# copy – Copy files to remote locations

- Synopsis

- Parameters

- Notes

- See Also

- Examples

- Return Values

- Status

## Synopsis

- The `copy` module copies a file from the local or remote machine to a location on the remote machine.

- Use the fetch module to copy files from remote locations to the local box.

- If you need variable interpolation in copied files, use the template module. Using a variable in the `content` field will result in unpredictable output.

- For Windows targets, use the win_copy module instead.

## Parameters

Parameter | Choices/Defaults | Comments
--- | --- | ---
attributes string |  | 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 `=` operator is assumed as default, otherwise `+` or `-` operators need to be included in the string. aliases: attr

backup
boolean

Choices:
- no ←
- yes

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 |  | 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 |  | When used instead of `src`, sets the contents of a file directly to the specified value. Works only when `dest` is a file. Creates the file if it does not exist. For advanced formatting or if `content` contains a variable, use the template module.

decrypt
boolean
added in 2.4

Choices:
- no
- yes ←

This option controls the autodecryption of source files using vault.

dest
path / required

Remote absolute path where the file should be copied to.
If `src` is a directory, this must be a directory too.
If `dest` is a non-existent path and if either `dest` ends with "/" or `src` is a directory, `dest` is created.
If dest is a relative path, the starting directory is determined by the remote host.
If `src` and `dest` are files, the parent directory of `dest` is not created and the task fails if it does not already exist.

directory_mode raw |  | 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

Choices:
- no ←
- yes

This flag indicates that filesystem links in the destination, if they exist, should be followed.

force
boolean

Choices:
- no
- yes ←

Influence whether the remote file must always be replaced.
If `yes`, the remote file will be replaced when contents are different than the source.
If `no`, the file will only be transferred if the destination does not exist.
Alias `thirsty` has been deprecated and will be removed in 2.13.
aliases: thirsty

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

Choices:
- no
- yes ←

This flag indicates that filesystem links in the source tree, if they exist, should be followed.

mode
path

The permissions of the destination file or directory.
For those used to `/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 `0644` or `01777`)or quote it (like `'644'` or `'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, `u+rwx` or `u=rw,g=r,o=r`).
As of Ansible 2.3, the mode may also be the special string `preserve`.
`preserve` means that the file will be given the same permissions as the source file.

owner string |  | Name of the user that should own the file/directory, as would be fed to chown.

remote_src
boolean

Choices:
- no ←
- yes

Influence whether `src` needs to be transferred or already is present remotely.
If `no`, it will search for `src` at originating/master machine.
If `yes` it will go to the remote/target machine for the `src`.
`remote_src` supports recursive copying as of version 2.8.
`remote_src` only works with `mode=preserve` as of version 2.6.

selevel string | Default: "s0" | The level part of the SELinux file context. This is the MLS/MCS attribute, sometimes known as the `range`. When set to `_default`, it will use the `level` portion of the policy if available.
serole string |  | The role part of the SELinux file context. When set to `_default`, it will use the `role` portion of the policy if available.
setype string |  | The type part of the SELinux file context. When set to `_default`, it will use the `type` portion of the policy if available.
seuser string |  | The user part of the SELinux file context. By default it uses the `system` policy, where applicable. When set to `_default`, it will use the `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 "/", 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 `rsync` command line tool.

unsafe_writes
boolean

Choices:
- no ←
- yes

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 copy module recursively copy facility does not scale to lots (>hundreds) of files.

## See Also

See also

assemble – Assemble configuration files from fragments

  The official documentation on the assemble module.

fetch – Fetch files from remote nodes

  The official documentation on the fetch module.

file – Manage files and file properties

  The official documentation on the file module.

synchronize – A wrapper around rsync to make common tasks in your playbooks quick and easy

  The official documentation on the synchronize module.

template – Template a file out to a remote server

  The official documentation on the template module.

win_copy – Copies files to remote locations on windows hosts

  The official documentation on the win_copy module.

## Examples

    - name: Copy file with owner and permissions
      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
      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
      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
      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
      copy:
        src: /mine/sudoers
        dest: /etc/sudoers
        validate: /usr/sbin/visudo -csf %s

    - name: Copy a "sudoers" file on the remote machine for editing
      copy:
        src: /etc/sudoers
        dest: /etc/sudoers.edit
        remote_src: yes
        validate: /usr/sbin/visudo -csf %s

    - name: Copy using inline content
      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
      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
      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

## Status

- This module is guaranteed to have backward compatible interface changes going forward. [stableinterface]

- This module is maintained by the Ansible Core Team. [core]

### Red Hat Support

More information about Red Hat’s support of this module is available from this Red Hat Knowledge Base article.

### Authors

- Ansible Core Team

- Michael DeHaan

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