then
rsync "$_args" "$i" ${_user}@${_server}:${_dest}
_cdnurls="${_cdnurls}\n${_cdnbase}/${i##*/}"
_isuploaded=1
else
echo "Error $i file not found."
fi
done if [ $_isuploaded -eq 1 ]
then
echo "CDN urls:"
echo -e "$_cdnurls"
echo
fi
You can use the script as follows:
./script foo.png
./script foo.png bar.png
./script *.mov
./script test.gif |
./script foo.png
./script foo.png bar.png
./script *.mov
./script test.gif
Sample outputs:
sending incremental file list
test-image.gif
950 100% 0.00kB/s 0:00:00 (xfer#1, to-check=0/1)
sent 1053 bytes received 31 bytes 197.09 bytes/sec
total size is 950 speedup is 0.88
CDN urls:
http://static.cyberciti.org/images/test-image.gif |
sending incremental file list
test-image.gif
950 100% 0.00kB/s 0:00:00 (xfer#1, to-check=0/1) sent 1053 bytes received 31 bytes 197.09 bytes/sec
total size is 950 speedup is 0.88
CDN urls: http://static.cyberciti.org/images/test-image.gif
Run it again:
Sample outputs:
sending incremental file list
sent 60 bytes received 12 bytes 13.09 bytes/sec
total size is 950 speedup is 13.19
CDN urls:
http://static.cyberciti.org/images/test-image.gif |
sending incremental file list sent 60 bytes received 12 bytes 13.09 bytes/sec
total size is 950 speedup is 13.19
CDN urls: http://static.cyberciti.org/images/test-image.gif
See also
If anyone knows a better solution to this FAQ please share in the comments below.
Posted by: Vivek Gite
The author is the creator of nixCraft and a seasoned sysadmin, DevOps engineer, and a trainer for the Linux operating system/Unix shell scripting. Get the latest tutorials on SysAdmin, Linux/Unix and open source topics via RSS/XML feed or weekly email newsletter.
2 comment
use rsync
mount the resource using sshfs and use regular file manager (if you do stuff manually)