"is a directory error" in bash I have very limited knowledge of bash, and I haven't been able to figure out what I'm doing wrong.

I'm trying to follow the steps in this blog post: Using Mendeley and Dropbox to sync your pdf library across computers

However, when I run the terminal commands I get the following error:

~/Library/Application\ Support&gt;cp -r Mendeley\ Desktop/ ~/Dropbox/Mendeley/db/
-bash: /Users/XXXXXXXX/Library/Application Support: is a directory


Everything I've read online seems to suggest that this command is correct.
The author of the linked article probably had a modified bash profile (like explained by the user user3439894 in the comments to your question) or had problems to copy and paste the commands.

Use the following instead:

cd ~/Library/Application\ Support
cp -r Mendeley\ Desktop/ ~/Dropbox/Mendeley/db/
mv Mendeley\ Desktop/ _backup_Mendeley_Desktop/
ln -s ~/Dropbox/Mendeley/db/Mendeley\ Desktop .


Please don't forget to include the dot . at the end of the last command. The last line means: create a soft link of the folder "~/Dropbox/Mendeley/db/Mendeley Desktop" at your current working directory (which is "~/Library/Application Support").

Explanantion:


cd ~/Library/Application\ Support: change the working directory to "/Users/YourUserFolder/Library/Application Support".
cp -r Mendeley\ Desktop/ ~/Dropbox/Mendeley/db/: copy the folder (including the content) "Mendeley Desktop" into the folder "~/Dropbox/Mendeley/db/"
mv Mendeley\ Desktop/ _backup_Mendeley_Desktop/: rename (move/backup) the folder "Mendeley Desktop" to "_backup_Mendeley_Desktop".
ln -s ~/Dropbox/Mendeley/db/Mendeley\ Desktop .: create a soft link of the folder "~/Dropbox/Mendeley/db/Mendeley Desktop" at your current working directory.