(or emacs irrelevant)

Using rsync in dired

24 Feb 2016

Here's a code snippet I've found long ago on the internet (the source seems to be no longer accessible), that has proven valuable time and time again:

;;;###autoload
(defun ora-dired-rsync (dest)
  (interactive
   (list
    (expand-file-name
     (read-file-name
      "Rsync to:"
      (dired-dwim-target-directory)))))
  ;; store all selected files into "files" list
  (let ((files (dired-get-marked-files
                nil current-prefix-arg))
        ;; the rsync command
        (tmtxt/rsync-command
         "rsync -arvz --progress "))
    ;; add all selected file names as arguments
    ;; to the rsync command
    (dolist (file files)
      (setq tmtxt/rsync-command
            (concat tmtxt/rsync-command
                    (shell-quote-argument file)
                    " ")))
    ;; append the destination
    (setq tmtxt/rsync-command
          (concat tmtxt/rsync-command
                  (shell-quote-argument dest)))
    ;; run the async shell command
    (async-shell-command tmtxt/rsync-command "*rsync*")
    ;; finally, switch to that window
    (other-window 1)))

(define-key dired-mode-map "Y" 'ora-dired-rsync)

Lets you copy huge files and directories without Emacs freezing up and with convenient progress bar updates. That is all.

Thanks to tmtxt, the mysterious hacker-person from whom the snippet likely originated . Good luck with getting your blog back up.