To be able to copy files, you must have at least read permissions on the source file and write permission on the target system.īe careful when copying files that share the same name and location on both systems, scp will overwrite files without warning.

The colon ( :) is how scp distinguish between local and remote locations. The scp command relies on ssh for data transfer, so it requires an ssh key or password to authenticate on the remote systems.

-r - This option tells scp to copy directories recursively.

-C - This option forces scp to compresses the data as it is sent to the destination machine.

-q - Use this option if you want to suppress the progress meter and non-error messages.

-p - Preserves files modification and access times.

-P - Specifies the remote host ssh port.

Scp provides a number of options that control every aspect of its behavior.

Local files should be specified using an absolute or relative path, while remote file names should include a user and host specification. Such as cipher, ssh configuration, ssh port, limit, recursive copy …etc. How to Use SCP Command to Securely Transfer Files in Linux

Copy files between two linux servers