you can use rsync
rsync -avz /path/to/src/file /path/to/dst/dir
You can also use tar
cd /path/to/src/dir; tar -cpf - sourcefile | (cd /path/to/dest/dir; tar -xpf -)
if your tar support -C
cd /path/to/src/dir; tar -cpf - sourcefile | tar -xpf - -C /path/to/dest/dir