[](https://github.com/thimpat/clonefile/actions/workflows/test.yml)
[](https://github.com/thimpat/clonefile/blob/main/README.md)
[](https://www.npmjs.com/package/clonefile)
## Installation
```shell
npm install clonefile [-g]
```
---
## Usage
### In a Terminal
```shell
$> clonefile [options]
```
```shell
$> clonefile [--source] [--target] ... [options]
```
```shell
$> clonefile --sources ... [options]
```
### Programmatically
via CJS
```javascript
const {cloneFile} = require("clonefile");
// "Source" and "target" can be strings or arrays of strings
cloneFile(source, target, {silent: true, force: true})
```
----
or via ESM
```javascript
import {cloneFile} from "clonefile";
cloneFile(source, target, {silent: true, force: true})
```
---
## Examples
#### Display file list in a directory without doing any copies
```shell
$> clonefile my-dir/ --list-only
```
💻 ↴
```json lines
[
"./docs/images/img_1.png",
"./docs/images/img_2.png",
"./docs/images/img_3.png",
"./docs/images/img_4.png",
...
]
```
---
#### Clone a file
```shell
$> clonefile license.txt license.md
```
or
```shell
$> clonefile --source license.txt --target license.md
```
> **NOTE:** The source and the target arguments can be omitted
---
#### Clone a file into directory
```shell
# Copy license.txt into my-dest-dir
$> clonefile license.txt my-dest-dir/
```
---
#### Clone a file to multiple locations
```shell
# Copy license.txt into my-file-target-1 (file), my-file-target-2 (file) and within (my-dest-dir-1/) (directory)
$> clonefile license.txt my-file-target-1 my-file-target-2 my-dest-dir-1/
```
---
#### Clone a directory in multiple directories
```shell
$> clonefile --force sourcedir/ my-dest-dir-1/ my-dest-dir-2/ my-dest-dir-3/
```
---
#### Clone multiple files from a glob pattern to multiple directories with the --sources options (mandatory)
```shell
$> clonefile --force --sources *.txt my-dest-dir-1/ my-dest-dir-2/ my-dest-dir-3/
```
**_Result_**
> >C:/projects/clonefile/somefile1.txt => C:/projects/clonefile/my-dir-1/somefile1.txt
> C:/projects/clonefile/somefile1.txt => C:/projects/clonefile/my-dir-2/somefile1.txt
> C:/projects/clonefile/somefile1.txt => C:/projects/clonefile/my-dir-3/somefile1.txt
> --------------
> 3 items cloned
>
> >C:/projects/clonefile/somefile2.txt => C:/projects/clonefile/my-dir-1/somefile2.txt
> C:/projects/clonefile/somefile2.txt => C:/projects/clonefile/my-dir-2/somefile2.txt
> C:/projects/clonefile/somefile2.txt => C:/projects/clonefile/my-dir-3/somefile2.txt
> --------------
> 3 items cloned
>
> >C:/projects/clonefile/somefile3.txt => C:/projects/clonefile/my-dir-1/somefile3.txt
> C:/projects/clonefile/somefile3.txt => C:/projects/clonefile/my-dir-2/somefile3.txt
> C:/projects/clonefile/somefile3.txt => C:/projects/clonefile/my-dir-3/somefile3.txt
> --------------
> 3 items cloned
---
## Notes
> NOTE: The --force option is required for cloning a directory
----
> To help **clonefile** knows whether you want to copy a file to a directory or another file,
> always add a trailing slash **"/"** to folders.
---
#### Clone files using multiple glob patterns to multiple directories
```shell
$> clonefile --force --sources *.txt --sources ./sowehere/ --sources ../another-location/*.png my-dest-dir-1/ my-dest-dir-2/ my-dest-dir-3/
```
---
#### Clone multiple files and folders from multiple locations and files and folders from multiple glob patterns to multiple directories
```shell
$> clonefile --force --source my-file-1 --source path1/my-file-2 --source path1/my-dir/ --sources *.txt --sources /another-location/*.png my-dest-dir-1/ my-dest-dir-2/ my-dest-dir-3/
```
> ###### "_my-file-1_" and "_path1/my-file-2_" are regular files and will be copied to "my-dest-dir-1/", "my-dest-dir-2/", "my-dest-dir-3/"
>
> ---
>
> ###### _"path1/my-dir/"_ is a directory that will be copied to "my-dest-dir-1/", "my-dest-dir-2/", "my-dest-dir-3/"
>
> ---
>
> ###### _"*.txt"_ will copy all .txt in the current directory to "my-dest-dir-1/", "my-dest-dir-2/", "my-dest-dir-3/"
>
> ---
>
> ###### "_/another-location/*.png_" my-dest-dir-1/ will copy all .png in /another-location to "my-dest-dir-1/", "my-dest-dir-2/", "my-dest-dir-3/"
>
> ---
---
## Options
| **Options** | **default** | **Expect** | **Description** |
|------------------------|-------------|------------|----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| --silent | false | boolean | _Whether to display messages_ |
| --sources | "" | string | _Glob Pattern to determine files to copy_ |
| --source | "" | string | _Regular file path for files or directories to copy_ |
| --target | "" | string | _Destination files or folders_ |
| --recursive | false | boolean | _create target directories if nonexistent_ |
| --force | false | boolean | _Allow cloning directories & Overwrite destination_ |
| --progress | false | boolean | _Display a progress bar during copy_ |
| --clearProgress | false | boolean | _Remove the progress bar when task complete_ |
| --list | false | boolean | _Print out the file list to copy_ |
| --list-only | false | boolean | _Only display the file list to copy in an array formatted for Js.
No copy will be done_ |
| --dry | false | boolean | _Print out all operations, but without making any copies_ |
| --no-limit | false | boolean | _Ignore the limit set on copies (10000 by default)._ |
| --hide-overwrite-error | false | boolean | _Don't display error messages on overwrite._ |
#### --progress
---
## Package
```
📁 package
│
│─ 📝 index.cjs (2.1Kb)
│─ 📝 index.mjs (2.3Kb)
│
└───📁 src
│ │
│ │─ 📝 clonefile.cjs ⇽ CJS version - Node (25.1k unminified)
│ │─ 📝 clonefile.esm ⇽ ESM version - Node (25.7k unminified)
```
## Changelog
##### current:
* Fix --recursive option ignored when invoked programmatically
##### 3.8.2:
* Restore the --recursive option
##### 3.8.0:
* Add the option --hide-overwrite-error
##### 3.7.2:
* Allow copying with clonefile and clone functions
##### 3.7.0:
* Follow symlinks
##### 3.6.0:
* Generate code for ESM with to-esm
* Fix help command not working
##### 3.5.0:
* Replace the --force option with --no-limit to allow unlimited copies
* Increase the default limit for copying at once to 10000 (Use --no-limit to remove limitation)
* Copy with no limit when cloning programmatically and add a --no-limit option (cli) to enforce unlimited copies
* Add --list, --list-only and --dry options
##### 3.4.0:
* Add the option --clearProgress
##### 3.3.0:
* Add a --progress option to display a progress bar while copying
##### 3.2.6:
* Copy symlinks
##### 3.2.5:
* Fix --force option not working with cloneGlobs
##### 3.2.4:
* Review file limits processing (5000 instead of 200)
(To increase or reduce that limit, create an environment variable called CLONE_FILE_MAX_PATTERN and pass the
new limit)
##### 3.2.3:
* Increase limit files to copy from 200 to 5000
* Fix js error in cloneGlobs
##### 3.2.1:
* Use clone and cloneGlobs for programmatic copies
##### 3.2.0:
* Import the clone function to copy from code
##### 3.1.0:
* Add various fixes
* Deprecate the --recursive option with --force
* Allow selecting multiple sources with the --source option
##### 2.1.1:
* Do not stop at the first error
##### 1.1.3:
* Make --force option automatically be --recursive and --overwrite
##### 1.1.0:
* Allow cloning a directory
* Replace the --verbose option with --silent
* Fix cloning when options misplaced
---