How to Copy a Directory in Linux Let’s run through a similar example to show that cp can be used to copy a directory by using the -r argument.

If you don't want to copy the content of a specific file and simply want to put some text in the clipboard, then the echo command is helpful. We'll pipe the commands in the same way we did earlier.

Using this tool can be way more efficient than the old copy/paste method. Give it a try and see if the Execute feature doesn’t become one of your favorites when using the nano text editor.