Copying all files - including hidden ones

[o0zi]

Probably showing my ignorance here, but how exactly do you copy all the files in a directory, including all the ones that begin with a dot such as .bashrc?
cp .* gives errors, because it copies again and again, as .* includes ../directory/.file as well as .file. cp * doesn't copy hidden files.
Hopefully someone can enlighten me with the answer to a problem I really should've asked before ;)

[ichyska]

I should think:

cp `ls -A` destination

will do it.

"ls -A" lists nearly all the files in the current directory, it includes dot files, but not "." or ".." . It's enclosed in backticks (above the tab key). That makes bash replace it with the output of the command.

[janet loves bill]

cp -Rav /path/

[fiske]

could be wrong but I would try
cp -R /directory/to/be/copied /new/directory