The mirror tool mirrors a local directory tree to a remote server via SFTP. Use it in cases where rsync doesn't work or might be too complicated to get running (like on some Windows systems).

mirror [OPTIONS] localPath user[:password]@remoteHost[:port]/path

The options are:
-h --help Shows a help message
-x --exclude=PATTERN Excludes file(s) from mirroring
-i --ignore=PATTERN Ignores file(s) on remote
-s --simulate Does not modify anything but displays the actions that would have to be performed to sync the two directories

There are two types of patterns:

• Segment pattern: Matches the last segment of a path only (i.e. the filename or last directory). Examples:
• .svn Every Subversion folder in any directory
• *.gif Every GIF file in any directory
• Path pattern: Matches the whole path. A path pattern always starts with a slash. Examples:
• /tmp The tmp folder in the root of your local project directory
• /**/images/*.gif Every GIF file in every images folder

Patterns can contain two types of wildcards:

• * Matches anything within a path segment
• ** Matches anything including directory separators / and \.

mirror c:\projects\foo foo:[email protected]:public_html
Forward syncs all files in the local directory c:\projects\foo to the remote directory public_html in your home directory on the server foo.com (credentials are username foo and password bar). Files and directories that no longer exist in the local directory are removed from the server.

mirror c:\projects\foo foo:[email protected]:public_html -x .DS_Store -x .git* -x /tmp -i /cache
Does not copy .DS_Store files and every file starting with .git as well as the folder tmp your local directory. Furthermore the remote folder /cache is not touched (and not removed) although it might not be available locally.
Note: Depending on the shell you are using (e.g. bash) you need to quote wildcard parameters to prevent them from being expanded: -x ".git*".