terraform/website/source/docs/provisioners/file.html.markdown

---
layout: "docs"
page_title: "Provisioner: file"
sidebar_current: "docs-provisioners-file"
description: |-
  The `file` provisioner is used to copy files or directories from the machine executing Terraform to the newly created resource. The `file` provisioner only supports `ssh` type connections.
---

# File Provisioner

The `file` provisioner is used to copy files or directories from the machine
executing Terraform to the newly created resource. The `file` provisioner only
supports `ssh` type [connections](/docs/provisioners/connection.html).

## Example usage

```
resource "aws_instance" "web" {
    ...

    # Copies the myapp.conf file to /etc/myapp.conf
    provisioner "file" {
        source = "conf/myapp.conf"
        destination = "/etc/myapp.conf"
    }

    # Copies the configs.d folder to /etc/configs.d
    provisioner "file" {
        source = "conf/configs.d"
        destination = "/etc"
    }
}
```

## Argument Reference

The following arguments are supported:

* `source` - (Required) This is the source file or folder. It can be specified as relative
  to the current working directory or as an absolute path.

* `destination` - (Required) This is the destination path. It must be specified as an
  absolute path.

## Directory Uploads

The file provisioner is also able to upload a complete directory to the remote machine.
When uploading a directory, there are a few important things you should know.

First, the destination directory must already exist. If you need to create it,
use a remote-exec provisioner just prior to the file provisioner in order to create the directory.

Next, the existence of a trailing slash on the source path will determine whether the
directory name will be embedded within the destination, or whether the destination will
be created. An example explains this best:

If the source is `/foo` (no trailing slash), and the destination is `/tmp`, then the contents
of `/foo` on the local machine will be uploaded to `/tmp/foo` on the remote machine. The
`foo` directory on the remote machine will be created by Terraform.

If the source, however, is `/foo/` (a trailing slash is present), and the destination is
`/tmp`, then the contents of `/foo` will be uploaded directly into `/tmp` directly.

This behavior was adopted from the standard behavior of rsync. Note that under the covers,
rsync may or may not be used.