destination "%s:%s" must be a directory or a regular file: %

Error message

destination "%s:%s" must be a directory or a regular file: %w

What it means

Error "destination "%s:%s" must be a directory or a regular file: %w" thrown in docker/cli.

Source

Thrown at cli/command/container/cp.go:387

	// Prepare destination copy info by stat-ing the container path.
	dstInfo := archive.CopyInfo{Path: dstPath}
	if dst, err := apiClient.ContainerStatPath(ctx, copyConfig.container, client.ContainerStatPathOptions{Path: dstPath}); err == nil {
		// If the destination is a symbolic link, we should evaluate it.
		if dst.Stat.Mode&os.ModeSymlink != 0 {
			linkTarget := dst.Stat.LinkTarget
			if !isAbs(linkTarget) {
				// Join with the parent directory.
				dstParent, _ := archive.SplitPathDirEntry(dstPath)
				linkTarget = filepath.Join(dstParent, linkTarget)
			}

			dstInfo.Path = linkTarget
			dst, err = apiClient.ContainerStatPath(ctx, copyConfig.container, client.ContainerStatPathOptions{Path: linkTarget})
		}
		// Validate the destination path
		if err == nil {
			if err := command.ValidateOutputPathFileMode(dst.Stat.Mode); err != nil {
				return fmt.Errorf(`destination "%s:%s" must be a directory or a regular file: %w`, copyConfig.container, dstPath, err)
			}
			dstInfo.Exists, dstInfo.IsDir = true, dst.Stat.Mode.IsDir()
		}

		// Ignore any error and assume that the parent directory of the destination
		// path exists, in which case the copy may still succeed. If there is any
		// type of conflict (e.g., non-directory overwriting an existing directory
		// or vice versa) the extraction will fail. If the destination simply did
		// not exist, but the parent directory does, the extraction will still
		// succeed.
		_ = err // Intentionally ignore stat errors (see above)
	}

	var (
		content         io.ReadCloser
		resolvedDstPath string
		copiedSize      int64
		contentSize     int64

View on GitHub (pinned to e9452d6e78)

When it happens

Trigger: Thrown at cli/command/container/cp.go:387 when the library encounters an invalid state.

Common situations: See trigger scenarios.

AI-assisted analysis of docker/cli@e9452d6e78 (2026-08-01). Data as JSON: /data/errors/85121bc2a4d8ab30.json. Report an issue: GitHub.