How to Use rsync for Data Synchronization

`rsync` is a powerful utility for synchronizing files and directories between two locations, either locally or over a network.

Common Syntax

rsync [options] [source] [destination]

Useful Options

• -a (archive): A quick way to say you want to recurse into directories and preserve permissions, times, etc.
• -v (verbose): Shows more output.
• -h (human-readable): Outputs numbers in a human-readable format.
• -P: Combines `--progress` (shows transfer progress) and `--partial` (allows resuming interrupted transfers).

Examples

# Sync a local directory to a remote server
rsync -avh /local/path/ user@remote_host:/remote/path/

# Sync a remote directory to a local directory
rsync -avh user@remote_host:/remote/path/ /local/path/

# Use the --delete flag to make the destination an exact mirror of the source
rsync -avh --delete /local/path/ user@remote_host:/remote/path/