# Export Settings

Export configuration from a server. If you don't specify a `to`, we look for a CommandBox server using the current working directory. Only rely on this if you have a single CommandBox server running in the current directory.

```
cfconfig export myConfig.json
cfconfig export from=serverNameToExportFrom to=myconfig.json
cfconfig export from=/path/to/server/home to=myconfig.json
```

All the same rules for engine format and version apply.

```
cfconfig export to=/path/to/.CFConfig.json from=/path/to/server/home fromFormat=luceeServer@5.1
```

The version number can be left off `toFormat` and `fromFormat` when reading or writing to a CFConfig JSON file or a CommandBox server since we already know the version. If you don't specify a Lucee web or Server context, we default to server. Use a format of "luceeWeb" to switch.

```
cfconfig export to=myConfig.json fromFormat=luceeWeb
```

In some situations you might need to alter the data being imported such as with Scheduled Tasks that you might not want to run on the target server. Adding the `--pauseTasks` flag will import the scheduled tasks in the paused state.

### IncludeList and excludeList

You can customize what config settings are transferred with the `includeList` and `excludeList` params. If at least one include pattern is provided, **only** matching settings will be included. Nested keys such as `datasources.myDSN` or `mailservers[1]` can be used. You may also use basic wildcards in your pattern. A single `*` will match any number of chars inside a key name. A double `**` will match any number of nested keys.

```bash
# Include all settings starting with "event"
cfconfig export to=.CFConfig.json includeList=event*
# Exclude all keys called "password" regardless of what struct they are in
cfconfig export to=.CFConfig.json excludeList=**.password
```

### Append flag

Use the `append` parameter to merge incoming data with any data already present. For example, if a server already has one datasource defined, and you import a JSON file with 2 more unique datasources, the `--append` flag will not remove the pre-existing one.

```bash
cfconfig export to=.CFConfig.json includeList=datasources --append
```

### JSON Expansion Replacements

If you usually replace sensitive or volatile information in a JSON export with env var expansions like `${DB_PASSWORD},` you can do this automatically my supplying one or more replace mappings. The key is a regular expression to match a key in the format of `datasources.myDSN.password` and the value is the name of the env var to use. The values will be written to a `.env` file in the current working directory. You can override this path with the `dotenvFile` param, or pass an empty string to disable it from being written.

```bash
cfconfig export to=.CFConfig.json replace:datasources\.myDSN\.password=DB_PASSWORD
```

As the value is a regular expression, you can use backreferences like `\1` in your env var to make them dynamic.\
This example would create env vars such as `DB_MYDSN_PASSWORD` where `MYDSN` is your actual datasource name.

```bash
cfconfig export to=.CFConfig.json replace:datasources\.(.*)\.password=DB_\1_PASSWORD
```

Any valid regex is possible for some clever replacements. This example would create env vars such as `DB_MYDSN_PORT`, `DB_MYDSN_HOST`, and `DB_MDSN_DATABASE`

```bash
cfconfig export to=.CFConfig.json replace:datasources\.(.*)\.(password|class|port|host|database)=DB_\1_\2 dotenvFile=../../settings.properties
```

To avoid having to pass these replacements every time you transfer your config, you can set then as a global setting for the `commandbox-cfconfig` module.

```bash
# Replace all mail server passwords with ${MAIL_PASSWORD}
config set modules.commandbox-cfconfig.JSONExpansions[mailServers.*.password]=MAIL_PASSWORD
# Dynamically replace with ${DB_MYDSN_password}, ${DB_MYDSN_CLASS}, ${DB_MYDSN_PORT}, etc
config set modules.commandbox-cfconfig.JSONExpansions[datasources\.(.*)\.(password|class|port|host|database)]=DB_\1_\2
# Use default env var name for all settings starting with "requestTimeout" and replace with ${REQUEST_TIMEOUT} and ${REQUEST_TIMEOUT_ENABLED}
config set modules.commandbox-cfconfig.JSONExpansions[requestTimeout.*]=
```

{% hint style="info" %}
Note, the `config set` syntax shown above require at least CommandBox 5.4.0
{% endhint %}