Linux how to copy but not overwrite? [closed]

I want to cp a directory but I do not want to overwrite any existing files even it they are older than the copied files. And I want to do it completely noninteractive as this will be a part of a Crontab Bash script. Any ideas?

Solution 1:

Taken from the man page:

-n, --no-clobber
              do not overwrite an existing file (overrides a previous -i option)

Example:

cp -n myoldfile.txt mycopiedfile.txt

Solution 2:

Consider using rsync.

rsync -a -v --ignore-existing src dst

As per comments rsync -a -v src dst is not correct because it will update existing files.

Solution 3:

cp -n

Is what you want. See the man page.