diff --git a/hadoop-tools/hadoop-distcp/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/tools/SimpleCopyListing.java b/hadoop-tools/hadoop-distcp/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/tools/SimpleCopyListing.java
index 900ce6296d..fb7ace5f1e 100644
--- a/hadoop-tools/hadoop-distcp/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/tools/SimpleCopyListing.java
+++ b/hadoop-tools/hadoop-distcp/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/tools/SimpleCopyListing.java
@@ -65,7 +65,8 @@
  * Note: The SimpleCopyListing doesn't handle wild-cards in the input-paths.
  */
 public class SimpleCopyListing extends CopyListing {
-  private static final Logger LOG = LoggerFactory.getLogger(SimpleCopyListing.class);
+  public static final Logger LOG =
+      LoggerFactory.getLogger(SimpleCopyListing.class);
 
   public static final int DEFAULT_FILE_STATUS_SIZE = 1000;
   public static final boolean DEFAULT_RANDOMIZE_FILE_LISTING = true;
@@ -601,7 +602,7 @@ public WorkReport<FileStatus[]> processItem(
   }
 
   private void printStats() {
-    LOG.info("Paths (files+dirs) cnt = {}; dirCnt = ", totalPaths, totalDirs);
+    LOG.info("Paths (files+dirs) cnt = {}; dirCnt = {}", totalPaths, totalDirs);
   }
 
   private void maybePrintStats() {
diff --git a/hadoop-tools/hadoop-distcp/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/tools/mapred/CopyCommitter.java b/hadoop-tools/hadoop-distcp/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/tools/mapred/CopyCommitter.java
index e346d0b938..33ab3ee4eb 100644
--- a/hadoop-tools/hadoop-distcp/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/tools/mapred/CopyCommitter.java
+++ b/hadoop-tools/hadoop-distcp/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/tools/mapred/CopyCommitter.java
@@ -564,12 +564,15 @@ private Path listTargetFiles(final Configuration conf,
     // thread count is picked up from the job
     int threads = conf.getInt(DistCpConstants.CONF_LABEL_LISTSTATUS_THREADS,
         DistCpConstants.DEFAULT_LISTSTATUS_THREADS);
+    boolean useIterator =
+        conf.getBoolean(DistCpConstants.CONF_LABEL_USE_ITERATOR, false);
     LOG.info("Scanning destination directory {} with thread count: {}",
         targetFinalPath, threads);
     DistCpOptions options = new DistCpOptions.Builder(targets, resultNonePath)
         .withOverwrite(overwrite)
         .withSyncFolder(syncFolder)
         .withNumListstatusThreads(threads)
+        .withUseIterator(useIterator)
         .build();
     DistCpContext distCpContext = new DistCpContext(options);
     distCpContext.setTargetPathExists(targetPathExists);
diff --git a/hadoop-tools/hadoop-distcp/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/tools/contract/AbstractContractDistCpTest.java b/hadoop-tools/hadoop-distcp/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/tools/contract/AbstractContractDistCpTest.java
index 202ead69a1..fab14d138b 100644
--- a/hadoop-tools/hadoop-distcp/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/tools/contract/AbstractContractDistCpTest.java
+++ b/hadoop-tools/hadoop-distcp/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/tools/contract/AbstractContractDistCpTest.java
@@ -42,6 +42,7 @@
 import org.apache.hadoop.tools.DistCp;
 import org.apache.hadoop.tools.DistCpConstants;
 import org.apache.hadoop.tools.DistCpOptions;
+import org.apache.hadoop.tools.SimpleCopyListing;
 import org.apache.hadoop.tools.mapred.CopyMapper;
 import org.apache.hadoop.tools.util.DistCpTestUtils;
 import org.apache.hadoop.util.functional.RemoteIterators;
@@ -628,11 +629,17 @@ public void testDistCpWithIterator() throws Exception {
     GenericTestUtils
         .createFiles(remoteFS, source, getDepth(), getWidth(), getWidth());
 
-    DistCpTestUtils.assertRunDistCp(DistCpConstants.SUCCESS, source.toString(),
-        dest.toString(), "-useiterator", conf);
+    GenericTestUtils.LogCapturer log =
+        GenericTestUtils.LogCapturer.captureLogs(SimpleCopyListing.LOG);
 
-    Assertions
-        .assertThat(RemoteIterators.toList(localFS.listFiles(dest, true)))
+    DistCpTestUtils.assertRunDistCp(DistCpConstants.SUCCESS, source.toString(),
+        dest.toString(), "-useiterator -update -delete", conf);
+
+    // Check the target listing was also done using iterator.
+    Assertions.assertThat(log.getOutput()).contains(
+        "Building listing using iterator mode for " + dest.toString());
+
+    Assertions.assertThat(RemoteIterators.toList(localFS.listFiles(dest, true)))
         .describedAs("files").hasSize(getTotalFiles());
   }