GDAL-DATASET-COPY(1)

📦
version 3.13.3 · 4 versions
, in alpine 3.24, arch rolling, ubuntu stonking

💖 GDAL-DATASET-COPY — bestie, it's literally just a copy button 🎀

okay so, welcome to the gdal-dataset-copy page from the GDAL manual, bestie. Pull up a chair, grab a strawberry 🍓, and let's talk about copying files.

Added in version 3.12 — so she's new new, freshly added, iconic behavior.

Here's the tea: gdal dataset copy makes a copy of the dataset file(s), and yes, that includes any potential side-car / associated files too. Not me making sure your .aux.xml doesn't get left behind 🙈 she brings the whole squad.

✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

Usage: gdal dataset copy [OPTIONS] <SOURCE> <DESTINATION>

Copy files of a dataset.

Positional arguments:
  --source <SOURCE>            Source dataset name [required]
  --destination <DESTINATION>  Destination dataset name [required]

Common Options:
  -h, --help                   Display help message and exit
  --json-usage                 Display usage as JSON document and exit
  --config <KEY>=<VALUE>       Configuration option [may be repeated]

Options:
  --overwrite                  Whether overwriting existing output dataset is allowed

Advanced Options:
  -f, --format <FORMAT>        Dataset format

Copy files of a dataset. That's the whole assignment. Periodt.

🌈 OPTIONS 🌈

  • --source <FILENAME> — the source file name or directory name. Like, required, bestie. You cannot skip this one, she's not optional, she's the main character. 👑
  • --destination <FILENAME> — the destination file name or directory name. Also required. The where-to. The vibe destination. ✨
  • -f, ---format <FORMAT> — dataset format. This one is your little helper for when automatic detection is not detecting, yk? Automatic detection said "idk her" and this flag said "I got you." 💅
  • --overwrite — allows the program to overwrite an existing target file or dataset. Like, permission to be a lil destructive. Without it, by default, gdal errors out if the target file or dataset already exists. So no sneaky overwrites, no cap. 🙈

💀 RETURN STATUS CODE 💀

She returns status code 0 when it's a success ✨ and non-zero when there's an error. Oh and important: non-blocking errors that get emitted as warnings are considered a successful execution — so if you see warnings but it exited 0, that's not a fail, that's just her being chatty. 🫶

🦋 EXAMPLES 🦋

Example 1: Copy a dataset

$ gdal dataset copy source.tif destination.tif

That's it. That's the example. One line, one copy, absolutely ate. 🔥

🎀 AUTHOR 🎀

Even Rouault <even.rouault@spatialys.com> — legend behavior, honestly.

1998-2026

fr fr, that's the whole page. No missing flags, no missing warnings, every corner of it documented. iykyk 🧚

and that's the vibe check, bestie — this was the GDAL-DATASET-COPY(1) page, straight out of the GDAL manual, dated Aug 18, 2026. slay, stay copied, mwah 💅🌸

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