Dockerfile COPY commands

General
1

I am a bit confused with this command. I am trying to copy a file that is not in the folder I am building the container from.

COPY /file/to/copy .

That is what my argument looks like, but I get an error. Do I have to move all files I want to copy into the container to the folder that I am building from?

2

COPY can only copy files that are present in the build context.
Usually, this means the folder where the Dockerfile is located and every subfolder and file in it.

3

Thank you for the clarification!