Copy Webpack Plugin

This is a webpack plugin that copies individual files or entire directories to the build directory.

Getting started

Install the plugin:

npm install --save-dev copy-webpack-plugin

Usage

new CopyWebpackPlugin([patterns], options)

A pattern looks like: { from: 'source', to: 'dest' }

Pattern properties:

• from
  • is required
  • can be an absolute or path relative to the context
  • can be a file or directory
  • can be a glob
• to
  • is optional
  • if not absolute, it's relative to the build root
  • must be a directory if from is a directory
• toType
  • is optional
  • is ignored if from is a directory
  • defaults to 'file' if to has an extension
  • defaults to 'dir' if to doesn't have an extension
• force
  • is optional
  • defaults to false
  • forces the plugin to overwrite files staged by previous plugins
• context
  • is optional
  • defaults to the base context
  • is a pattern specific context
• flatten
  • is optional
  • defaults to false
  • removes all directory references and only copies file names
  • if files have the same name, the result is non-deterministic
• ignore
  • additional globs to ignore for this pattern

Available options:

• ignore
  • an array of files and directories to ignore
  • accepts globs
  • globs are evaluated on the from path, relative to the context
• copyUnmodified
  • is optional
  • defaults to false (only copies modified files)
  • true copies all files while using watch or webpack-dev-server

Examples

var CopyWebpackPlugin = require('copy-webpack-plugin');
var path = require('path');

module.exports = {
    context: path.join(__dirname, 'app'),
    devServer: {
        // This is required for webpack-dev-server if using a version <3.0.0.
        // The path should be an absolute path to your build destination.
        outputPath: path.join(__dirname, 'build')
    },
    plugins: [
        new CopyWebpackPlugin([
            // {output}/file.txt
            { from: 'from/file.txt' },
            
            // {output}/to/file.txt
            { from: 'from/file.txt', to: 'to/file.txt' },
            
            // {output}/to/directory/file.txt
            { from: 'from/file.txt', to: 'to/directory' },

            // Copy directory contents to {output}/
            { from: 'from/directory' },
            
            // Copy directory contents to {output}/to/directory/
            { from: 'from/directory', to: 'to/directory' },
            
            // Copy glob results to /absolute/path/
            { from: 'from/directory/**/*', to: '/absolute/path' },

            // Copy glob results (with dot files) to /absolute/path/
            {
                from: {
                    glob:'from/directory/**/*',
                    dot: true
                },
                to: '/absolute/path'
            },

            // Copy glob results, relative to context
            {
                context: 'from/directory',
                from: '**/*',
                to: '/absolute/path'
            },
            
            // {output}/file/without/extension
            {
                from: 'path/to/file.txt',
                to: 'file/without/extension',
                toType: 'file'
            },
            
            // {output}/directory/with/extension.ext/file.txt
            {
                from: 'path/to/file.txt',
                to: 'directory/with/extension.ext',
                toType: 'dir'
            }
        ], {
            ignore: [
                // Doesn't copy any files with a txt extension    
                '*.txt',
                
                // Doesn't copy any file, even if they start with a dot
                { glob: '**/*', dot: true }
            ],

            // By default, we only copy modified files during
            // a watch or webpack-dev-server build. Setting this
            // to `true` copies all files.
            copyUnmodified: true
        })
    ]
};

Testing

Run npm test

FAQ

"EMFILE: too many open files" or "ENFILE: file table overflow"

Globally patch fs with graceful-fs

npm install graceful-fs --save-dev

At the top of your webpack config, insert this

var fs = require('fs');
var gracefulFs = require('graceful-fs');
gracefulFs.gracefulify(fs);

See this issue for more details

This doesn't copy my files with webpack-dev-server

Starting in version 3.0.0, we stopped using fs to copy files to the filesystem and started depending on webpack's in-memory filesystem:

... webpack-dev-server will serve the static files in your build folder. It’ll watch your source files for changes and when changes are made the bundle will be recompiled. This modified bundle is served from memory at the relative path specified in publicPath (see API). It will not be written to your configured output directory.

If you must have webpack-dev-server write to your output directory, you can force it with the write-file-webpack-plugin.

License

MIT