Docker COPY all files and folders except some files/folders

Question

Dockerfile copy command allows golang regex. But with the regex, I am not able to omit a particular folder.

For example, if the directory has:-

public
dist
webapp
somefile.txt
anotherfile.txt

Now, how should I write the expression for COPY such that it omits 'webapp' and copy all other files and folders?

NOTE: I know I can put it to .dockerignore, but in later build stage in the same Dockerfile, I want to copy that folder - 'webapp'

Answer 1

You have two choices:

1. List all directories you want to copy directly:

   COPY ["foldera", "folderc", "folderd", ..., "/dstPath]

2. Try to exclude some paths but also make sure that all paths patterns are not including the path we want to exclude:

   COPY ["folder[^b]*", "file*", "/dstPath"]

Also you can read more about available solutions in this issue: https://github.com/moby/moby/issues/15771