cli/components/engine/docs/sources/commandline/command/import.rst

title

Import Command

description

Create a new filesystem image from the contents of a tarball

keywords

import, tarball, docker, url, documentation

import -- Create a new filesystem image from the contents of a tarball

Usage: docker import URL|- [REPOSITORY [TAG]]

Create a new filesystem image from the contents of a tarball

At this time, the URL must start with http and point to a single file archive (.tar, .tar.gz, .tgz, .bzip, .tar.xz, .txz) containing a root filesystem. If you would like to import from a local directory or archive, you can use the - parameter to take the data from standard in.

Examples

Import from a remote location

$ docker import http://example.com/exampleimage.tgz exampleimagerepo

Import from a local file

Import to docker via pipe and standard in

$ cat exampleimage.tgz | docker import - exampleimagelocal

Import from a local directory

$ sudo tar -c . | docker import - exampleimagedir

Note the sudo in this example -- you must preserve the ownership of the files (especially root ownership) during the archiving with tar. If you are not root (or sudo) when you tar, then the ownerships might not get preserved.