I am trying to build a backup and restore solution for the Docker containers that we work with.
I have Docker base image that I have created, ubuntu:base, and do not want have to rebuild it each time with a Docker file to add files to it.
I want to create a script that runs from the host machine and creates a new container using the ubuntu:base Docker image and then copies files into that container.
How can I copy files from the host to the container?
451 Answers
The cp command can be used to copy files.
One specific file can be copied TO the container like:
docker cp foo.txt container_id:/foo.txt One specific file can be copied FROM the container like:
docker cp container_id:/foo.txt foo.txt For emphasis, container_id is a container ID, not an image ID. (Use docker ps to view listing which includes container_ids.)
Multiple files contained by the folder src can be copied into the target folder using:
docker cp src/. container_id:/target docker cp container_id:/src/. target Reference: Docker CLI docs for cp
In Docker versions prior to 1.8 it was only possible to copy files from a container to the host. Not from the host to a container.
13Get container name or short container id:
$ docker psGet full container id:
$ docker inspect -f '{{.Id}}' SHORT_CONTAINER_ID-or-CONTAINER_NAMECopy file:
$ sudo cp path-file-host /var/lib/docker/aufs/mnt/FULL_CONTAINER_ID/PATH-NEW-FILE
EXAMPLE:
$ docker ps CONTAINER ID IMAGE COMMAND CREATED STATUS PORTS NAMES d8e703d7e303 solidleon/ssh:latest /usr/sbin/sshd -D cranky_pare $ docker inspect -f '{{.Id}}' cranky_pare or
$ docker inspect -f '{{.Id}}' d8e703d7e303 d8e703d7e3039a6df6d01bd7fb58d1882e592a85059eb16c4b83cf91847f88e5 $ sudo cp file.txt /var/lib/docker/aufs/mnt/**d8e703d7e3039a6df6d01bd7fb58d1882e592a85059eb16c4b83cf91847f88e5**/root/file.txt The cleanest way is to mount a host directory on the container when starting the container:
{host} docker run -v /path/to/hostdir:/mnt --name my_container my_image {host} docker exec -it my_container bash {container} cp /mnt/sourcefile /path/to/destfile The following is a fairly ugly way of doing it but it works.
docker run -i ubuntu /bin/bash -c 'cat > file' < file Typically there are three types:
From a container to the host
docker cp container_id:./bar/foo.txt .
Also
docker cpcommand works both ways too.
From the host to a container
docker exec -i container_id sh -c 'cat > ./bar/foo.txt' < ./foo.txtSecond approach to copy from host to container:
docker cp foo.txt mycontainer:/foo.txt
From a container to a container mixes 1 and 2
docker cp container_id1:./bar/foo.txt . docker exec -i container_id2 sh -c 'cat > ./bar/foo.txt' < ./foo.txt
If you need to do this on a running container you can use docker exec (added in 1.3).
First, find the container's name or ID:
$ docker ps CONTAINER ID IMAGE COMMAND CREATED STATUS PORTS NAMES b9b7400ddd8f ubuntu:latest "/bin/bash" 2 seconds ago Up 2 seconds elated_hodgkin In the example above we can either use b9b7400ddd8f or elated_hodgkin.
If you wanted to copy everything in /tmp/somefiles on the host to /var/www in the container:
$ cd /tmp/somefiles $ tar -cv * | docker exec -i elated_hodgkin tar x -C /var/www We can then exec /bin/bash in the container and verify it worked:
$ docker exec -it elated_hodgkin /bin/bash root@b9b7400ddd8f:/# ls /var/www file1 file2 Create a new dockerfile and use the existing image as your base.
FROM myName/myImage:latest ADD myFile.py bin/myFile.pyThen build the container:
docker build .
The solution is given below,
From the Docker shell,
root@123abc:/root# <-- get the container ID From the host
cp thefile.txt /var/lib/docker/devicemapper/mnt/123abc<bunch-o-hex>/rootfs/root The file shall be directly copied to the location where the container sits on the filesystem.
3Another solution for copying files into a running container is using tar:
tar -c foo.sh | docker exec -i theDockerContainer /bin/tar -C /tmp -x Copies the file foo.sh into /tmp of the container.
Edit: Remove reduntant -f, thanks to Maartens comment.
To copy a file from host to running container
docker exec -i $CONTAINER /bin/bash -c "cat > $CONTAINER_PATH" < $HOST_PATH Based on Erik's answer and Mikl's and z0r's comments.
1This is a direct answer to the question 'Copying files from host to Docker container' raised in this question in the title.
Try docker cp. It is the easiest way to do that and works even on my Mac. Usage:
docker cp /root/some-file.txt some-docker-container:/root This will copy the file some-file.txt in the directory /root on your host machine into the Docker container named some-docker-container into the directory /root. It is very close to the secure copy syntax. And as shown in the previous post, you can use it vice versa. I.e., you also copy files from the container to the host.
And before you downlink this post, please enter docker cp --help. Reading the documentation can be very helpful, sometimes...
If you don't like that way and you want data volumes in your already created and running container, then recreation is your only option today. See also How can I add a volume to an existing Docker container?.
0I tried most of the (upvoted) solutions here but in docker 17.09 (in 2018) there is no longer /var/lib/docker/aufs folder.
This simple docker cp solved this task.
docker cp c:\path\to\local\file container_name:/path/to/target/dir/ How to get container_name?
docker ps There is a NAMES section. Don't use aIMAGE.
With Docker 1.8, docker cp is able to copy files from host to container. See the Docker blog post Announcing Docker 1.8: Content Trust, Toolbox, and Updates to Registry and Orchestration.
To copy files/folders between a container and the local filesystem, type the command:
docker cp {SOURCE_FILE} {DESTINATION_CONTAINER_ID}:/{DESTINATION_PATH} For example,
docker cp /home/foo container-id:/home/dir To get the contianer id, type the given command:
docker ps The above content is taken from docker.com.
Assuming the container is already running, type the given command:
# cat /path/to/host/file/ | docker exec -i -t <container_id> bash -c "/bin/cat > /path/to/container/file" To share files using shared directory, run the container by typing the given command:
# docker run -v /path/to/host/dir:/path/to/container/dir ... Note: Problems with permissions might arise as container's users are not the same as the host's users.
4This is the command to copy data from Docker to Host:
docker cp container_id:file path/filename /hostpath docker cp a13fb9c9e674:/tmp/dgController.log /tmp/ Below is the command to copy data from host to docker:
docker cp a.txt ccfbeb35116b:/home/ In a docker environment, all containers are found in the directory:
/var/lib/docker/aufs/required-docker-id/
To copy the source directory/file to any part of the container, type the given command:
sudo cp -r mydir/ /var/lib/docker/aufs/mnt/required-docker-id/mnt/
Docker cp command is a handy utility that allows to copy files and folders between a container and the host system.
If you want to copy files from your host system to the container, you should use docker cp command like this:
docker cp host_source_path container:destination_path List your running containers first using docker ps command:
abhishek@linuxhandbook:~$ sudo docker ps CONTAINER ID IMAGE COMMAND CREATED STATUS PORTS NAMES 8353c6f43fba 775349758637 "bash" 8 seconds ago Up 7 seconds ubu_container You need to know either the container ID or the container name. In my case, the docker container name is ubu_container. and the container ID is 8353c6f43fba.
If you want to verify that the files have been copied successfully, you can enter your container in the following manner and then use regular Linux commands:
docker exec -it ubu_container bash Copy files from host system to docker container Copying with docker cp is similar to the copy command in Linux.
I am going to copy a file named a.py to the home/dir1 directory in the container.
docker cp a.py ubu_container:/home/dir1 If the file is successfully copied, you won’t see any output on the screen. If the destination path doesn’t exist, you would see an error:
abhishek@linuxhandbook:~$ sudo docker cp a.txt ubu_container:/home/dir2/subsub Error: No such container:path: ubu_container:/home/dir2 If the destination file already exists, it will be overwritten without any warning.
You may also use container ID instead of the container name:
docker cp a.py 8353c6f43fba:/home/dir1 Container Up Syntax:
docker run -v /HOST/folder:/Container/floder In docker File
COPY hom* /myFolder/ # adds all files starting with "hom" COPY hom?.txt /myFolder/ # ? is replaced with any single character, e.g., "home.txt" If the host is CentOS or Fedora, there is a proxy NOT in /var/lib/docker/aufs, but it is under /proc:
cp -r /home/user/mydata/* /proc/$(docker inspect --format "{{.State.Pid}}" <containerid>)/root This cmd will copy all contents of data directory to / of container with id "containerid".
tar and docker cp are a good combo for copying everything in a directory.
Create a data volume container
docker create --name dvc --volume /path/on/container cirros To preserve the directory hierarchy
tar -c -C /path/on/local/machine . | docker cp - dvc:/path/on/container Check your work
docker run --rm --volumes-from dvc cirros ls -al /path/on/container In case it is not clear to someone like me what mycontainer in @h3nrik answer means, it is actually the container id. To copy a file WarpSquare.mp4 in /app/example_scenes/1440p60 from an exited docker container to current folder I used this.
docker cp `docker ps -q -l`:/app/example_scenes/1440p60/WarpSquare.mp4 . where docker ps -q -l pulls up the container id of the last exited instance. In case it is not an exited container you can get it by docker container ls or docker ps
docker cp SRC_PATH CONTAINER_ID:DEST_PATH For example, I want to copy my file xxxx/download/jenkins to tomcat
I start to get the id of the container Tomcat
docker ps CONTAINER ID IMAGE COMMAND CREATED STATUS PORTS NAMES 63686740b488 tomcat "catalina.sh run" 12 seconds ago Up 11 seconds 0.0.0.0:8080->8080/tcp peaceful_babbage docker cp xxxx/download/jenkins.war 63686740b488:usr/local/tomcat/webapps/ docker cp [OPTIONS] SRC_PATH CONTAINER:DEST_PATH The destination path must be pre-exist
Many that find this question may actually have the problem of copying files into a Docker image while it is being created (I did).
In that case, you can use the COPY command in the Dockerfile that you use to create the image.
This is a onliner for copying a single file while running a tomcat container.
docker run -v /PATH_TO_WAR/sample.war:/usr/local/tomcat/webapps/myapp.war -it -p 8080:8080 tomcat This will copy the war file to webapps directory and get your app running in no time.
2My favorite method:
CONTAINERS:
CONTAINER_ID=$(docker ps | grep <string> | awk '{ print $1 }' | xargs docker inspect -f '{{.Id}}') file.txt
mv -f file.txt /var/lib/docker/devicemapper/mnt/$CONTAINER_ID/rootfs/root/file.txt or
mv -f file.txt /var/lib/docker/aufs/mnt/$CONTAINER_ID/rootfs/root/file.txt The best way for copying files to the container I found is mounting a directory on host using -v option of docker run command.
There are good answers, but too specific. I find out docker ps is good way to get container id you're interested in. Then do
mount | grep <id> to see where the volume is mounted. That's
/var/lib/docker/devicemapper/mnt/<id>/rootfs/ for me, but it might be a different path depending on the OS and configuration. Now simply copy files to that path.
Using -v is not always practical.
I just started using docker to compile VLC, here's what you can do to copy files back and forth from containers:
su - cd /var/lib/docker ls -palR > /home/user/dockerfilelist.txt Search for a familiar file in that txt and you'll have the folder, cd to it as root and voila! copy all you want.
There might be a path with "merged" in it, I guess you want the one with "diff" in it.
Also if you exit the container and want to be back where you left off:
docker ps -a docker start -i containerid I guess that's usefull when you didn't name anything with a command like
docker run -it registry.videolan.org:5000/vlc-debian-win64 /bin/bash Sure the hacker method but so what!
