Simple Bash command to copy only directory contents

[Beaumont]

Can anyone tell me a simple way in Bash to copy all of the contents of a directory (and only the contents), including hidden files, into another, existing directory?

E.g.

# I have this directory structure
- directory_A
--- existing_file
-
- directory_B
--- some_file
--- some_subdirectory
--- .some_hidden_file

# I want to end up with this

- directory_A
--- existing_file
--- some_file
--- some_subdirectory
--- .some_hidden_file
-
- directory_B
--- some_file
--- some_subdirectory
--- .some_hidden_file


# I *don't* want this

- directory_A
--- existing_file
--- directory_B
----- some_file
----- some_subdirectory
----- .some_hidden_file
-
- directory_B
--- some_file
--- some_subdirectory
--- .some_hidden_file

So far I've been stymied in finding a simple way to do this from the command prompt.

[leonglass]

How about a combination of the cpio and find commands.

find . -depth -print0 | cpio -0pdmv <target dir>

I am not sure if this picks up hidden files but I am sure it could be altered to do so. I used this command to copy video/music files from one dir to another. Use man to understand the args. To use it as is you will need to be in the dir b and dir a will be your target.

It has been a while since I used this command but I think I have given you the right one to not compress the files so please do check the man pages to make sure.

Alternatives are the cp and dd commands.