How can I copy a directory using Boost Filesystem

Question

How can I copy a directory using Boost Filesystem? I have tried boost::filesystem::copy_directory() but that only creates the target directory and does not copy the contents

Answer 1

Since C++17 you don't need boost for this operation anymore as filesystem has been added to the standard.

Use std::filesystem::copy

#include 
#include 
namespace fs = std::filesystem;

int main()
{
    fs::path source = "path/to/source/folder";
    fs::path target = "path/to/target/folder";

    try {
        fs::copy(source, target, fs::copy_options::recursive);
    }
    catch (std::exception& e) { // Not using fs::filesystem_error since std::bad_alloc can throw too.
        // Handle exception or use error code overload of fs::copy.
    }
}

See also std::filesystem::copy_options.