How to copy files to more than one location using Gradle? - gradle

Question

I'd like to define a Gradle task that copies files to four different directories. It seems that the copy task only allows a single target location.
// https://docs.gradle.org/current/userguide/working_with_files.html#sec:copying_files
task copyAssets(type: Copy) {
from 'src/docs/asciidoc/assets'
//into ['build/asciidoc/html5/assets', 'build/asciidoc/pdf/assets']
into 'build/asciidoc/pdf/assets'
}
task gen(dependsOn: ['copyAssets', 'asciidoctor']) << {
println "Files are generated."
}
How can I copy the files without defining four different tasks?
My current solution is:
// https://docs.gradle.org/current/userguide/working_with_files.html#sec:copying_files
task copyAssetsPDF(type: Copy) {
from 'src/docs/asciidoc/assets'
into 'build/asciidoc/pdf/assets'
}
task copyAssetsHTML5(type: Copy) {
from 'src/docs/asciidoc/assets'
into 'build/asciidoc/html5/assets'
}
task copyAssetsDB45(type: Copy) {
from 'src/docs/asciidoc/assets'
into 'build/asciidoc/docbook45/assets'
}
task copyAssetsDB5(type: Copy) {
from 'src/docs/asciidoc/assets'
into 'build/asciidoc/docbook5/assets'
}
task gen(dependsOn: ['copyAssetsPDF', 'copyAssetsHTML5', 'copyAssetsDB45', 'copyAssetsDB5', 'asciidoctor']) << {
println "Files are generated."
}

Answer 1

One of the solutions is to make a single task with a number of copy specifications like:
task copyAssets << {
copy {
from 'src/docs/asciidoc/assets'
into 'build/asciidoc/pdf/assets'
}
copy {
from 'src/docs/asciidoc/assets'
into 'build/asciidoc/pdf/assets'
}
}
Or you can do it within a loop:
//an array containing destination paths
def copyDestinations = ['build/asciidoc/pdf/assets', 'build/asciidoc/html5/assets']
//custom task to copy into all the target directories
task copyAssets << {
//iterate over the array with destination paths
copyDestinations.each { destination ->
//for every destination define new CopySpec
copy {
from 'src/docs/asciidoc/assets'
into destination
}
}
}