OT (ish): How to copy hidden files/directories

[Don Buchholz]

James Wilkinson wrote:
> CB wrote:
> 
>>I can't figure out how to do this: copy (or move) all the hidden files
>>and directories contained in one directory to another directory.
>>
>>Is it as embarrasingly simple as I imagine it must be?
> 
> 
> Last time this came up, Ulrich Drepper pointed out the
> shopt -s dotglob
> command.
> 
> This makes * match hidden and non-hidden files.
> 
> So
> shopt -s dotglob
> mv $olddir/* $newdir
> will move everything, hidden and non-hidden.
> 
> Possibly the simplest way to just move hidden would then be to move back
> the non-hidden. Or to move them to a safe directory first.
> 

To move only hidden (dot-) files/folders to another directory...

    # cp -pr .??* newdir

Why use ".??*" ...
   * the initial "." indicates a 'hidden' file (or dot-file in Unix parlance)
   * the "??" match at least two characters ... this keeps the pattern from
     matching ".." which is the parent-directory
   * the "*" match any number (from zero to a-lot!) of characters