Copying, moving, and renaming objects - Amazon Simple Storage Service

Copying, moving, and renaming objects

The CopyObject operation creates a copy of an object that is already stored in Amazon S3.

You can create a copy of an object up to 5 GB in a single atomic operation. However, to copy an object that is larger than 5 GB, you must use a multipart upload using the AWS CLI or AWS SDKs. For more information, see Copying an object using multipart upload.

Using the CopyObject operation, you can:

  • Create additional copies of objects.

  • Rename objects by copying them and deleting the original ones.

  • Copy or move objects from one bucket to another, including across AWS Regions (for example, from us-west-1 to eu-west-2). When you move an object, Amazon S3 copies the object to the specified destination and then deletes the source object.

    Note

    Copying or moving objects across AWS Regions incurs bandwidth charges. For more information, see Amazon S3 Pricing.

  • Change object metadata. Each Amazon S3 object has metadata. This metadata is a set of name-value pairs. You can set object metadata at the time you upload an object. After you upload the object, you cannot modify the object metadata. The only way to modify object metadata is to make a copy of the object and set the metadata. To do so, in the copy operation, set the same object as the source and target.

    Some object metadata is system metadata and other is user-defined. You can control some of the system metadata. For example, you can control the storage class and the type of server-side encryption to use for the object. When you copy an object, user-controlled system metadata and user-defined metadata are also copied. Amazon S3 resets the system-controlled metadata. For example, when you copy an object, Amazon S3 resets the creation date of the copied object. You don't need to set any of these system-controlled metadata values in your copy request.

    When copying an object, you might decide to update some of the metadata values. For example, if your source object is configured to use S3 Standard storage, you might choose to use S3 Intelligent-Tiering for the object copy. You might also decide to alter some of the user-defined metadata values present on the source object. If you choose to update any of the object's user-configurable metadata (system or user-defined) during the copy, then you must explicitly specify all of the user-configurable metadata present on the source object in your request, even if you are changing only one of the metadata values.

    For more information about the object metadata, see Working with object metadata.

Copying archived and restored objects

If the source object is archived in S3 Glacier Flexible Retrieval or S3 Glacier Deep Archive, you must first restore a temporary copy before you can copy the object to another bucket. For information about archiving objects, see Working with archived objects.

The Copy operation in the Amazon S3 console isn't supported for restored objects in the S3 Glacier Flexible Retrieval or S3 Glacier Deep Archive storage classes. To copy these restored objects, use the AWS Command Line Interface (AWS CLI), the AWS SDKs, or the Amazon S3 REST API.

Copying encrypted objects

Amazon S3 automatically encrypts all new objects that are copied to an S3 bucket. If you don't specify encryption information in your copy request, the encryption setting of the target object is set to the default encryption configuration of the destination bucket. By default, all buckets have a base level of encryption configuration that uses server-side encryption with Amazon S3 managed keys (SSE-S3). If the destination bucket has a default encryption configuration that uses server-side encryption with an AWS Key Management Service (AWS KMS) key (SSE-KMS), or a customer-provided encryption key (SSE-C), Amazon S3 uses the corresponding KMS key, or a customer-provided key to encrypt the target object copy.

When copying an object, if you want to use a different type of encryption setting for the target object, you can request that Amazon S3 encrypt the target object with a KMS key, an Amazon S3 managed key, or a customer-provided key. If the encryption setting in your request is different from the default encryption configuration of the destination bucket, the encryption setting in your request takes precedence. If the source object for the copy is encrypted with SSE-C, you must provide the necessary encryption information in your request so that Amazon S3 can decrypt the object for copying. For more information, see Protecting data with encryption.

Using checksums when copying objects

When copying objects, you can choose to use a different checksum algorithm for the object. Whether you choose to use the same algorithm or a new one, Amazon S3 calculates a new checksum value after the object is copied. Amazon S3 does not directly copy the value of the checksum. The checksum value of objects that were loaded by using multipart uploads might change. For more information about how the checksum is calculated, see Using part-level checksums for multipart uploads.

Copying multiple objects in a single request

To copy more than one Amazon S3 object with a single request, you can also use S3 Batch Operations. You provide S3 Batch Operations with a list of objects to operate on. S3 Batch Operations calls the respective API operation to perform the specified operation. A single Batch Operations job can perform the specified operation on billions of objects containing exabytes of data.

The S3 Batch Operations feature tracks progress, sends notifications, and stores a detailed completion report of all actions, providing a fully managed, auditable, serverless experience. You can use S3 Batch Operations through the Amazon S3 console, AWS CLI, AWS SDKs, or REST API. For more information, see S3 Batch Operations basics.

Copying objects to directory buckets

For information about copying an object to a directory bucket, see Copying an object to a directory bucket. For information about using the Amazon S3 Express One Zone storage class with directory buckets, see Directory buckets and S3 Express One Zone and Directory buckets overview.

To copy an object

To copy an object, use the following methods.

Note

The restrictions and limitations when you copy an object with the console are as follows:

  • You can copy an object if your object is less than 5 GB. If your object is greater than 5 GB, you must use the AWS CLI or AWS SDKs to copy an object.

  • For a list of additional permissions required to copy objects, see Required permissions for Amazon S3 API operations. For example policies that grant this permission, see Identity-based policy examples for Amazon S3.

  • The Copy action applies to all objects within the specified folders (prefixes). Objects added to these folders while the action is in progress might be affected.

  • Cross-Region copying of objects encrypted with SSE-KMS is not supported by the Amazon S3 console. To copy objects encrypted with SSE-KMS across Regions, use the AWS CLI, AWS SDK, or the Amazon S3 REST API.

  • Objects encrypted with customer-provided encryption keys (SSE-C) cannot be copied by using the S3 console. To copy objects encrypted with SSE-C, use the AWS CLI, AWS SDK, or the Amazon S3 REST API.

  • Copied objects will not retain the Object Lock settings from the original objects.

  • If the bucket you are copying objects from uses the bucket owner enforced setting for S3 Object Ownership, object ACLs will not be copied to the specified destination.

  • If you want to copy objects to a bucket that uses the bucket owner enforced setting for S3 Object Ownership, make sure that the source bucket also uses the bucket owner enforced setting, or remove any object ACL grants to other AWS accounts and groups.

To copy an object
  1. Sign in to the AWS Management Console and open the Amazon S3 console at https://console.aws.amazon.com/s3/.

  2. In the left navigation pane, choose Buckets, and then choose the General purpose buckets tab. Navigate to the Amazon S3 bucket or folder that contains the objects that you want to copy.

  3. Select the check box to the left of the names of the objects that you want to copy.

  4. On the Actions menu, choose Copy from the list of options that appears.

  5. Select the destination type and destination account. To specify the destination path, choose Browse S3, navigate to the destination, and select the check box to the left of the destination. Choose Choose destination in the lower-right corner.

    Alternatively, enter the destination path.

  6. If you do not have bucket versioning enabled, you will see a warning recommending you enable Bucket Versioning to help protect against unintentionally overwriting or deleting objects. If you want to keep all versions of objects in this bucket, select Enable Bucket Versioning. You can also view the default encryption and S3 Object Lock properties in Destination details.

  7. Under Additional copy settings, choose whether you want to Copy source settings, Don’t specify settings, or Specify settings. Copy source settings is the default option. If you only want to copy the object without the source settings attributes, choose Don’t specify settings. Choose Specify settings to specify settings for storage class, ACLs, object tags, metadata, server-side encryption, and additional checksums.

  8. Choose Copy in the bottom-right corner. Amazon S3 copies your objects to the destination.

The examples in this section show how to copy objects up to 5 GB in a single operation. To copy objects larger than 5 GB, you must use a multipart upload. For more information, see Copying an object using multipart upload.

Java

The following example copies an object in Amazon S3 using the AWS SDK for Java. For instructions on creating and testing a working sample, see Getting Started in the AWS SDK for Java Developer Guide.

import com.amazonaws.AmazonServiceException; import com.amazonaws.SdkClientException; import com.amazonaws.auth.profile.ProfileCredentialsProvider; import com.amazonaws.regions.Regions; import com.amazonaws.services.s3.AmazonS3; import com.amazonaws.services.s3.AmazonS3ClientBuilder; import com.amazonaws.services.s3.model.CopyObjectRequest; import java.io.IOException; public class CopyObjectSingleOperation { public static void main(String[] args) throws IOException { Regions clientRegion = Regions.DEFAULT_REGION; String bucketName = "*** Bucket name ***"; String sourceKey = "*** Source object key *** "; String destinationKey = "*** Destination object key ***"; try { AmazonS3 s3Client = AmazonS3ClientBuilder.standard() .withCredentials(new ProfileCredentialsProvider()) .withRegion(clientRegion) .build(); // Copy the object into a new object in the same bucket. CopyObjectRequest copyObjRequest = new CopyObjectRequest(bucketName, sourceKey, bucketName, destinationKey); s3Client.copyObject(copyObjRequest); } catch (AmazonServiceException e) { // The call was transmitted successfully, but Amazon S3 couldn't process // it, so it returned an error response. e.printStackTrace(); } catch (SdkClientException e) { // Amazon S3 couldn't be contacted for a response, or the client // couldn't parse the response from Amazon S3. e.printStackTrace(); } } }
.NET

The following C# example uses the high-level AWS SDK for .NET to copy objects that are as large as 5 GB in a single operation. For objects that are larger than 5 GB, use the multipart upload copy example described in Copying an object using multipart upload.

This example makes a copy of an object that is a maximum of 5 GB. For information about setting up and running the code examples, see Getting Started with the AWS SDK for .NET in the AWS SDK for .NET Developer Guide.

using Amazon; using Amazon.S3; using Amazon.S3.Model; using System; using System.Threading.Tasks; namespace Amazon.DocSamples.S3 { class CopyObjectTest { private const string sourceBucket = "*** provide the name of the bucket with source object ***"; private const string destinationBucket = "*** provide the name of the bucket to copy the object to ***"; private const string objectKey = "*** provide the name of object to copy ***"; private const string destObjectKey = "*** provide the destination object key name ***"; // Specify your bucket region (an example region is shown). private static readonly RegionEndpoint bucketRegion = RegionEndpoint.USWest2; private static IAmazonS3 s3Client; public static void Main() { s3Client = new AmazonS3Client(bucketRegion); Console.WriteLine("Copying an object"); CopyingObjectAsync().Wait(); } private static async Task CopyingObjectAsync() { try { CopyObjectRequest request = new CopyObjectRequest { SourceBucket = sourceBucket, SourceKey = objectKey, DestinationBucket = destinationBucket, DestinationKey = destObjectKey }; CopyObjectResponse response = await s3Client.CopyObjectAsync(request); } catch (AmazonS3Exception e) { Console.WriteLine("Error encountered on server. Message:'{0}' when writing an object", e.Message); } catch (Exception e) { Console.WriteLine("Unknown encountered on server. Message:'{0}' when writing an object", e.Message); } } } }
PHP

This topic guides you through using classes from version 3 of the AWS SDK for PHP to copy a single object and multiple objects within Amazon S3, from one bucket to another or within the same bucket.

For more information about the AWS SDK for Ruby API, go to AWS SDK for Ruby - Version 2.

The following PHP example illustrates the use of the copyObject() method to copy a single object within Amazon S3. It also demonstrates how to make multiple copies of an object by using a batch of calls to CopyObject with the getcommand() method.

1

Create an instance of an Amazon S3 client by using the Aws\S3\S3Client class constructor.

2

To make multiple copies of an object, you run a batch of calls to the Amazon S3 client getCommand() method, which is inherited from the Aws\CommandInterface class. You provide the CopyObject command as the first argument and an array containing the source bucket, source key name, target bucket, and target key name as the second argument.

require 'vendor/autoload.php'; use Aws\CommandPool; use Aws\Exception\AwsException; use Aws\ResultInterface; use Aws\S3\S3Client; $sourceBucket = '*** Your Source Bucket Name ***'; $sourceKeyname = '*** Your Source Object Key ***'; $targetBucket = '*** Your Target Bucket Name ***'; $s3 = new S3Client([ 'version' => 'latest', 'region' => 'us-east-1' ]); // Copy an object. $s3->copyObject([ 'Bucket' => $targetBucket, 'Key' => "$sourceKeyname-copy", 'CopySource' => "$sourceBucket/$sourceKeyname", ]); // Perform a batch of CopyObject operations. $batch = array(); for ($i = 1; $i <= 3; $i++) { $batch[] = $s3->getCommand('CopyObject', [ 'Bucket' => $targetBucket, 'Key' => "{targetKeyname}-$i", 'CopySource' => "$sourceBucket/$sourceKeyname", ]); } try { $results = CommandPool::batch($s3, $batch); foreach ($results as $result) { if ($result instanceof ResultInterface) { // Result handling here } if ($result instanceof AwsException) { // AwsException handling here } } } catch (Exception $e) { // General error handling here }
Python
class ObjectWrapper: """Encapsulates S3 object actions.""" def __init__(self, s3_object): """ :param s3_object: A Boto3 Object resource. This is a high-level resource in Boto3 that wraps object actions in a class-like structure. """ self.object = s3_object self.key = self.object.key
def copy(self, dest_object): """ Copies the object to another bucket. :param dest_object: The destination object initialized with a bucket and key. This is a Boto3 Object resource. """ try: dest_object.copy_from( CopySource={"Bucket": self.object.bucket_name, "Key": self.object.key} ) dest_object.wait_until_exists() logger.info( "Copied object from %s:%s to %s:%s.", self.object.bucket_name, self.object.key, dest_object.bucket_name, dest_object.key, ) except ClientError: logger.exception( "Couldn't copy object from %s/%s to %s/%s.", self.object.bucket_name, self.object.key, dest_object.bucket_name, dest_object.key, ) raise
Ruby

The following tasks guide you through using the Ruby classes to copy an object in Amazon S3 from one bucket to another or within the same bucket.

1

Use the Amazon S3 modularized gem for version 3 of the AWS SDK for Ruby, require aws-sdk-s3, and provide your AWS credentials. For more information about how to provide your credentials, see Making requests using AWS account or IAM user credentials in the Amazon S3 API Reference.

2

Provide the request information, such as the source bucket name, source key name, destination bucket name, and destination key.

The following Ruby code example demonstrates the preceding tasks by using the #copy_object method to copy an object from one bucket to another.

require 'aws-sdk-s3' # Wraps Amazon S3 object actions. class ObjectCopyWrapper attr_reader :source_object # @param source_object [Aws::S3::Object] An existing Amazon S3 object. This is used as the source object for # copy actions. def initialize(source_object) @source_object = source_object end # Copy the source object to the specified target bucket and rename it with the target key. # # @param target_bucket [Aws::S3::Bucket] An existing Amazon S3 bucket where the object is copied. # @param target_object_key [String] The key to give the copy of the object. # @return [Aws::S3::Object, nil] The copied object when successful; otherwise, nil. def copy_object(target_bucket, target_object_key) @source_object.copy_to(bucket: target_bucket.name, key: target_object_key) target_bucket.object(target_object_key) rescue Aws::Errors::ServiceError => e puts "Couldn't copy #{@source_object.key} to #{target_object_key}. Here's why: #{e.message}" end end # Example usage: def run_demo source_bucket_name = "amzn-s3-demo-bucket1" source_key = "my-source-file.txt" target_bucket_name = "amzn-s3-demo-bucket2" target_key = "my-target-file.txt" source_bucket = Aws::S3::Bucket.new(source_bucket_name) wrapper = ObjectCopyWrapper.new(source_bucket.object(source_key)) target_bucket = Aws::S3::Bucket.new(target_bucket_name) target_object = wrapper.copy_object(target_bucket, target_key) return unless target_object puts "Copied #{source_key} from #{source_bucket_name} to #{target_object.bucket_name}:#{target_object.key}." end run_demo if $PROGRAM_NAME == __FILE__

This example describes how to copy an object by using the Amazon S3 REST API. For more information about the REST API, see CopyObject.

This example copies the flotsam object from the amzn-s3-demo-bucket1 bucket to the jetsam object of the amzn-s3-demo-bucket2 bucket, preserving its metadata.

PUT /jetsam HTTP/1.1 Host: amzn-s3-demo-bucket2.s3.amazonaws.com x-amz-copy-source: /amzn-s3-demo-bucket1/flotsam Authorization: AWS AKIAIOSFODNN7EXAMPLE:ENoSbxYByFA0UGLZUqJN5EUnLDg= Date: Wed, 20 Feb 2008 22:12:21 +0000

The signature was generated from the following information.

PUT\r\n \r\n \r\n Wed, 20 Feb 2008 22:12:21 +0000\r\n x-amz-copy-source:/amzn-s3-demo-bucket1/flotsam\r\n /amzn-s3-demo-bucket2/jetsam

Amazon S3 returns the following response that specifies the ETag of the object and when it was last modified.

HTTP/1.1 200 OK x-amz-id-2: Vyaxt7qEbzv34BnSu5hctyyNSlHTYZFMWK4FtzO+iX8JQNyaLdTshL0KxatbaOZt x-amz-request-id: 6B13C3C5B34AF333 Date: Wed, 20 Feb 2008 22:13:01 +0000 Content-Type: application/xml Transfer-Encoding: chunked Connection: close Server: AmazonS3 <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?> <CopyObjectResult> <LastModified>2008-02-20T22:13:01</LastModified> <ETag>"7e9c608af58950deeb370c98608ed097"</ETag> </CopyObjectResult>

You can also use the AWS Command Line Interface (AWS CLI) to copy an S3 object. For more information, see copy-object in the AWS CLI Command Reference.

For information about the AWS CLI, see What is the AWS Command Line Interface? in the AWS Command Line Interface User Guide.

To move an object

To move an object, use the following methods.

Note
  • You can move an object if your object is less than 5 GB. If your object is greater than 5 GB, you must use the AWS CLI or AWS SDKs to move an object.

  • For a list of additional permissions required to move objects, see Required permissions for Amazon S3 API operations. For example policies that grant this permission, see Identity-based policy examples for Amazon S3.

  • Objects encrypted with customer-provided encryption keys (SSE-C) cannot be moved by using the Amazon S3 console. To move objects encrypted with SSE-C, use the AWS CLI, AWS SDKs, or the Amazon S3 REST API.

  • When moving folders, wait for the Move operation to finish before making additional changes in the folders.

  • You can't use S3 access point aliases as the source or destination for Move operations in the Amazon S3 console.

To move an object
  1. Sign in to the AWS Management Console and open the Amazon S3 console at https://console.aws.amazon.com/s3/.

  2. In the navigation pane, choose Buckets, and then choose the General purpose buckets tab. Navigate to the Amazon S3 bucket or folder that contains the objects that you want to move.

  3. Select the check box for the objects that you want to move.

  4. On the Actions menu, choose Move.

  5. To specify the destination path, choose Browse S3, navigate to the destination, and select the destination check box. Choose Choose destination.

    Alternatively, enter the destination path.

  6. If you do not have bucket versioning enabled, you will see a warning recommending you enable Bucket Versioning to help protect against unintentionally overwriting or deleting objects. If you want to keep all versions of objects in this bucket, select Enable Bucket Versioning. You can also view the default encryption and Object Lock properties in Destination details.

  7. Under Additional copy settings, choose whether you want to Copy source settings, Don’t specify settings, or Specify settings. Copy source settings is the default option. If you only want to copy the object without the source settings attributes, choose Don’t specify settings. Choose Specify settings to specify settings for storage class, ACLs, object tags, metadata, server-side encryption, and additional checksums.

  8. Choose Move in the bottom-right corner. Amazon S3 moves your objects to the destination.

You can also use the AWS Command Line Interface (AWS CLI) to move an S3 object. For more information, see mv in the AWS CLI Command Reference.

For information about the AWS CLI, see What is the AWS Command Line Interface? in the AWS Command Line Interface User Guide.

To rename an object

To rename an object, use the following procedure.

Note
  • You can rename an object if your object is less than 5 GB. To rename objects greater than 5 GB, you must use the AWS CLI or AWS SDKs to copy your object with a new name and then delete the original object.

  • For a list of additional permissions required to copy objects, see Required permissions for Amazon S3 API operations. For example policies that grant this permission, see Identity-based policy examples for Amazon S3.

  • Renaming an object creates a copy of the object with a new last-modified date, and then adds a delete marker to the original object.

  • Bucket settings for default encryption are automatically applied to any specified object that is unencrypted.

  • You can't use the Amazon S3 console to rename objects with customer-provided encryption keys (SSE-C) . To rename objects encrypted with SSE-C, use the AWS CLI, AWS SDKs, or the Amazon S3 REST API to copy those objects with new names.

  • If this bucket uses the bucket owner enforced setting for S3 Object Ownership, object access control lists (ACLs) won't be copied.

To rename an object
  1. Sign in to the AWS Management Console and open the Amazon S3 console at https://console.aws.amazon.com/s3/.

  2. In the navigation pane, choose Buckets, and then choose the General purpose buckets tab. Navigate to the Amazon S3 bucket or folder that contains the object that you want to rename.

  3. Select the check box for the object that you want to rename.

  4. On the Actions menu, choose Rename object.

  5. In the New object name box, enter the new name for the object.

  6. Under Additional copy settings, choose whether you want to Copy source settings, Don’t specify settings, or Specify settings. Copy source settings is the default option. If you only want to copy the object without the source settings attributes, choose Don’t specify settings. Choose Specify settings to specify settings for storage class, ACLs, object tags, metadata, server-side encryption, and additional checksums.

  7. Choose Save changes. Amazon S3 renames your object.