Azure azcopy sync --include-regex not working as expected

Question

I have constructed an azcopy sync command using regex, but it does not include the files I am expecting it to.

Command:-

azcopy sync --include-regex "\/.*\/ABCD\/.*.xml" $AZSAKEY1 $AZSAKEY2 --recursive=true --s2s-preserve-access-tier=false --include-pattern="*.xml"

I am expecting the regex to include files under a set of date folders with, for example, subdirectories 'ABCD' and xml files under there, like so:-

/2023-12-18/ABCD/abcdef1ab23.xml

I am expecting my regex to include these files, but it does not process these files, however if I repeat the command without the regex specified it includes those files.

I have checked my regex OK using the checker at https://regex101.com/

why isn't the azcopy regex specification including my files / what do I need to do to ensure it includes them?

Answer 1

@Gary Spencer

Welcome to the Microsoft Q&A Platform. Thank you for reaching out & I hope you are doing well.

I understand that you would like to use "--include-regex" parameter with Az Copy to only sync files whose path name matches a pattern.

I did a Lab set up of your scenario and after playing around with the regular expressions for a while, I arrived at the below solution.

• Your file name/path is 2023-12-18/ABCD/abcdef1ab23.xml
• **Not /**2023-12-18/ABCD/abcdef1ab23.xml (i.e., no / at the start)

So, the pattern becomes

".*\/ABCD\/.*.xml"

i.e. no need to match the leading "/"

Kindly let us know if this helps or you need further assistance on this issue.

Thanks,

Kapil

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