Introduction

rsync is a powerful tool for synchronizing files and directories between two locations over a network or locally. It is highly efficient and versatile, making it a favorite among system administrators and developers.

Installation

rsync is typically pre-installed on most Unix-based systems. To check if rsync is installed, run:

rsync --version

If it’s not installed, you can install it using your package manager.

For Debian-based systems (e.g., Ubuntu):

sudo apt-get install rsync

For Red Hat-based systems (e.g., CentOS):

sudo yum install rsync

For macOS (using Homebrew):

brew install rsync

Basic Usage

The basic syntax for rsync is:

rsync [options] source destination

Examples

Copy a file from local to remote system:

rsync -avz /path/to/local/file user@remote:/path/to/destination/

Copy a directory from remote to local system:

rsync -avz user@remote:/path/to/remote/directory/ /path/to/local/destination/

Sync two local directories:

rsync -avz /path/to/source/directory/ /path/to/destination/directory/

Common Options

Option	Description
`-a, --archive`	Archive mode, equivalent to `-rlptgoD`. This option tells rsync to sync directories recursively, transfer special and block devices, preserve symbolic links, modification times, groups, ownership, and permissions.
`-z, --compress`	This option forces rsync to compress the data as it is sent to the destination machine. Use this option only if the connection to the remote machine is slow.
`-P`	Equivalent to `--partial--progress`. When this option is used, rsync shows a progress bar during the transfer and keeps the partially transferred files. It is useful when transferring large files over slow or unstable network connections.
`--delete`	When this option is used, rsync deletes extraneous files from the destination location. It is useful for mirroring.
`-q, --quiet`	Use this option if you want to suppress non-error messages.
`-e`	This option allows you to choose a different remote shell. By default, rsync is configured to use ssh.

Example with Options

rsync -avz --delete --progress /path/to/source/ user@remote:/path/to/destination/

Excluding Files and Directories

You can exclude specific files or directories using the --exclude option.

rsync -avz --exclude 'node_modules' /path/to/source/ user@remote:/path/to/destination/

Synchronizing Over SSH

By default, rsync uses ssh for remote transfers. You can specify a different remote shell using the -e option.

rsync -avz -e ssh /path/to/source/ user@remote:/path/to/destination/

Dry Run

To see what changes will be made without actually transferring any files, use the --dry-run option.

rsync -avz --dry-run /path/to/source/ user@remote:/path/to/destination/

Syncing Repositories with rsync