Original post: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/3643848
cp -R t1/. t2/
The dot at the end tells it to copy the contents of the current
directory, not the directory itself. This method also includes hidden
files and folders.
If you copy a directory, cp will create a
directory and copy all the files into it. If you use the pretend folder
called ".", which is the same as the directory holding it, the copy
behaves this way. Let's say t1 contains a file called "file". cp will
perform the operation equivalent to "cp t1/./file t2/./". It is copying
the folder ".", but copying files into t2's "." folder strips the "./"
because "t2/./" is the same as "t2/". Technically, this means it's
POSIX built in behavior... but probably not in the way you might have
been expecting!
