Import

+++ title = "import" description = "import includes files or references snippets from a Corefile." weight = 26 tags = ["plugin", "import"] categories = ["plugin"] date = "2025-10-13T05:58:44.87744810" +++

Description

The import plugin can be used to include files into the main configuration. Another use is to reference predefined snippets. Both can help to avoid some duplication.

This is a unique plugin in that import can appear outside of a server block. In other words, it can appear at the top of a Corefile where an address would normally be.

Syntax

import PATTERN

• PATTERN is the file, glob pattern (*) or snippet to include. Its contents will replace this line, as if that file's contents appeared here to begin with.

Corefile may contain at most 10000 import statements. A glob pattern counts as a single import. The limit protects the configuration from recursive imports.

Files

You can use import to include a file or files. This file's location is relative to the Corefile's location. It is an error if a specific file cannot be found, but an empty glob pattern is not an error.

Snippets

You can define snippets to be reused later in your Corefile by defining a block with a single-token label surrounded by parentheses:

(mysnippet) {
	...
}

Then you can invoke the snippet with import:

import mysnippet

Examples

Import a shared configuration:

. {
   import config/common.conf
}

Where config/common.conf contains:

prometheus
errors
log

This imports files found in the zones directory:

import ../zones/*

See Also

See corefile(5).