/rclone_sync

title: "rclone sync"
description: "Make source and dest identical, modifying destination only."
# autogenerated - DO NOT EDIT, instead edit the source code in cmd/sync/ and as part of making a release run "make commanddocs"

> **Official documentation:** [https://rclone.org/commands/rclone_sync/](https://rclone.org/commands/rclone_sync/)

rclone sync

Make source and dest identical, modifying destination only.

Synopsis

Sync the source to the destination, changing the destination only. Doesn't transfer files that are identical on source and destination, testing by size and modification time or MD5SUM. Destination is updated to match source, including deleting files if necessary (except duplicate objects, see below). If you don't want to delete files from destination, use the [copy](/commands/rclone_copy/) command instead.

**Important**: Since this can cause data loss, test first with the `--dry-run` or the `--interactive`/`i` flag.

rclone sync --interactive SOURCE remote:DESTINATION

Files in the destination won't be deleted if there were any errors at any point. Duplicate objects (files with the same name, on those providers that support it) are not yet handled. Files that are excluded won't be deleted unless `--delete-excluded` is used. Symlinks won't be transferred or deleted from local file systems unless `--links` is used.

It is always the contents of the directory that is synced, not the directory itself. So when source:path is a directory, it's the contents of source:path that are copied, not the directory name and contents. See extended explanation in the [copy](/commands/rclone_copy/) command if unsure.

If dest:path doesn't exist, it is created and the source:path contents go there.

It is not possible to sync overlapping remotes. However, you may exclude the destination from the sync with a filter rule or by putting an exclude-if-present file inside the destination directory and sync to a destination that is inside the source directory.

Rclone will sync the modification times of files and directories if the backend supports it. If metadata syncing is required then use the `--metadata` flag.

Note that the modification time and metadata for the root directory will **not** be synced. See <https://github.com/rclone/rclone/issues/7652> for more info.

**Note**: Use the `-P`/`--progress` flag to view real-time transfer statistics

**Note**: Use the `rclone dedupe` command to deal with "Duplicate object/directory found in source/destination - ignoring" errors. See [this forum post](https://forum.rclone.org/t/sync-not-clearing-duplicates/14372) for more info.

Logger Flags

The `--differ`, `--missing-on-dst`, `--missing-on-src`, `--match` and `--error` flags write paths, one per line, to the file name (or stdout if it is `-`) supplied. What they write is described in the help below. For example `--differ` will write all paths which are present on both the source and destination but different.

The `--combined` flag will write a file (or stdout) which contains all file paths with a symbol and then a space and then the path to tell you what happened to it. These are reminiscent of diff files.

• `= path` means path was found in source and destination and was identical
• `- path` means path was missing on the source, so only in the destination
• `+ path` means path was missing on the destination, so only in the source
• `* path` means path was present in source and destination but different.
• `! path` means there was an error reading or hashing the source or dest.

The `--dest-after` flag writes a list file using the same format flags as [`lsf`](/commands/rclone_lsf/#synopsis) (including [customizable options for hash, modtime, etc.](/commands/rclone_lsf/#synopsis)) Conceptually it is similar to rsync's `--itemize-changes`, but not identical -- it should output an accurate list of what will be on the destination after the command is finished.

When the `--no-traverse` flag is set, all logs involving files that exist only on the destination will be incomplete or completely missing.

Note that these logger flags have a few limitations, and certain scenarios are not currently supported:

• `--max-duration` / `CutoffModeHard`
• `--compare-dest` / `--copy-dest`
• server-side moves of an entire dir at once
• High-level retries, because there would be duplicates (use `--retries 1` to disable)
• Possibly some unusual error scenarios

Note also that each file is logged during execution, as opposed to after, so it is most useful as a predictor of what SHOULD happen to each file (which may or may not match what actually DID).

rclone sync source:path dest:path [flags]

Options

      --absolute                Put a leading / in front of path names
      --combined string         Make a combined report of changes to this file
      --create-empty-src-dirs   Create empty source dirs on destination after sync
      --csv                     Output in CSV format
      --dest-after string       Report all files that exist on the dest post-sync
      --differ string           Report all non-matching files to this file
  -d, --dir-slash               Append a slash to directory names (default true)
      --dirs-only               Only list directories
      --error string            Report all files with errors (hashing or reading) to this file
      --files-only              Only list files (default true)
  -F, --format string           Output format - see lsf help for details (default "p")
      --hash h                  Use this hash when h is used in the format MD5|SHA-1|DropboxHash (default "md5")
  -h, --help                    help for sync
      --match string            Report all matching files to this file
      --missing-on-dst string   Report all files missing from the destination to this file
      --missing-on-src string   Report all files missing from the source to this file
  -s, --separator string        Separator for the items in the form