a fast, versatile, remote (and local) file-copying tool

-h, --human-readable
       Output numbers in a more human-readable format.  This makes big numbers output using larger units,
       with  a  K,  M,  or  G  suffix.   If  this  option was specified once, these units are K (1000), M
       (1000*1000), and G (1000*1000*1000); if the option is repeated,  the  units  are  powers  of  1024
       instead of 1000.

-r, --recursive
       This tells rsync to copy directories recursively.  See also --dirs (-d).

       Beginning with rsync 3.0.0, the recursive algorithm used is now an incremental scan that uses much
       less memory than before and begins the transfer after the scanning of the  first  few  directories
       have  been  completed.   This  incremental scan only affects our recursion algorithm, and does not
       change a non-recursive transfer.  It is also only possible when both ends of the transfer  are  at
       least version 3.0.0.

       Some  options  require  rsync to know the full file list, so these options disable the incremental
       recursion  mode.   These  include:  --delete-before,   --delete-after,   --prune-empty-dirs,   and
       --delay-updates.   Because  of  this,  the  default  delete  mode when you specify --delete is now
       --delete-during when both ends of the connection are at least 3.0.0 (use --del or  --delete-during
       to  request this improved deletion mode explicitly).  See also the --delete-delay option that is a
       better choice than using --delete-after.

       Incremental recursion can be disabled using the --no-inc-recursive option or its shorter  --no-i-r
       alias.

-v, --verbose
       This  option  increases  the amount of information you are given during the transfer.  By default,
       rsync works silently. A single -v will give you information about what files are being transferred
       and  a  brief summary at the end. Two -v options will give you information on what files are being
       skipped and slightly more information at the end. More than two -v options should only be used  if
       you are debugging rsync.

       Note that the names of the transferred files that are output are done using a default --out-format
       of "%n%L", which tells you just the name of the file and, if the item is a link, where it  points.
       At  the  single  -v  level  of  verbosity,  this  does not mention when a file gets its attributes
       changed.  If you ask for an itemized list  of  changed  attributes  (either  --itemize-changes  or
       adding  "%i"  to  the  --out-format  setting), the output (on the client) increases to mention all
       items that are changed in any way.  See the --out-format option for more details.

-z, --compress
       With  this  option, rsync compresses the file data as it is sent to the destination machine, which
       reduces the amount of data being transmitted -- something that is useful over a slow connection.

       Note that this option typically achieves better compression ratios than can be achieved by using a
       compressing  remote  shell  or  a compressing transport because it takes advantage of the implicit
       information in the matching data blocks that are not explicitly sent over the connection.

       See the --skip-compress option for the default list of file suffixes that will not be compressed.

--delete
       This tells rsync to delete extraneous files from the receiving  side  (ones  that  aren’t  on  the
       sending  side),  but  only  for  the directories that are being synchronized.  You must have asked
       rsync to send the whole directory (e.g.  "dir"  or  "dir/")  without  using  a  wildcard  for  the
       directory’s  contents  (e.g.  "dir/*")  since the wildcard is expanded by the shell and rsync thus
       gets a request to transfer individual files, not the files’  parent  directory.   Files  that  are
       excluded   from   the   transfer  are  also  excluded  from  being  deleted  unless  you  use  the
       --delete-excluded option or mark the  rules  as  only  matching  on  the  sending  side  (see  the
       include/exclude modifiers in the FILTER RULES section).

              Prior  to rsync 2.6.7, this option would have no effect unless --recursive was enabled.  Beginning
              with 2.6.7, deletions will also occur when --dirs (-d) is enabled, but only for directories  whose
              contents are being copied.

              This option can be dangerous if used incorrectly!  It is a very good idea to first try a run using
              the --dry-run option (-n) to see what files are going to be deleted.

              If the sending side detects any I/O errors, then the deletion of any files at the destination will
              be  automatically  disabled. This is to prevent temporary filesystem failures (such as NFS errors)
              on the sending side from causing a massive deletion of files on the destination.  You can override
              this with the --ignore-errors option.

              The  --delete  option  may  be combined with one of the --delete-WHEN options without conflict, as
              well as --delete-excluded.  However, if none of the --delete-WHEN  options  are  specified,  rsync
              will  choose  the  --delete-during  algorithm  when  talking  to  rsync  3.0.0  or  newer, and the
              --delete-before  algorithm  when  talking  to  an  older  rsync.   See  also  --delete-delay   and
              --delete-after.

--exclude=PATTERN
       This  option is a simplified form of the --filter option that defaults to an exclude rule and does
       not allow the full rule-parsing syntax of normal filter rules.

       See the FILTER RULES section for detailed information on this option.

-e, --rsh=COMMAND
       This option allows you to choose an alternative remote shell  program  to  use  for  communication
       between  the  local  and  remote  copies  of  rsync.  Typically, rsync is configured to use ssh by
       default, but you may prefer to use rsh on a local network.

       If this option is used with [user@]host::module/path, then the remote shell COMMAND will  be  used
       to  run  an  rsync daemon on the remote host, and all data will be transmitted through that remote
       shell connection, rather than through a direct socket connection to a running rsync daemon on  the
       remote host.  See the section "USING RSYNC-DAEMON FEATURES VIA A REMOTE-SHELL CONNECTION" above.

       Command-line  arguments  are permitted in COMMAND provided that COMMAND is presented to rsync as a
       single argument.  You must use spaces (not tabs or other whitespace) to separate the  command  and
       args  from  each  other,  and  you  can  use single- and/or double-quotes to preserve spaces in an
       argument (but not backslashes).  Note that doubling a single-quote inside a  single-quoted  string
       gives  you  a  single-quote; likewise for double-quotes (though you need to pay attention to which
       quotes your shell is parsing and which quotes rsync is parsing).  Some examples:

    -e 'ssh -p 2234'
    -e 'ssh -o "ProxyCommand nohup ssh firewall nc -w1 %h %p"'

(Note that ssh users can alternately customize site-specific connect options in their  .ssh/config
file.)

You  can  also  choose  the  remote  shell program using the RSYNC_RSH environment variable, which
accepts the same range of values as -e.

See also the --blocking-io option which is affected by this option.

Local:  rsync [OPTION...] SRC... [DEST]

Access via remote shell:
  Pull: rsync [OPTION...] [USER@]HOST:SRC... [DEST]
  Push: rsync [OPTION...] SRC... [USER@]HOST:DEST

Access via rsync daemon:
  Pull: rsync [OPTION...] [USER@]HOST::SRC... [DEST]
        rsync [OPTION...] rsync://[USER@]HOST[:PORT]/SRC... [DEST]
  Push: rsync [OPTION...] SRC... [USER@]HOST::DEST
        rsync [OPTION...] SRC... rsync://[USER@]HOST[:PORT]/DEST