Cannot copy directory in MacOS with terminal

Question

Input

$ pwd /Users/kylefoley/library/containers/com.apple.QuickTimePlayerX/data/library/Autosave Information

$cp /Users/kylefoley/library/containers/com.apple.QuickTimePlayerX/data/library/Autosave\ Information /Volumes/old/QT_screen_recs

Output

/Users/kylefoley/library/containers/com.apple.QuickTimePlayerX/data/library/Autosave Information is a directory (not copied).

I don't understand why this is not working. I've also tried:

$cp /Users/kylefoley/library/containers/com.apple.QuickTimePlayerX/data/library/Autosave\ Information/* /Volumes/old/QT_screen_recs

Which yields:

/Users/kylefoley/library/containers/com.apple.QuickTimePlayerX/data/library/Autosave Information/*: No such file or directory

Answer 1

When you want copy a directory with command cp you need add option -r or -a. -a is best because it preserves the structure and attributes of files as indicated in the man command :

man cp

In your case if QT_screen_recs is a directory the corrects commands are :

cp -r /Users/kylefoley/library/containers/com.apple.QuickTimePlayerX/data/library/Autosave\ Information /Volumes/old/QT_screen_recs

or

cp -a /Users/kylefoley/library/containers/com.apple.QuickTimePlayerX/data/library/Autosave\ Information /Volumes/old/QT_screen_recs