@@ -230,9 +230,8 @@ Directory and files operations
230230 dirs_exist_ok=False)
231231
232232 Recursively copy an entire directory tree rooted at *src * to a directory
233- named *dst * and return the destination directory. *dirs_exist_ok * dictates
234- whether to raise an exception in case *dst * or any missing parent directory
235- already exists.
233+ named *dst * and return the destination directory. All intermediate
234+ directories needed to contain *dst * will also be created by default.
236235
237236 Permissions and times of directories are copied with :func: `copystat `,
238237 individual files are copied using :func: `~shutil.copy2 `.
@@ -263,8 +262,14 @@ Directory and files operations
263262
264263 If *copy_function * is given, it must be a callable that will be used to copy
265264 each file. It will be called with the source path and the destination path
266- as arguments. By default, :func: `~shutil.copy2 ` is used, but any function
267- that supports the same signature (like :func: `~shutil.copy `) can be used.
265+ as arguments. By default, :func: `~shutil.copy2 ` is used, but any function
266+ that supports the same signature (like :func: `~shutil.copy `) can be used.
267+
268+ If *dirs_exist_ok * is false (the default) and *dst * already exists, a
269+ :exc: `FileExistsError ` is raised. If *dirs_exist_ok * is true, the copying
270+ operation will continue if it encounters existing directories, and files
271+ within the *dst * tree will be overwritten by corresponding files from the
272+ *src * tree.
268273
269274 .. audit-event :: shutil.copytree src,dst shutil.copytree
270275
@@ -275,7 +280,7 @@ Directory and files operations
275280 .. versionchanged :: 3.2
276281 Added the *copy_function * argument to be able to provide a custom copy
277282 function.
278- Added the *ignore_dangling_symlinks * argument to silent dangling symlinks
283+ Added the *ignore_dangling_symlinks * argument to silence dangling symlinks
279284 errors when *symlinks * is false.
280285
281286 .. versionchanged :: 3.8
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