How can i copy only header files in an entire nested directory to another directory keeping the same hierarchy after copying to new folder

Question

I have a directory which has a lot of header files(.h) and other .o and .c files and other files. This directory has many nested directories inside. I want to copy only header files to a separate directory preserving the same structure in the new directory.

cp -rf oldDirectory newDirectory will copy all files. I want to copy only header files.

Answer 1

(cd src && find . -name '*.h' -print | tar --create --files-from -) | (cd dst && tar xvfp -)

You can do something similar with cpio if you just want to hard link the files instead of copying them, but it's likely to require a little mv'ing afterward. If you have lots of data and don't mind (or need!) sharing, this can be much faster. It gets confused if dst needs to have a src in it - this is, if it isn't just a side effect:

1. find src -name '*.h' -print | cpio -pdlv dst
2. mv dst/src/* dst/.
3. rmdir dst/src

Answer 2

this one worked for me:

rsync -avm --include='*.h' -f 'hide,! */' . /destination_dir

from here