Logging & Output

Output Flags

Flag	Output Type	Use Case
-v	List transferred files	Basic monitoring
-vv	List skipped files too	Debugging
-vvv	Full protocol debug	Deep troubleshooting
--progress	Per-file progress bar	Large files
-P	Progress + partial resume	Large transfers
--stats	Summary statistics	Auditing
--itemize-changes	Detailed change codes	Precise change tracking
--log-file=PATH	Write to log file	Cron / automation
-q	Quiet (errors only)	Cron (minimal output)

Commands

# Show progress for large transfers
rsync -avP src/ dest/

# Log to file (for cron jobs)
rsync -av --log-file=/var/log/rsync/backup.log src/ dest/

# Show detailed statistics
rsync -av --stats src/ dest/

# Itemize what changed and why
rsync -av --itemize-changes src/ dest/

# Combine: stats + log + progress
rsync -avP --stats --log-file=/var/log/rsync/transfer.log src/ dest/

# Quiet mode (cron — only show errors)
rsync -aq src/ dest/

Reading --itemize-changes

>f.st...... file.txt # sent file, size+time changed
>f..t...... config.php # sent file, time changed
cd+++++++++ new-dir/ # created directory
*deleting old-file.txt # deleted from dest

Pos	Char	Meaning
1	> / <	Sent / received
2	f / d	File / directory
4	s	Size changed
5	t	Timestamp changed
6	p	Permissions changed
7	o	Owner changed
8	g	Group changed