what does it mean to copy directory's recursivly?
 

when using "cp" command what does it mean to copy directories recursivly? Also It apears to goto a link and copy everything in that link, which then it does it infinitly because the link can be found inside itself. I don't want to do that I just want the contents of a directory copied and no links. How may I do that?

Thank you!

To copy recursively means that all files within a directory will be copied, and then all files within subdirectories of that directory, and so on. If you don't want cp to follow links, then add the -d flag (do not follow symbolic links). Enter cp --help for more on this.

Rob.

What about deleting directories? rm also has the recursive thing. If you use it or not shouldn't it delete subdirectories?

Yes. Be very careful about using it. I have rm aliased to rm -i (interactive) on my PC, so that it asks before removing each file. It can be a bit annoying if you have a lot of files to remove (rm -f can be used to override this), but it can help you to avoid accidentally removing files you want to keep.

Rob