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copy

Collection Note

This module is part of the ansible.builtin collection. To install the collection, use:

ansible-galaxy collection install ansible.builtin
Added in version historical.

Synopsis

  • The M(ansible.builtin.copy) module copies a file or a directory structure from the local or remote machine to a location on the remote machine. File system meta-information (permissions, ownership, etc.) may be set, even when the file or directory already exists on the target system. Some meta-information may be copied on request.
  • Get meta-information with the M(ansible.builtin.stat) module.
  • Set meta-information with the M(ansible.builtin.file) module.
  • Use the M(ansible.builtin.fetch) module to copy files from remote locations to the local box.
  • If you need variable interpolation in copied files, use the M(ansible.builtin.template) module. Using a variable with the O(content) parameter produces unpredictable results.
  • For Windows targets, use the M(ansible.windows.win_copy) module instead.

Parameters

Parameter Defaults / Choices Comments
attributes
str		 The attributes the resulting filesystem object should have.
To get supported flags look at the man page for C(chattr) on the target system.
This string should contain the attributes in the same order as the one displayed by C(lsattr).
The C(=) operator is assumed as default, otherwise C(+) or C(-) operators need to be included in the string.
Version Added: 2.3
backup
bool		 Create a backup file including the timestamp information so you can get the original file back if you somehow clobbered it incorrectly.
Version Added: 0.7
checksum
str		 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.
Version Added: 2.5
content
str		 When used instead of O(src), sets the contents of a file directly to the specified value.
Works only when O(dest) is a file. Creates the file if it does not exist.
For advanced formatting or if O(content) contains a variable, use the M(ansible.builtin.template) module.
Version Added: 1.1
decrypt
bool		 Default: True
 This option controls the auto-decryption of source files using vault.
Version Added: 2.4
dest
path
required		 Remote absolute path where the file should be copied to.
If O(src) is a directory, this must be a directory too.
If O(dest) is a non-existent path and if either O(dest) ends with C(/) or O(src) is a directory, O(dest) is created.
If O(dest) is a relative path, the starting directory is determined by the remote host.
If O(src) and O(dest) are files, the parent directory of O(dest) is not created and the task fails if it does not already exist.
directory_mode
raw		 Set the access permissions of newly created directories to the given mode. Permissions on existing directories do not change.
See O(mode) for the syntax of accepted values.
The target system's defaults determine permissions when this parameter is not set.
Version Added: 1.5
follow
bool		 This flag indicates that filesystem links in the destination, if they exist, should be followed.
Version Added: 1.8
force
bool		 Default: True
 Influence whether the remote file must always be replaced.
If V(true), the remote file will be replaced when contents are different than the source.
If V(false), the file will only be transferred if the destination does not exist.
Version Added: 1.1
group
str		 Name of the group that should own the filesystem object, as would be fed to C(chown).
When left unspecified, it uses the current group of the current user unless you are root, in which case it can preserve the previous ownership.
local_follow
bool		 Default: True
 This flag indicates that filesystem links in the source tree, if they exist, should be followed.
Version Added: 2.4
mode
raw		 The permissions of the destination file or directory.
For those used to C(/usr/bin/chmod) remember that modes are actually octal numbers. You must either add a leading zero so that Ansible's YAML parser knows it is an octal number (like V(0644) or V(01777)) or quote it (like V('644') or V('1777')) so Ansible receives a string and can do its own conversion from string into number. Giving Ansible a number without following one of these rules will end up with a decimal number which will have unexpected results.
As of Ansible 1.8, the mode may be specified as a symbolic mode (for example, V(u+rwx) or V(u=rw,g=r,o=r)).
As of Ansible 2.3, the mode may also be the special string V(preserve).
V(preserve) means that the file will be given the same permissions as the source file.
When doing a recursive copy, see also O(directory_mode).
If O(mode) is not specified and the destination file B(does not) exist, the default C(umask) on the system will be used when setting the mode for the newly created file.
If O(mode) is not specified and the destination file B(does) exist, the mode of the existing file will be used.
Specifying O(mode) is the best way to ensure files are created with the correct permissions. See CVE-2020-1736 for further details.
owner
str		 Name of the user that should own the filesystem object, as would be fed to C(chown).
When left unspecified, it uses the current user unless you are root, in which case it can preserve the previous ownership.
Specifying a numeric username will be assumed to be a user ID and not a username. Avoid numeric usernames to avoid this confusion.
remote_src
bool		 Influence whether O(src) needs to be transferred or already is present remotely.
If V(false), it will search for O(src) on the controller node.
If V(true), it will search for O(src) on the managed (remote) node.
O(remote_src) supports recursive copying as of version 2.8.
O(remote_src) only works with O(mode=preserve) as of version 2.6.
Auto-decryption of files does not work when O(remote_src=yes).
Version Added: 2.0
selevel
str		 The level part of the SELinux filesystem object context.
This is the MLS/MCS attribute, sometimes known as the C(range).
When set to V(_default), it will use the C(level) portion of the policy if available.
serole
str		 The role part of the SELinux filesystem object context.
When set to V(_default), it will use the C(role) portion of the policy if available.
setype
str		 The type part of the SELinux filesystem object context.
When set to V(_default), it will use the C(type) portion of the policy if available.
seuser
str		 The user part of the SELinux filesystem object context.
By default it uses the V(system) policy, where applicable.
When set to V(_default), it will use the C(user) portion of the policy if available.
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 C(/), only inside contents of that directory are copied to destination. Otherwise, if it does not end with C(/), the directory itself with all contents is copied. This behavior is similar to the C(rsync) command line tool.
unsafe_writes
bool		 Influence when to use atomic operation to prevent data corruption or inconsistent reads from the target filesystem object.
By default this module uses atomic operations to prevent data corruption or inconsistent reads from the target filesystem objects, but sometimes systems are configured or just broken in ways that prevent this. One example is docker mounted filesystem objects, 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 filesystem objects 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.
Version Added: 2.2
validate
str		 The validation command to run before copying the updated file into the final destination.
A temporary file path is used to validate, passed in through C(%s) which must be present as in the examples below.
Also, the command is passed securely so shell features such as expansion and pipes will not work.
For an example on how to handle more complex validation than what this option provides, see R(handling complex validation,complex_configuration_validation).

Notes

Note

  • The M(ansible.builtin.copy) module recursively copy facility does not scale to lots (>hundreds) of files.

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

Key Data Type Description Returned
backup_file str Name of backup file created. changed and if backup=yes
checksum str SHA1 checksum of the file after running copy. success
dest str Destination file/path. success
gid int Group id of the file, after execution. success
group str Group of the file, after execution. success
md5sum str MD5 checksum of the file after running copy. when supported
mode str Permissions of the target, after execution. success
owner str Owner of the file, after execution. success
size int Size of the target, after execution. success
src str Source file used for the copy on the target machine. changed
state str State of the target, after execution. success
uid int Owner id of the file, after execution. success

Authors

  • Ansible Core Team
  • Michael Dehaan