How to copy files from host to Docker container

Question

I have Docker base image that I have created, ubuntu:base, and do not want 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?

Can anyone help me with this query?

Thanks

Answer 1

Here is what you can do. The cp command can be used to copy files. One specific file can be copied like:

docker cp foo.txt mycontainer:/foo.txt
docker cp mycontainer:/foo.txt foo.txt

Multiple files contained by the folder src can be copied into the target folder using:

docker cp src/. mycontainer:/target
docker cp mycontainer:/src/. target

Reference: Docker CLI docs for cp

I hope it would help you resolve your query.

Comments

thanks , this command help me to copy folder with content to my local host.

Answer 2

You could also try 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