Secure copy, or secure copy protocol/secure copy program (SCP), a command for securely transferring files across UNIX-like systems

scp <file> <username>@<IP address or hostname>:<Destination>

The -r (recursive) option means to copy the whole folder and any sub-folders. You can also copy files the other way:

scp -r <file> OR <Folder> @IP address :<Destination>

scp file.txt remote_username@10.10.0.2:/remote/directory

The scp command syntax take the following form:

scp [OPTION] [user@]SRC_HOST:]file1 [user@]DEST_HOST:]file2

OPTION - scp options such as cipher, ssh configuration, ssh port, limit, recursive copy …etc.

[user@]SRC_HOST:]file1 

- Source file.

[user@]DEST_HOST:]file2 

- Destination file scp provides a number of options that control every aspect of its behavior. The most widely used options are: -

P

- Specifies the remote host ssh port. -

p

- Preserves files modification and access times. -

q

- Use this option if you want to suppress the progress meter and non-error messages. -

C

- This option forces scp to compresses the data as it is sent to the destination machine. -

r

- This option tells scp to copy directories recursively.