The first argument to copy() function cannot be a directory?

Question

    $base = dirname(__FILE__).'/themes/';
    $target = dirname( STYLESHEETPATH ).'/';
    $directory_folders = new DirectoryIterator($base); 
    foreach ($directory_folders as $folder) 
    {
        if (!$folder->isDot())           {

            echo '<p>source: '.$folder->getRealPath();
            //returns: C:\xampplite\htdocs\test\wp-content\plugins\test\themes\testtheme-1

            echo '<br>target: '.$target;
            //returns: C:\xampplite\htdocs\test/wp-content/themes/

            copy($folder->getRealPath(), $target);
            //returns: Error. The first argument to copy() function cannot be a directory
         }
    }die;

UPDATE: On Pascal's suggested answer, here's my amended code. This works.

function recurse_copy(){
    $src = dirname(__FILE__).'/themes/';
    $dst = dirname( STYLESHEETPATH ).'/';

    $dir = opendir($src); 
    @mkdir($dst); 
    while(false !== ( $file = readdir($dir)) ) 
    { 
        if (( $file != '.' ) && ( $file != '..' )) 
        { 
            if ( is_dir($src . '/' . $file) ) { 
                recurse_copy_recurse($src . '/' . $file,$dst . '/' . $file); 
            } 
            else { 
                copy($src . '/' . $file,$dst . '/' . $file); 
            } 
        } 
    } 
    closedir($dir); 
}


function recurse_copy_recurse($src,$dst){

    $dir = opendir($src); 
    @mkdir($dst); 
    while(false !== ( $file = readdir($dir)) ) 
    { 
        if (( $file != '.' ) && ( $file != '..' )) 
        { 
            if ( is_dir($src . '/' . $file) ) { 
                recurse_copy_recurse($src . '/' . $file,$dst . '/' . $file); 
            } 
            else { 
                copy($src . '/' . $file,$dst . '/' . $file); 
            } 
        } 
    } 
    closedir($dir); 
}

Solution 1

No, the copy() function is not recursive : it cannot copy folders and their contents.

But if you take a look at the users's notes on that manual page, you'll find some propositions of recursive implementations.

For example, here's a recursive function proposed by gimmicklessgpt (quoting his post) :

<?php
function recurse_copy($src,$dst) {
    $dir = opendir($src);
    @mkdir($dst);
    while(false !== ( $file = readdir($dir)) ) {
        if (( $file != '.' ) && ( $file != '..' )) {
            if ( is_dir($src . '/' . $file) ) {
                recurse_copy($src . '/' . $file,$dst . '/' . $file);
            }
            else {
                copy($src . '/' . $file,$dst . '/' . $file);
            }
        }
    }
    closedir($dir);
}
?>

---

Edit after the edit of the question :

You are calling your function passing it parameters :

recurse_copy($src . '/' . $file,$dst . '/' . $file); 

But your function is defined as taking no parameter :

function recurse_copy(){
    $src = dirname(__FILE__).'/themes/';
    $dst = dirname( STYLESHEETPATH ).'/';
    ...

You should correct your function's definition, so it takes parameters -- and not initialize those $src and $dst inside the function, but on its first call.

Solution 2

yes it cannot be a directory:
Look here for your answer to copying directories :-)