Archive & Transfer Modes
What -a Does
-a (archive) is shorthand for 7 flags combined:
| Flag | Purpose |
|---|---|
-r | Recurse into directories |
-l | Copy symlinks as symlinks |
-p | Preserve permissions |
-t | Preserve modification times |
-g | Preserve group |
-o | Preserve owner (root only) |
-D | Preserve device + special files |
# These are equivalent:
rsync -a src/ dest/
rsync -rlptgoD src/ dest/
Transfer Mode Flags
| Flag | Effect | Best For |
|---|---|---|
-v | Verbose output | Debugging |
-z | Compress during transfer | Remote/slow networks |
-P | Progress + partial (resume) | Large files |
-h | Human-readable sizes | Readability |
-n | Dry run (no changes) | Testing |
--stats | Show transfer statistics | Auditing |
-c | Checksum-based comparison | Critical data |
-u | Skip newer files on dest | Merge syncs |
-W | Whole file (skip delta) | LAN/local |
--append | Append to partial files | Logs, growing files |
--inplace | Update files in place | Large DB dumps |