NAME

       docker-container-cp - Copy files/folders between a container and the local filesystem

SYNOPSIS

       docker container cp [OPTIONS] CONTAINER:SRC_PATH DEST_PATH|-
           docker cp [OPTIONS] SRC_PATH|- CONTAINER:DEST_PATH

DESCRIPTION

       The docker container cp utility copies the contents of SRC_PATH to the DEST_PATH.  You can
       copy from the container's file system to the local machine or the reverse, from the local
       filesystem to the container. If - is specified for either the SRC_PATH or DEST_PATH, you
       can also stream a tar archive from STDIN or to STDOUT. The CONTAINER can be a running or
       stopped container.  The SRC_PATH or DEST_PATH can be a file or directory.

       The docker container cp command assumes container paths are relative to the container's /
       (root) directory. This means supplying the initial forward slash is optional; The command
       sees compassionate_darwin:/tmp/foo/myfile.txt and compassionate_darwin:tmp/foo/myfile.txt
       as identical. Local machine paths can be an absolute or relative value. The command
       interprets a local machine's relative paths as relative to the current working directory
       where docker container cp is run.

       The cp command behaves like the Unix cp -a command in that directories are copied
       recursively with permissions preserved if possible. Ownership is set to the user and
       primary group at the destination. For example, files copied to a container are created
       with UID:GID of the root user. Files copied to the local machine are created with the
       UID:GID of the user which invoked the docker container cp command.  If you specify the -L
       option, docker container cp follows any symbolic link in the SRC_PATH. docker container cp
       does not create parent directories for DEST_PATH if they do not exist.

       Assuming a path separator of /, a first argument of SRC_PATH and second argument of
       DEST_PATH, the behavior is as follows:

              • SRC_PATH specifies a file

                • DEST_PATH does not exist

                  • the file is saved to a file created at DEST_PATH

                • DEST_PATH does not exist and ends with /

                  • Error condition: the destination directory must exist.

                • DEST_PATH exists and is a file

                  • the destination is overwritten with the source file's contents

                • DEST_PATH exists and is a directory

                  • the file is copied into this directory using the basename from SRC_PATH

              • SRC_PATH specifies a directory

                • DEST_PATH does not exist

                  • DEST_PATH is created as a directory and the contents of the source directory
                    are copied into this directory

                • DEST_PATH exists and is a file

                  • Error condition: cannot copy a directory to a file

                • DEST_PATH exists and is a directory

                  • SRC_PATH does not end with /. (that is: slash followed by dot)

                    • the source directory is copied into this directory

                  • SRC_PATH does end with /. (that is: slash followed by dot)

                    • the content of the source directory is copied into this directory

       The command requires SRC_PATH and DEST_PATH to exist according to the above rules. If
       SRC_PATH is local and is a symbolic link, the symbolic link, not the target, is copied by
       default. To copy the link target and not the link, specify the -L option.

       A colon (:) is used as a delimiter between CONTAINER and its path. You can also use : when
       specifying paths to a SRC_PATH or DEST_PATH on a local machine, for example
       file:name.txt. If you use a : in a local machine path, you must be explicit with a
       relative or absolute path, for example:

              `/path/to/file:name.txt` or `./file:name.txt`

       It is not possible to copy certain system files such as resources under /proc, /sys, /dev,
       tmpfs, and mounts created by the user in the container.  However, you can still copy such
       files by manually running tar in docker exec.  For example (consider SRC_PATH and
       DEST_PATH are directories):

              $ docker exec foo tar Ccf $(dirname SRC_PATH) - $(basename SRC_PATH) | tar Cxf DEST_PATH -

       or

              $ tar Ccf $(dirname SRC_PATH) - $(basename SRC_PATH) | docker exec -i foo tar Cxf DEST_PATH -

       Using - as the SRC_PATH streams the contents of STDIN as a tar archive.  The command
       extracts the content of the tar to the DEST_PATH in container's filesystem. In this case,
       DEST_PATH must specify a directory. Using - as the DEST_PATH streams the contents of the
       resource as a tar archive to STDOUT.

EXAMPLES

       Suppose a container has finished producing some output as a file it saves to somewhere in
       its filesystem. This could be the output of a build job or some other computation. You can
       copy these outputs from the container to a location on your local host.

       If you want to copy the /tmp/foo directory from a container to the existing /tmp directory
       on your host. If you run docker container cp in your (home) directory on the local host:

              $ docker container cp compassionate_darwin:tmp/foo /tmp

       Docker creates a /tmp/foo directory on your host. Alternatively, you can omit the leading
       slash in the command. If you execute this command from your home directory:

              $ docker container cp compassionate_darwin:tmp/foo tmp

       If  /tmp does not exist, Docker will create it and copy the contents of /tmp/foo from the
       container into this new directory. If  /tmp already exists as a directory, then Docker
       will copy the contents of /tmp/foo from the container into a directory at  /tmp/foo.

       When copying a single file to an existing LOCALPATH, the docker container cp command will
       either overwrite the contents of LOCALPATH if it is a file or place it into LOCALPATH if
       it is a directory, overwriting an existing file of the same name if one exists. For
       example, this command:

              $ docker container cp sharp_ptolemy:/tmp/foo/myfile.txt /test

       If /test does not exist on the local machine, it will be created as a file with the
       contents of /tmp/foo/myfile.txt from the container. If /test exists as a file, it will be
       overwritten. Lastly, if /test exists as a directory, the file will be copied to
       /test/myfile.txt.

       Next, suppose you want to copy a file or folder into a container. For example, this could
       be a configuration file or some other input to a long running computation that you would
       like to place into a created container before it starts. This is useful because it does
       not require the configuration file or other input to exist in the container image.

       If you have a file, config.yml, in the current directory on your local host and wish to
       copy it to an existing directory at /etc/my-app.d in a container, this command can be
       used:

              $ docker container cp config.yml myappcontainer:/etc/my-app.d

       If you have several files in a local directory /config which you need to copy to a
       directory /etc/my-app.d in a container:

              $ docker container cp /config/. myappcontainer:/etc/my-app.d

       The above command will copy the contents of the local /config directory into the directory
       /etc/my-app.d in the container.

       Finally, if you want to copy a symbolic link into a container, you typically want to  copy
       the linked target and not the link itself. To copy the target, use the -L option, for
       example:

              $ ln -s /tmp/somefile /tmp/somefile.ln
              $ docker container cp -L /tmp/somefile.ln myappcontainer:/tmp/

       This command copies content of the local /tmp/somefile into the file /tmp/somefile.ln in
       the container. Without -L option, the /tmp/somefile.ln preserves its symbolic link but not
       its content.

OPTIONS

       -a, --archive[=false]
           Archive mode (copy all uid/gid information)

       -L, --follow-link[=false]
           Always follow symbol link in SRC_PATH

       -h, --help[=false]
           help for cp

SEE ALSO

       docker-container(1)