---

A pure-PHP directory synchronization tool inspired by the rsync command. Sync directories by copying new and modified files, removing deleted files, and skipping exclusions — all with a clean fluent API.

Requires PHP 8.5+

Installation

composer require diegobvasco/php-rsync

Usage

Basic Sync

use DiegoVasconcelos\Rsync\Rsync;

$result = (new Rsync())
    ->copy('/path/to/source', '/path/to/destination')
    ->run();

echo $result->summary();
// Copied: 5 files (12.5 KB)
// Deleted: 2 files (1.2 KB)
// Skipped: 3 files

With Exclusions

$result = (new Rsync())
    ->copy('/path/to/source', '/path/to/destination')
    ->skip(['*.log', 'vendor/*', '.git', 'node_modules/'])
    ->run();

foreach ($result->copied as $file) {
    echo $file->relativePath . ' - ' . $file->formattedSize() . "\n";
}

With Delete Mode

$result = (new Rsync())
    ->copy('/path/to/source', '/path/to/destination')
    ->delete()
    ->run();

With Real-Time Output

use DiegoVasconcelos\Rsync\Rsync;
use DiegoVasconcelos\Rsync\TerminalOutput;

// Print each file action to the terminal as it happens
$result = (new Rsync(new TerminalOutput()))
    ->copy('/path/to/source', '/path/to/destination')
    ->delete()
    ->run();

// Output:
// COPY new-file.txt (2.5 KB)
// DELETE old-file.txt
// SKIP unchanged.txt

Dry Run

$result = (new Rsync())
    ->copy('/path/to/source', '/path/to/destination')
    ->delete()
    ->dryRun()
    ->run();

// No files are actually copied or deleted
echo $result->summary();

Accessing Results

$result->copiedCount();    // Number of files copied
$result->deletedCount();   // Number of files deleted
$result->skippedCount();   // Number of files skipped
$result->totalBytesCopied(); // Total bytes copied
$result->copiedPaths();    // Array of copied file paths
$result->deletedPaths();   // Array of deleted file paths
$result->skippedPaths();   // Array of skipped file paths
$result->summary();        // Human-readable summary string

Skip Pattern Syntax

Pattern	Meaning
*.log	All .log files
vendor/*	Everything inside vendor/
**/*.log	Any .log file in any subdirectory
logs/	The logs/ directory and all its contents
??.txt	Two-character .txt filenames
[abc].txt	Files named a.txt, b.txt, or c.txt
[^ab].log	Any single-character .log filename except a or b

How It Works

1. Scans the source directory for all files
2. Filters out files matching exclusion patterns
3. Compares each file's modification time and size against the destination
4. Copies only new or changed files
5. Deletes destination files that no longer exist in the source (when delete() is enabled)
6. Removes empty directories from the destination
7. Returns a Result object with full sync details

API

Rsync

new Rsync(?Output $output = null)

The optional Output interface receives callbacks for each file action during sync. A TerminalOutput implementation is included that prints to STDOUT (or a custom stream).

Core

Method	Description
copy(string $source, string $destination): self	Set source and destination directories
skip(string|array $patterns): self	Add glob patterns to exclude from sync
delete(): self	Enable delete mode — removes destination files not in source
recursive(): self	Enable recursive mode
archive(): self	Enable archive mode (equivalent to -rlptgoD)
run(): Result	Execute the sync and return results
toCommand(): string	Generate equivalent rsync shell command for debugging
reset(): self	Reset all flags and options

Metadata Preservation

Method	Description
times(): self	Preserve modification times (--times)
perms(): self	Preserve permissions (--perms)
owner(): self	Preserve owner (--owner)
group(): self	Preserve group (--group)
acls(): self	Preserve ACLs (--acls)
xattrs(): self	Preserve extended attributes (--xattrs)
devices(): self	Preserve device files (--devices)
specials(): self	Preserve special files (--specials)
numericIds(): self	Don't map uid/gid values (--numeric-ids)

Comparison

Method	Description
checksum(): self	Use checksum instead of mod-time & size (--checksum)
ignoreTimes(): self	Don't skip files that match size and time (--ignore-times)
sizeOnly(): self	Skip files that match size only (--size-only)
update(): self	Skip files newer on the receiver (--update)

Excludes / Includes

Method	Description
exclude(string|array $patterns): self	Add patterns to exclude (--exclude)
excludeFrom(string $file): self	Read exclude patterns from file (--exclude-from)
excludeDir(string|array $patterns): self	Add directory exclusion patterns (--exclude-dir)
include(string|array $patterns): self	Add patterns to include (--include)
includeFrom(string $file): self	Read include patterns from file (--include-from)
pruneEmptyDirs(): self	Remove empty directories from file list (--prune-empty-dirs)

Backup

Method	Description
backup(): self	Make backups of changed files (--backup)
backupDir(string $dir): self	Set backup directory (--backup-dir)
suffix(string $suffix): self	Set backup suffix (--suffix)

Symlinks / Hardlinks

Method	Description
links(): self	Copy symlinks as symlinks (--links)
copyLinks(): self	Transform symlinks to referent files (--copy-links)
copyUnsafeLinks(): self	Transform unsafe symlinks to referent files in directories (--copy-unsafe-links)
safeLinks(): self	Ignore symlinks that go outside tree (--safe-links)
hardLinks(): self	Preserve hard links (--hard-links)

Size Limits

Method	Description
maxSize(int|string $size): self	Maximum file size to transfer (--max-size)
minSize(int|string $size): self	Minimum file size to transfer (--min-size)

Behavior

Method	Description
dryRun(): self	Show what would be done without doing it (--dry-run)
force(): self	Force deletion of non-empty directories (--force)
removeSourceFiles(): self	Remove source files after successful transfer (--remove-source-files)

Output

Method	Description
verbose(): self	Verbose output (--verbose)
quiet(): self	Suppress output (--quiet)
progress(): self	Show progress (--progress)
stats(): self	Show statistics (--stats)
itemizeChanges(): self	Show itemized changes (--itemize-changes)
humanReadable(): self	Human-readable numbers (--human-readable)

Delete Modes

Method	Description
delete(): self	Delete files in destination not in source (--delete)
deleteBefore(): self	Delete before transfer (--delete-before)
deleteAfter(): self	Delete after transfer (--delete-after)
deleteExcluded(): self	Delete excluded files from destination (--delete-excluded)

Result

Method	Description
copiedCount(): int	Number of files copied
deletedCount(): int	Number of files deleted
skippedCount(): int	Number of files skipped
totalBytesCopied(): int	Total bytes copied
totalBytesDeleted(): int	Total bytes deleted
summary(): string	Human-readable summary
copiedPaths(): array	List of copied file paths
deletedPaths(): array	List of deleted file paths
skippedPaths(): array	List of skipped file paths

FileInfo

Method	Description
formattedSize(): string	Human-readable file size (e.g. "12.5 KB")
formattedMtime(): string	ISO 8601 formatted modification time

Output (interface)

Implement this to receive real-time file action callbacks during sync.

Method	Description
copied(FileInfo $file): void	Called when a file is copied
deleted(FileInfo $file): void	Called when a file is deleted
skipped(FileInfo $file): void	Called when a file is skipped

TerminalOutput

Built-in implementation of Output that prints actions to a stream.

new TerminalOutput(?resource $stream = null)

Defaults to STDOUT. Pass a custom stream to redirect output:

$output = new TerminalOutput(fopen('php://memory', 'r+'));

Quality

This package enforces high code quality standards:

• 100% code coverage via Pest
• 100% type coverage via pestphp/pest-plugin-type-coverage
• PHPStan at max level for static analysis
• Laravel Pint for code style
• Rector for automated refactoring

composer test          # Run entire test suite
composer test:unit     # Unit tests only
composer test:lint     # Code style check
composer test:types    # Static analysis
composer lint          # Auto-fix code style
composer refactor      # Auto-refactor code

Changelog

Please see CHANGELOG for more information on recent changes.

Contributing

Please see CONTRIBUTING for details.

License

The MIT License (MIT). Please see LICENSE for more information.