You can copy the contents of a folder /source to another existing folder /dest with the command:

cp -a /source/. /dest/

The -a option is an improved recursive option, that preserves all file attributes and symlinks.

The . at end of the source path is a specific cp syntax that copies all files and folders, including hidden ones.

Spot the difference:

cp /home/rits/Desktop/folder1/name_of_textfile /home/rits/Desktop/folder2/

• a space after cp
• desktop will be with a D, not a d
• after that are 2 arguments: filename and destination
• if you want to copy directories you need -R as an option after cp.

Try using

xcopy /d /y /s "\Your Image Folder\*.jpg" "C:\Users\%username%\Desktop\Master Image Folder\" 

Also you can simply use

copy *.<extension> <other folder>

For example :

copy C:\Users\desktop\*.jpg D:\backup

will copy all files with extension .jpg from path C:\Users\desktop\ to D:\backup\

In the command:

cp -r dir1/* dir2/

the shell expands dir1/* and passes the result to cp. The * pattern does not match a leading ., that is it matches files which are usually visible. You can use the pattern dir1/.* to match those entries beginning with a ., but for cp there is a better way. From man cp:

If source_file designates a directory, cp copies the directory and the entire subtree connected at that point. If the source_file ends in a /, the contents of the directory are copied rather than the directory itself.

So what you are after is:

cp -r dir1/ dir2/

I don't want to know every path of everything so I refuse to do anything like...

Most of us don't remember long and complex paths either, so this is very relatable. For example, there is an excellent command tool called "Airport Utility" (airport) but it is not found in the PATH. Using find or locate will get you an ungodly path of

/System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/Apple80211.framework/Versions/A/Resources/airport

This is impossible to remember, but it’s just one example (I use an alias for this command, by the way). There is no expectation that anyone will remember every directory path. However, we have a number of tools which we can use to make life just a bit simpler. Following is just a sampling of the tools that I use.

Drag and Drop from Finder to Terminal

If you already have the file/folder pulled up, you don't have to remember the entire path. Simply start your command as approprite (copying a folder in this example) cp -R then drag the folder from Finder to Terminal and the path will be automatically populated.

Then continue the command as needed. Here I'm copying to my current directory so I use a period or dot . but I could drag another file/folder from Finder as the destination.

Using Shell Builtins

We have several from which to use:

• Tab Completion. This is availabe in both Bash (default for Mojave and earlier) and Zsh shells (default for Catalina and later). when you are entering a file or folder, simply start with the first few characters, press ⇨Tab and it will automatically complete the rest of the line for you. For example:

   cp - R /Users/al<⇨Tab>
  

  Will automatically fill in the rest of the folder until it needs more input from you to continue:

   cp -R /Users/allan/Desk<⇨Tab>  ← and so on and so on...
  

You can use this for both source and destination. Just tab complete your way through each directory

• pwd → Outputs the present (current) working directory. It's also available as a variable, $PWD. For example, assuming you're deep into some obscure folder, and want to copy something like a single file or folder to a folder on your Desktop, just issue the command

  cp -R $PWD/folder_to_copy ~/Desktop/destination_folder
  

• Tilde ~ Expansion → This is the shortcut to your home folder which is also conveniently referenced by the shell variable $HOME. If you wanted to copy all of your Documents to a USB drive, you could simply issue the Terminal command:

  cp -R $HOME/Documents /Volumes/My_Backup_USB/Documents
  

  or equally valid

  cp -R ~/Documents /Volumes/My_Backup_USB/Documents
  

• pushd, popd, and dirs → Allow you to push directories onto, pop off of and list the contents of the directory stack that is LIFO or Last In/Fist Out. (Think of a stack like a stack of pancakes; you always put the newest on top and take the top one off when eating one).

  • dirs will list all of the directories on your stack (dirs -p shows one entry per line). The first value is always the current working directory. This will remain so, until you "push" some entries onto the stack. Here's an example of a directory stack:

     dirs -lp
    
     /Users/allan/Desktop/Email to Process
     /Users/allan/Desktop/Saved Images to Process
     /Users/allan/Desktop/eBooks to Process
     /Users/allan/Desktop
     /Users/allan
     /Users/allan/Desktop
    

    (Desktop is on there twice because I accidentally pushed it twice, but illustrates this function perfectly)

  • pushd will "push" the present directory or a directory you specify onto the stack. This is how I populated the stack for the previous bullet point. Examples:

     `pushd` 
     `pushd ~/Desktop/My_Folder`
    

  • popd will "pop off" the latest directory entry or the one you specify (can be determined with the dirs command) For example, we can use some command expansion to get the 3rd directory in our stack with the command popd +3 (3rd item from the top) or popd -3 (for 3rd item from the bottom)

    So, once you know where your directories are in the stack, you can use those with command expansion:

     cp -R `popd` ~/Desktop     ← Will copy whatever folder from top of stack to present working directory
    
     cp -R `popd` `popd`        ← Will copy the first folder on the stack to second folder on the stack
    
     cp -R `popd +2` `popd -4`  ← Will copy the 2nd from top to 4th from bottom
    

  Please keep in mind that this is not a comprehensive tutorial on pushd, popd, and dirs. There are many options (flags) that you can use with each to better work with the directory stack.

Try

cp -R /var/www /media/magneto Avoid the extra forward slash at the end of the path name.

Or

you can navigate to the /var directory in terminal and then try

cp -R www /media/magneto

The option you're looking for is -R.

cp -R path_to_source path_to_destination/

• If destination doesn't exist, it will be created.
• -R means copy directories recursively. You can also use -r since it's case-insensitive.
• To copy everything inside the source folder (symlinks, hidden files) without copying the source folder itself use -a flag along with trailing /. in the source (as per @muni764's / @Anton Krug's comment):

cp -a path_to_source/. path_to_destination/