ansible.builtin.copy – Copy files to remote locations
ansible.builtin.copy – Copy files to remote locations
Note
This module is part of ansible-base
and included in all Ansible installations. In most cases, you can use the short module name copy even without specifying the collections:
keyword. Despite that, we recommend you use the FQCN for easy linking to the module documentation and to avoid conflicting with other collections that may have the same module name.
Synopsis
- The
copy
module copies a file from the local or remote machine to a location on the remote machine. - Use the ansible.builtin.fetch module to copy files from remote locations to the local box.
- If you need variable interpolation in copied files, use the ansible.builtin.template module. Using a variable in the
content
field will result in unpredictable output. - For Windows targets, use the ansible.windows.win_copy module instead.
Parameters
Parameter | Choices/Defaults | Comments |
---|---|---|
attributes string added in 2.3 of ansible.builtin |
The attributes the resulting file or directory should have. To get supported flags look at the man page for chattr on the target system. This string should contain the attributes in the same order as the one displayed by lsattr. The
| |
backup boolean added in 0.7 of ansible.builtin |
|
Create a backup file including the timestamp information so you can get the original file back if you somehow clobbered it incorrectly. |
checksum string added in 2.5 of ansible.builtin |
SHA1 checksum of the file being transferred. Used to validate that the copy of the file was successful. If this is not provided, ansible will use the local calculated checksum of the src file. | |
content string added in 1.1 of ansible.builtin |
When used instead of Works only when For advanced formatting or if | |
decrypt boolean added in 2.4 of ansible.builtin |
|
This option controls the autodecryption of source files using vault. |
dest path / required |
Remote absolute path where the file should be copied to. If If If dest is a relative path, the starting directory is determined by the remote host. If | |
directory_mode raw added in 1.5 of ansible.builtin |
When doing a recursive copy set the mode for the directories. If this is not set we will use the system defaults. The mode is only set on directories which are newly created, and will not affect those that already existed. | |
follow boolean added in 1.8 of ansible.builtin |
|
This flag indicates that filesystem links in the destination, if they exist, should be followed. |
force boolean added in 1.1 of ansible.builtin |
|
Influence whether the remote file must always be replaced. If If Alias
|
group string |
Name of the group that should own the file/directory, as would be fed to chown. | |
local_follow boolean added in 2.4 of ansible.builtin |
|
This flag indicates that filesystem links in the source tree, if they exist, should be followed. |
mode raw |
The permissions of the destination file or directory. For those used to As of Ansible 1.8, the mode may be specified as a symbolic mode (for example, As of Ansible 2.3, the mode may also be the special string
When doing a recursive copy, see also If If Specifying | |
owner string |
Name of the user that should own the file/directory, as would be fed to chown. | |
remote_src boolean added in 2.0 of ansible.builtin |
|
Influence whether If If
Autodecryption of files does not work when |
selevel string |
The level part of the SELinux file context. This is the MLS/MCS attribute, sometimes known as the When set to | |
serole string |
The role part of the SELinux file context. When set to | |
setype string |
The type part of the SELinux file context. When set to | |
seuser string |
The user part of the SELinux file context. By default it uses the When set to | |
src path |
Local path to a file to copy to the remote server. This can be absolute or relative. If path is a directory, it is copied recursively. In this case, if path ends with "/", only inside contents of that directory are copied to destination. Otherwise, if it does not end with "/", the directory itself with all contents is copied. This behavior is similar to the | |
unsafe_writes boolean added in 2.2 of ansible.builtin |
|
Influence when to use atomic operation to prevent data corruption or inconsistent reads from the target file. By default this module uses atomic operations to prevent data corruption or inconsistent reads from the target files, but sometimes systems are configured or just broken in ways that prevent this. One example is docker mounted files, which cannot be updated atomically from inside the container and can only be written in an unsafe manner. This option allows Ansible to fall back to unsafe methods of updating files when atomic operations fail (however, it doesn't force Ansible to perform unsafe writes). IMPORTANT! Unsafe writes are subject to race conditions and can lead to data corruption. |
validate string |
The validation command to run before copying into place. The path to the file to validate is passed in via '%s' which must be present as in the examples below. The command is passed securely so shell features like expansion and pipes will not work. |
Notes
Note
- The ansible.builtin.copy module recursively copy facility does not scale to lots (>hundreds) of files.
- Supports
check_mode
.
See Also
See also
- ansible.builtin.assemble
- The official documentation on the ansible.builtin.assemble module.
- ansible.builtin.fetch
- The official documentation on the ansible.builtin.fetch module.
- ansible.builtin.file
- The official documentation on the ansible.builtin.file module.
- ansible.builtin.template
- The official documentation on the ansible.builtin.template module.
- ansible.posix.synchronize
- The official documentation on the ansible.posix.synchronize module.
- ansible.windows.win_copy
- The official documentation on the ansible.windows.win_copy module.
Examples
- name: Copy file with owner and permissions
ansible.builtin.copy:
src: /srv/myfiles/foo.conf
dest: /etc/foo.conf
owner: foo
group: foo
mode: '0644'
- name: Copy file with owner and permission, using symbolic representation
ansible.builtin.copy:
src: /srv/myfiles/foo.conf
dest: /etc/foo.conf
owner: foo
group: foo
mode: u=rw,g=r,o=r
- name: Another symbolic mode example, adding some permissions and removing others
ansible.builtin.copy:
src: /srv/myfiles/foo.conf
dest: /etc/foo.conf
owner: foo
group: foo
mode: u+rw,g-wx,o-rwx
- name: Copy a new "ntp.conf" file into place, backing up the original if it differs from the copied version
ansible.builtin.copy:
src: /mine/ntp.conf
dest: /etc/ntp.conf
owner: root
group: root
mode: '0644'
backup: yes
- name: Copy a new "sudoers" file into place, after passing validation with visudo
ansible.builtin.copy:
src: /mine/sudoers
dest: /etc/sudoers
validate: /usr/sbin/visudo -csf %s
- name: Copy a "sudoers" file on the remote machine for editing
ansible.builtin.copy:
src: /etc/sudoers
dest: /etc/sudoers.edit
remote_src: yes
validate: /usr/sbin/visudo -csf %s
- name: Copy using inline content
ansible.builtin.copy:
content: '# This file was moved to /etc/other.conf'
dest: /etc/mine.conf
- name: If follow=yes, /path/to/file will be overwritten by contents of foo.conf
ansible.builtin.copy:
src: /etc/foo.conf
dest: /path/to/link # link to /path/to/file
follow: yes
- name: If follow=no, /path/to/link will become a file and be overwritten by contents of foo.conf
ansible.builtin.copy:
src: /etc/foo.conf
dest: /path/to/link # link to /path/to/file
follow: no
Return Values
Common return values are documented here, the following are the fields unique to this module:
Key | Returned | Description |
---|---|---|
backup_file string |
changed and if backup=yes |
Name of backup file created.
Sample: /path/to/file.txt.2015-02-12@22:09~ |
checksum string |
success |
SHA1 checksum of the file after running copy.
Sample: 6e642bb8dd5c2e027bf21dd923337cbb4214f827 |
dest string |
success |
Destination file/path.
Sample: /path/to/file.txt |
gid integer |
success |
Group id of the file, after execution.
Sample: 100 |
group string |
success |
Group of the file, after execution.
Sample: httpd |
md5sum string |
when supported |
MD5 checksum of the file after running copy.
Sample: 2a5aeecc61dc98c4d780b14b330e3282 |
mode string |
success |
Permissions of the target, after execution.
Sample: 420 |
owner string |
success |
Owner of the file, after execution.
Sample: httpd |
size integer |
success |
Size of the target, after execution.
Sample: 1220 |
src string |
changed |
Source file used for the copy on the target machine.
Sample: /home/httpd/.ansible/tmp/ansible-tmp-1423796390.97-147729857856000/source |
state string |
success |
State of the target, after execution.
Sample: file |
uid integer |
success |
Owner id of the file, after execution.
Sample: 100 |
Authors
- Ansible Core Team
- Michael DeHaan
© 2012–2018 Michael DeHaan
© 2018–2021 Red Hat, Inc.
Licensed under the GNU General Public License version 3.
https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/2.11/collections/ansible/builtin/copy_module.html