grunt-contrib-copy

What is grunt-contrib-copy?

The grunt-contrib-copy package is a Grunt plugin that provides file copying capabilities. It allows you to copy files and directories from one location to another, which is useful for tasks such as preparing files for deployment, creating backups, or organizing project files.

What are grunt-contrib-copy's main functionalities?

Copying individual files

This feature allows you to copy a single file from a source location to a destination location. In this example, 'src/file1.txt' is copied to 'dest/file1.txt'.

{
  "copy": {
    "main": {
      "src": "src/file1.txt",
      "dest": "dest/file1.txt"
    }
  }
}

Copying multiple files

This feature allows you to copy multiple files by specifying an array of source and destination file paths. In this example, 'src/file1.txt' and 'src/file2.txt' are copied to 'dest/file1.txt' and 'dest/file2.txt' respectively.

{
  "copy": {
    "main": {
      "files": [
        {"src": "src/file1.txt", "dest": "dest/file1.txt"},
        {"src": "src/file2.txt", "dest": "dest/file2.txt"}
      ]
    }
  }
}

Copying entire directories

This feature allows you to copy entire directories, including all subdirectories and files. The 'expand' option is set to true to enable dynamic building of the destination paths. The 'cwd' option specifies the current working directory, and 'src' specifies the pattern to match files. In this example, all files and directories under 'src/' are copied to 'dest/'.

{
  "copy": {
    "main": {
      "expand": true,
      "cwd": "src/",
      "src": ["**"],
      "dest": "dest/"
    }
  }
}

Flattening directory structure

This feature allows you to flatten the directory structure when copying files. The 'flatten' option is set to true, which means all files will be copied directly into the destination directory without preserving the directory structure. In this example, all files under 'src/' are copied directly into 'dest/'.

{
  "copy": {
    "main": {
      "expand": true,
      "cwd": "src/",
      "src": ["**"],
      "dest": "dest/",
      "flatten": true
    }
  }
}

Other packages similar to grunt-contrib-copy

gulp-copy

gulp-copy is a Gulp plugin that provides similar file copying capabilities as grunt-contrib-copy. It allows you to copy files and directories using Gulp tasks. Compared to grunt-contrib-copy, gulp-copy is used within the Gulp task runner ecosystem, which may be preferred by developers who use Gulp for their build processes.

cpx

cpx is a command-line tool and library for copying files and directories. It supports advanced features such as watching for changes and copying only modified files. Compared to grunt-contrib-copy, cpx can be used both as a standalone CLI tool and as a library within Node.js scripts, providing more flexibility in different environments.

ncp

ncp (Node Copy) is a Node.js module for copying files and directories. It provides a simple API for recursive copying and supports various options for filtering and transforming files during the copy process. Compared to grunt-contrib-copy, ncp is a lower-level library that can be used directly in Node.js scripts without relying on a task runner like Grunt.

README

grunt-contrib-copy v1.0.0

Copy files and folders

Getting Started

If you haven't used Grunt before, be sure to check out the Getting Started guide, as it explains how to create a Gruntfile as well as install and use Grunt plugins. Once you're familiar with that process, you may install this plugin with this command:

npm install grunt-contrib-copy --save-dev

Once the plugin has been installed, it may be enabled inside your Gruntfile with this line of JavaScript:

grunt.loadNpmTasks('grunt-contrib-copy');

This plugin was designed to work with Grunt 0.4.x. If you're still using grunt v0.3.x it's strongly recommended that you upgrade, but in case you can't please use v0.3.2.

Copy task

Run this task with the grunt copy command.

Task targets, files and options may be specified according to the grunt Configuring tasks guide.

Options

process

Type: Function(content, srcpath)

This option is passed to grunt.file.copy as an advanced way to control the file contents that are copied.

processContent has been renamed to process and the option name will be removed in the future.

noProcess

Type: String

This option is passed to grunt.file.copy as an advanced way to control which file contents are processed.

processContentExclude has been renamed to noProcess and the option name will be removed in the future.

encoding

Type: String
Default: grunt.file.defaultEncoding

The file encoding to copy files with.

mode

Type: Boolean or String
Default: false

Whether to copy or set the destination file and directory permissions. Set to true to copy the existing file and directories permissions. Or set to the mode, i.e.: 0644, that copied files will be set to.

timestamp

Type: Boolean
Default: false

Whether to preserve the timestamp attributes(atime and mtime) when copying files. Set to true to preserve files timestamp. But timestamp will not be preserved when the file contents or name are changed during copying.

Usage Examples

copy: {
  main: {
    files: [
      // includes files within path
      {expand: true, src: ['path/*'], dest: 'dest/', filter: 'isFile'},

      // includes files within path and its sub-directories
      {expand: true, src: ['path/**'], dest: 'dest/'},

      // makes all src relative to cwd
      {expand: true, cwd: 'path/', src: ['**'], dest: 'dest/'},

      // flattens results to a single level
      {expand: true, flatten: true, src: ['path/**'], dest: 'dest/', filter: 'isFile'},
    ],
  },
},

This task supports all the file mapping format Grunt supports. Please read Globbing patterns and Building the files object dynamically for additional details.

Here are some additional examples, given the following file tree:

$ tree -I node_modules
.
├── Gruntfile.js
└── src
    ├── a
    └── subdir
        └── b

2 directories, 3 files

Copy a single file tree:

copy: {
  main: {
    expand: true,
    src: 'src/*',
    dest: 'dest/',
  },
},

$ grunt copy
Running "copy:main" (copy) task
Created 1 directories, copied 1 files

Done, without errors.
$ tree -I node_modules
.
├── Gruntfile.js
├── dest
│   └── src
│       ├── a
│       └── subdir
└── src
    ├── a
    └── subdir
        └── b

5 directories, 4 files

Copying without full path:

copy: {
  main: {
    expand: true,
    cwd: 'src',
    src: '**',
    dest: 'dest/',
  },
},

$ grunt copy
Running "copy:main" (copy) task
Created 2 directories, copied 2 files

Done, without errors.
$ tree -I node_modules
.
├── Gruntfile.js
├── dest
│   ├── a
│   └── subdir
│       └── b
└── src
    ├── a
    └── subdir
        └── b

5 directories, 5 files

Flattening the filepath output:

copy: {
  main: {
    expand: true,
    cwd: 'src/',
    src: '**',
    dest: 'dest/',
    flatten: true,
    filter: 'isFile',
  },
},

$ grunt copy
Running "copy:main" (copy) task
Copied 2 files

Done, without errors.
$ tree -I node_modules
.
├── Gruntfile.js
├── dest
│   ├── a
│   └── b
└── src
    ├── a
    └── subdir
        └── b

3 directories, 5 files

Copy and modify a file:

To change the contents of a file as it is copied, set an options.process function as follows:

copy: {
  main: {
    src: 'src/a',
    dest: 'src/a.bak',
    options: {
      process: function (content, srcpath) {
        return content.replace(/[sad ]/g,"_");
      },
    },
  },
},

Here all occurrences of the letters "s", "a" and "d", as well as all spaces, will be changed to underlines in "a.bak". Of course, you are not limited to just using regex replacements.

To process all files in a directory, the process function is used in exactly the same way.

NOTE: If process is not working, be aware it was called processContent in v0.4.1 and earlier.

Troubleshooting

By default, if a file or directory is not found it is quietly ignored. If the file should exist, and non-existence generate an error, then add nonull:true. For instance, this Gruntfile.js entry:

copy: {
  main: {
    nonull: true,
    src: 'not-there',
    dest: 'create-me',
  },
},

gives this output:

$ grunt copy
Running "copy:main" (copy) task
Warning: Unable to read "not-there" file (Error code: ENOENT). Use --force to continue.

Aborted due to warnings.

Release History

• 2016-03-04   v1.0.0   Bump devDependencies. Add example of using relative path. Point main to task and remove peerDeps.
• 2015-10-19   v0.8.2   Fix expand-less copies with multiple files.
• 2015-08-20   v0.8.1   Update chalk dependency.
• 2015-02-20   v0.8.0   Performance improvements. The mode option now also applies to directories. Fix path issue on Windows.
• 2014-10-15   v0.7.0   Add timestamp option to disable preserving timestamp when copying.
• 2014-09-17   v0.6.0   Update chalk dependency and other devDependencies. Preserve file timestamp when copying.
• 2013-12-23   v0.5.0   If an encoding is specified, overwrite grunt.file.defaultEncoding. Rename processContent/processContentExclude to process/noProcess to match Grunt API. mode option to copy existing or set file permissions.
• 2013-03-26   v0.4.1   Output summary by default ("Copied N files, created M folders"). Individual transaction output available via --verbose.
• 2013-02-15   v0.4.0   First official release for Grunt 0.4.0.
• 2013-01-23   v0.4.0rc7   Updating grunt/gruntplugin dependencies to rc7. Changing in-development grunt/gruntplugin dependency versions from tilde version ranges to specific versions.
• 2013-01-14   v0.4.0rc5   Updating to work with grunt v0.4.0rc5. Conversion to grunt v0.4 conventions. Replace basePath with cwd. Empty directory support.
• 2012-10-18   v0.3.2   Pass copyOptions on single file copy.
• 2012-10-12   v0.3.1   Rename grunt-contrib-lib dep to grunt-lib-contrib.
• 2012-09-24   v0.3.0   General cleanup and consolidation. Global options depreciated.
• 2012-09-18   v0.2.4   No valid source check.
• 2012-09-17   v0.2.3   Path.sep fallback for node <= 0.7.9.
• 2012-09-17   v0.2.2   Single file copy support. Test refactoring.
• 2012-09-07   v0.2.0   Refactored from grunt-contrib into individual repo.

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Task submitted by Chris Talkington

This file was generated on Fri Mar 04 2016 15:50:24.