[ansible] Copy multiple files with Ansible

How can I copy more than a single file into remote nodes by Ansible in a task?

I've tried to duplicate the copy module line in my task to define files but it only copies the first file.

This question is related to ansible

The answer is


Or you can use with_items:

- copy:
    src: "{{ item }}"
    dest: /etc/fooapp/
    owner: root
    mode: 600
  with_items:
    - dest_dir

- name: Your copy task
  copy: src={{ item.src }} dest={{ item.dest }}
  with_items:
    - { src: 'containerizers', dest: '/etc/mesos/containerizers' }
    - { src: 'another_file', dest: '/etc/somewhere' }
    - { src: 'dynamic', dest: '{{ var_path }}' }
  # more files here

You can loop through variable with list of directories:

- name: Copy files from several directories
  copy:
    src: "{{ item }}"
    dest: "/etc/fooapp/"
    owner: root
    mode: "0600"
  loop: "{{ files }}"
  vars:
    files:
      - "dir1/"
      - "dir2/"

Since Ansible 2.5 the with_* constructs are deprecated, and loop syntax should be used. A simple practical example:

- name: Copy CA files
  copy:
    src: '{{item}}'
    dest: '/etc/pki/ca-trust/source/anchors'
    owner: root
    group: root
    mode: 0644
  loop:
    - symantec-private.crt
    - verisignclass3g2.crt


- hosts: lnx
  tasks:
    - find: paths="/appl/scripts/inq" recurse=yes patterns="inq.Linux*"
      register: file_to_copy
    - copy: src={{ item.path }} dest=/usr/local/sbin/
      owner: root
      mode: 0775
      with_items: "{{ files_to_copy.files }}"

If you need more than one location, you need more than one task. One copy task can copy only from one location (including multiple files) to another one on the node.

- copy: src=/file1 dest=/destination/file1
- copy: src=/file2 dest=/destination/file2

# copy each file over that matches the given pattern
- copy: src={{ item }} dest=/destination/
  with_fileglob:
    - /files/*

- name: find inq.Linux*
  find:  paths="/appl/scripts/inq" recurse=yes patterns="inq.Linux*"
  register: find_files


- name: set fact
  set_fact:
    all_files:
      - "{{ find_files.files | map(attribute='path') | list }}"
  when: find_files > 0


- name: copy files
  copy:
    src: "{{ item }}"
    dest: /destination/
  with_items: "{{ all_files }}"
  when: find_files > 0

You can use the with_fileglob loop for this:

- copy:
    src: "{{ item }}"
    dest: /etc/fooapp/
    owner: root
    mode: 600
  with_fileglob:
    - /playbooks/files/fooapp/*

Use the following source code for copy multiple files on your client machine.


 - name: Copy data to the client machine
   hosts: hostname
   become_method: sudo
   become_user: root
   become: true
   tasks: 
     # Copy twice as sometimes files get skipped (mostly only one file skipped from a folder if the folder does not exist)
     - name: Copy UFO-Server 
       copy:
         src: "source files path"
         dest: "destination file path"
         owner: root
         group: root
         mode: 0644
         backup: yes
       ignore_errors: true

Note:

If you are passing multiple paths by using variable then

src: "/root/{{ item }}"

If you are passing path by using a variable for different items then

src: "/root/{{ item.source_path }}"


copy module is a wrong tool for copying many files and/or directory structure, use synchronize module instead which uses rsync as backend. Mind you, it requires rsync installed on both controller and target host. It's really powerful, check ansible documentation.

Example - copy files from build directory (with subdirectories) of controller to /var/www/html directory on target host:

synchronize:
  src: ./my-static-web-page/build/
  dest: /var/www/html
  rsync_opts:
    - "--chmod=D2755,F644" # copy from windows - force permissions

You can use with_together for this purpose:

- name: Copy multiple files to multiple directories
  copy: src={{ item.0 }} dest={{ item.1 }}
  with_together:
    - [ 'file1', 'file2', 'file3' ]
    - [ '/dir1/', '/dir2/', '/dir3/' ]