ansible/test/integration/targets/copy/tasks/dest_in_non_existent_directories_remote_src.yml

# src is a file, dest is a non-existent directory (2 levels of directories):
# checks that dest is created
- name: Ensure that dest top directory doesn't exist
  file:
    path: '{{ remote_dir }}/{{ item.dest.split("/")[0] }}'
    state: absent

- name: create subdir
  file:
    path: subdir
    state: directory

- name: create src file
  file:
    path: "{{ item }}"
    state: touch
  loop:
    - foo.txt
    - subdir/bar.txt

- name: Copy file, dest is a nonexistent target directory
  copy:
    src: '{{ item.src }}'
    dest: '{{ remote_dir }}/{{ item.dest }}'
    remote_src: true
  register: copy_result

- name: assert copy worked
  assert:
    that:
      - 'copy_result is successful'
      - 'copy_result is changed'

- name: stat copied file
  stat:
    path: '{{ remote_dir }}/{{ item.check }}'
  register: stat_file_in_dir_result

- name: assert that file exists
  assert:
    that:
    - stat_file_in_dir_result.stat.exists
    - stat_file_in_dir_result.stat.isreg