ditto

Copy files and folders.

SYNTAX
     ditto [options] Srce_file  Destination_file
     ditto [options] Source  Destination_folder
     ditto -x [options] Srce_Archive  Destination_folder
     ditto -c [options] Source  Destination_archive

                     Source = a file, folder or archive

OPTIONS
     -c	   create an archive at the destination path.
	   Use a file extension, .zip, .cpio or .cpgz (for Compressed CPIO archives)     -v	   Print a line of output for each source folder copied.

     -k	   Instead of CPIO, assume PKZip archives.

     -V	   Print a line of output for every file, symbolic link, and device
	   copied.

     -x	   the first source is an archive to extract.

     -X	   When copying one or more source folders, do not descend into
	   folders that have a different device ID.

     -z	   -x implies -z.  CPIO archives should be compressed.	Uncompressed
	   data flows through the decompressor unmodified.

     --keepParent
	   the parent directory of src should be embedded in Destination_archive.
	   --keepParent only applies to the creation of archives.

     --arch arch
	   Thin multi-architecture binaries ("fat binaries") to the specified
	   architecture. If multiple -arch options are specified then the
	   resulting destination file will be multi-architectural containing
	   each of the specified architectures (if they are present in the
	   source file).  arch should be specified as "ppc", "i386", etc.

     --bom bom
	   If this option is given then only files, links, devices, and folders
	   that are present in the specified BOM file are copied.

     --rsrc
	   Preserve resource forks and HFS meta-data.  ditto will store this
	   data in Carbon-compatible ._ AppleDouble files on filesystems that
	   do not natively support resource forks.

     -rsrcFork
	   synonym for --rsrc

     --sequesterRsrc
	   ditto will preserve resource forks and HFS meta-data in the direc-
	   tory __MACOSX within PKZip archives.

Unlike cp -R, if the destination folder already exists, the existing contents will be merged with the contents of the folder being copied.

EXAMPLES

Copy the "Documents" folder to "Documents backup".
  ditto Documents "Documents backup"
quotes are needed because of the space in the folder name.

To also preserve the Mac resource forks, type and creator codes use:
  ditto -rsrcFork Documents "Documents backup"

"The Borgesian meta-library contains a copy of every book ever written, but my dream-artifact is already, and always, every book ever written, on demand" - William Gibson

Related commands:

cp - Copy files
CpMac - Copy a Mac file (Developer Tools)
copy - Copy groups of files in folders
dd - Data Dump - convert and copy a file (use for RAW storage)
install - Copy files and set attributes
mv - Move Files
tar - store or extract files to an archive (allows symbolic links to be copied as links)

Equivalent BASH command:

cp - Copy Files