How to copy to multiple destinations with Gradle copy task?

I am trying to copy one file to multiple destinations through a Gradle task. I found the following in other websites but I get an ERROR while running this task.

def filesToCopy = copySpec{
    from 'somefile.jar'
    rename {String fileName -> 'anotherfile.jar'}
}

task copyFile(type:Copy) {
    with filesToCopy  {
      into 'dest1/'
    }
    with filesToCopy  {
      into 'dest2/'
    }
}

> ## ERROR ## > No signature of method: org.gradle.api.internal.file.copy.CopySpecImpl.call() is applicable for argument types

Is there a way to copy to multiple destinations in one Gradle task?

If you really want them in one task, you do something like this:

def filesToCopy = copySpec {
  from 'someFile.jar'
  rename { 'anotherfile.jar' }
}

task copyFiles << {
  ['dest1', 'dest2'].each { dest ->
    copy {
      with filesToCopy
      into dest
    }
  }
}

an alternative way

task myCustomTask << {

    copy {
        from 'sourcePath/folderA'
        into 'targetPath/folderA'
    }

    copy {
        from 'sourcePath/folderB'
        into 'targetPath/folderB'
    }

    copy {
        from 'sourcePath/fileA.java','sourcePath/fileB.java'
        into 'targetPath/folderC'
    }
}

With a Common Destination Base Path

If your destination paths share a common path prefix (dest_base), then you can use something like this:

def filesToCopy = copySpec {
    from 'somefile.jar'
    rename { String fileName -> 'anotherfile.jar' }
}

task copyFile(type: Copy) {
    into 'dest_base'
    into('dest1') {
      with filesToCopy
    }
    into('dest2') {
      with filesToCopy
    }
}

Compared to other answers which use the copy method, this approach also retains Gradle’s UP-TO-DATE checks.

The above snippet would result in output like this:

dest_base/
├── dest1
│   └── anotherfile.jar
└── dest2
    └── anotherfile.jar

Here is a general snippet without copySpec for Gradle 4.1. As pointed out the trick is to use a base into and use relative into inside the closures (e.g. from closure).

task multiIntoCopy(type: Copy){
    into(projectDir) // copy into relative to this

    from("foo"){
        into("copied/foo") // will be projectDir/copied/foo
        // just standard copy stuff
        rename("a.txt", "x.txt")
    }

    from("bar"){
        into("copied/aswell/bar") //  projectDir/copied/copied/aswell/bar
    }

    from("baz") // baz folder content will get copied into projectDir

    //from("/bar"){ // this will mess things up, be very careful with the paths
    //    into("copied/aswell/bar")
    //}
}

no there isn't a way to do that atm. I would create seperate gradle tasks for each target directory

def filesToCopy = copySpec{
    from 'somefile.jar'
    rename {String fileName -> 'anotherfile.jar'}
}

task copyFileDest1(type:Copy) {
    with filesToCopy
    into 'dest1/'
}

task filesToCopyDest2(type:Copy)  {
    with filesToCopy
    into 'dest2/'
}

I needed to do this in a particular order to rewrite a particular string on a set of files.

task copyAtoB(dependsOn: [existingTask]) {
    doLast {
        copy {
            from("folder/a") {
                include "*.java"
            }
            // Have to use a new path for modified files
            into("folder/b")
            filter {
                String line ->
                    line.replaceAll("changeme", "to this")
            }
        }
    }
}

task overwriteFilesInAfromB(dependsOn: [copyAtoB]) {
    doLast {
        copy {
            from("folder/b") {
                include "*.java"
            }
            into("folder/a")
        }
    }
}

// Finally, delete the files in folder B
task deleteB(type: Delete, dependsOn: overwriteFilesInAfromB) {
    delete("folder/b")
}

nextTask.dependsOn(deleteB)