22 April 2024 Leave a comment Tech-Help
Android Debug Bridge (ADB) is a versatile command-line tool that allows developers to communicate with an Android device. One common task is transferring files and directories from a development machine to an Android device. While adb pull can recursively copy files from the device to the machine, adb push has limitations when dealing with nested directories. This article guides you through the process of recursively pushing folders to an Android device using ADB.
Recursive Push with ADB
If you’re looking to push an entire directory, including its subdirectories, to your Android device, here’s a simple command that can do the job:
adb push mySourceFolder/. myDestAndroidFolderNote that this method does not copy empty subfolders. If your source directory contains empty folders that you need on the device, you’ll need to create them manually using the adb shell mkdir command.
Creating Subdirectories on the Device
For a more complete solution when starting with an empty directory on the device, you’ll first need to create the necessary subdirectories. You can do this with the following series of commands from your source directory:
cd path-to-folder-containing-myDirectory
find myDirectory/ -type d -exec adb shell mkdir path-to-folder-containing-myDirectory-in-device/{} \;This command locates all subdirectories within myDirectory and creates corresponding directories on your Android device.
Pushing the Content
Once all subdirectories exist on the device, you can push the contents of your source folder:
adb push myDirectory/. path-to-folder/myDirectoryThis command will push all files within myDirectory and its subdirectories to the specified path on the Android device.
Automating the Process
While the above method works, it can be cumbersome if you need to perform this task frequently. In such cases, automating the process with a script can save time and effort. However, the specifics of the script would depend on your operating system and setup.
Repeato: Streamlining Your Mobile App Testing
While managing files on your Android device is crucial, ensuring your app’s quality through testing is equally important. Repeato is a no-code test automation tool that simplifies creating, running, and maintaining automated tests for iOS and Android apps. By leveraging computer vision and AI, Repeato offers a fast and intuitive way to edit and run tests, and it supports various app frameworks like React Native, Flutter, and Unity.
Repeato comes with built-in ADB support, which means you can execute ADB commands via script steps, streamlining the testing process even further. This integration is particularly useful for tasks that involve file management on Android devices, as part of your automated testing workflows.
For more insights into mobile app testing and automation, check out our other articles on mobile UI testing tools and cross-platform mobile test automation tools.
