cp dir in dired.

[G Annamalai]

Hello All,

How to copy a directory (under point) in dired mode?  

If I do M-!,  then I have to type the whole command 
"cp -r dir_one dir_new".   So it doesn't matter if
the cursor in on the relevant directory or not.

If I do just !  I get the prompt "! on dir_one: ".
At that point,  how would I enter the "cp -r" 
command?

dired-do-copy doesn't seem to work with directories.
Can anyone help me out?

Rgds,
anna

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If it wasn't for C, we'd be using BASI, PASAL and OBOL.