HOWTO: use scp to copy files across the network

If you quickly want to copy a file or a directory across the (inter)net there is a simple and powerfull command todo just that. All you need to have is ssh access to the box on the (inter)net.

To copy a single file accross:

scp myfile my_username@my_ipaddres:my_location

scp backup.tar.gz joost@sabayonlinux.org:/home/joost/backups

To copy a full directory tree, just append the -r parameter

scp -r my_directory my_username@my_ipaddres:my_location

scp -r /home/joost/photoalbums joost@sabayonlinux.org:/home/joost/photoalbums