For supported wildcards along with behavior and documentation, see [@actions/glob](https://github.com/actions/toolkit/tree/main/packages/glob) which is used internally to search for files.
If a wildcard pattern is used, the path hierarchy will be preserved after the first wildcard pattern.
```
path/to/*/directory/foo?.txt =>
∟ path/to/some/directory/foo1.txt
∟ path/to/some/directory/foo2.txt
∟ path/to/other/directory/foo1.txt
would be flattened and uploaded as =>
∟ some/directory/foo1.txt
∟ some/directory/foo2.txt
∟ other/directory/foo1.txt
```
If multiple paths are provided as input, the least common ancestor of all the search paths will be used as the root directory of the artifact. Exclude paths do not effect the directory structure.
Relative and absolute file paths are both allowed. Relative paths are rooted against the current working directory. Paths that begin with a wildcard character should be quoted to avoid being interpreted as YAML aliases.
The [@actions/artifact](https://github.com/actions/toolkit/tree/main/packages/artifact) package is used internally to handle most of the logic around uploading an artifact. There is extra documentation around upload limitations and behavior in the toolkit repo that is worth checking out.
To upload artifacts only when the previous step of a job failed, use [`if: failure()`](https://help.github.com/en/articles/contexts-and-expression-syntax-for-github-actions#job-status-check-functions):
You can upload an artifact without specifying a name
```yaml
- uses: actions/upload-artifact@v2
with:
path: path/to/artifact/world.txt
```
If not provided, `artifact` will be used as the default name which will manifest itself in the UI after upload.
### Uploading to the same artifact
Each artifact behaves as a file share. Uploading to the same artifact multiple times in the same workflow can overwrite and append already uploaded files
```yaml
- run: echo hi > world.txt
- uses: actions/upload-artifact@v2
with:
path: world.txt
- run: echo howdy > extra-file.txt
- uses: actions/upload-artifact@v2
with:
path: extra-file.txt
- run: echo hello > world.txt
- uses: actions/upload-artifact@v2
with:
path: world.txt
```
With the following example, the available artifact (named `artifact` which is the default if no name is provided) would contain both `world.txt` (`hello`) and `extra-file.txt` (`howdy`).
- name: 'Accidently upload to the same artifact via multiple jobs'
uses: 'actions/upload-artifact@v2'
with:
name: my-artifact
path: ${{ github.workspace }}
```
In the above example, four jobs will upload four different files to the same artifact but there will only be one file available when `my-artifact` is downloaded. Each job overwrites what was previously uploaded. To ensure that jobs don't overwrite existing artifacts, use a different name per job.
Environment variables along with context expressions can also be used for input. For documentation see [context and expression syntax](https://help.github.com/en/actions/reference/context-and-expression-syntax-for-github-actions).
In the top right corner of a workflow run, once the run is over, if you used this action, there will be a `Artifacts` dropdown which you can download items from. Here's a screenshot of what it looks like<br/>
See [persisting workflow data using artifacts](https://help.github.com/en/actions/configuring-and-managing-workflows/persisting-workflow-data-using-artifacts) for additional examples and tips.
See extra documentation for the [@actions/artifact](https://github.com/actions/toolkit/blob/master/packages/artifact/docs/additional-information.md) package that is used internally regarding certain behaviors and limitations.