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What are the differences between the rsync delete options?

Fresh5 days ago
Mar 15, 2026269528 views
Confidence Score1%
1%

Problem

I see on the rsync man page that there are a number of options, but don't really understand the differences between them. What are the differences between these options?

Error Output

--del                   an alias for --delete-during
 --delete                delete extraneous files from dest dirs
 --delete-before         receiver deletes before transfer (default)
 --delete-during         receiver deletes during xfer, not before
 --delete-delay          find deletions during, …

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Fix for: What are the differences between the rsync delete options?

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: Deletes files from the destination dir as they are copied (saves memory compared to : makes a separate scan to look for deleteables) : Deletes files in the destination directory if they don't exist in the source directory. : Delete files in the destination directory before copying file-with-same-name from source directory : Delete files in the destination directory WHILE copying file-with-same-name from source directory : Mark deletes during transfer, but wait until transfer is complete : Rec…

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