Docker - how can I copy a file from an image to a host?

To copy a file from an image, create a temporary container, copy the file from it and then delete it:

id=$(docker create image-name)docker cp $id:path - > local-tar-filedocker rm -v $id

Unfortunately there doesn't seem to be a way to copy files directly from Docker images. You need to create a container first and then copy the file from the container.

However, if your image contains a cat command (and it will do in many cases), you can do it with a single command:

docker run --rm --entrypoint cat yourimage  /path/to/file > path/to/destination

If your image doesn't contain cat, simply create a container and use the docker cp command as suggested in Igor's answer.

docker cp $(docker create --rm registry.example.com/ansible-base:latest):/home/ansible/.ssh/id_rsa ./hacked_ssh_key

wanted to supply a one line solution based on pure docker functionality (no bash needed)

edit: container does not even has to be run in this solution

edit2: thanks to @Jonathan Dumaine for --rm so the container will be removed after, i just never tried, because it sounded illogical to copy something from somewhere which has been already removed by the previous command, but i tried it and it works