I want to take a list in a directory like: ls /root/test and then have a list variable that deletes the files in another directory like: /root/test2
- hosts: all
tasks:
- name: take a list in test dir
find:
paths: /root/test
register: files_to_delete
- name: Ansible delete files in test2 path
file:
path: /root/test2/{{item}}
state: absent
with_items: "{{ files_to_delete.files }}"
I couldn't find a guide anywhere and this method has not worked, I would appreciate it if someone can help me fix this issue.
Thanks to #Zeitounator I read docs and solved it:
- name: Ansible delete file glob
find:
paths: /root/test
pattern: "*.txt"
register: files_to_delete
- debug: var={{item}}
with_items: files_to_delete
- name: Ansible remove file glob
file:
path: /root/test2/{{ item.path | basename }}
state: absent
with_items: "{{ files_to_delete.files }}"
Using the Ansible win_find module, I want to output just the path to the found files and I am trying this:
- name: Find files in directory while searching recursively
win_find:
paths: C:\Downloads
recurse: yes
register: dwnlds_list
- name: Display win_find file list result
debug: var=item.path
with_items: "{{ dwnlds_list.files }}"
However, the output I get is every return value for every found file.
What I would like is just:
"C:\\Downloads\\file0"
"C:\\Downloads\\file1"
"C:\\Downloads\\file2"
This is the solution that worked for me:
- name: Find files
win_find:
paths: C:\Downloads
recurse: yes
register: dwnlds_list
- name: Output file list
debug: msg="{{ dwnlds_list | json_query('files[].path') }}"
I try to find a way to assert the mode of a file.
I tried to used
- name: file status
stat: path=/opt/et/test.txt
- assert:
that:
- "st.stat.mode == 644"
But obtain always an error, I don't see why ...
my goal is to check if the file have the right permission
I can see a couple of reasons why your example may not be working:
You are missing register in the stat task.
The comparison in assert should for "0644"
If you change these two things, then you should have something like below. I have added custom messages to display on "success" or "failure":
- stat:
path: '/opt/et/test.txt'
register: st
- assert:
that:
- "st.stat.mode == '0644'"
success_msg: 'File has correct permissions.'
fail_msg: 'File permissions are incorrect.'
You can use the file module.
This will work like stat (see docs).
- name: file status
file:
path: /opt/et/test.txt
Or if you want to set the correct mode, in case it is wrong, use this:
- name: file status
file:
path: /opt/et/test.txt
mode: '0664'
You can also set ownership, group etc.
You can try something like this:
-
name: Check file
#hosts: all
hosts: 127.0.0.1
connection: local
tasks:
- name: "Check stat"
stat:
path: /home/path/to/file
register: st
# the following task will execute when the file has the desired permissions 0755 in this case
- name: "Assert rights"
debug:
msg: "File has {{ st.stat.mode }}"
when: st.stat.mode == "0775"
I have written this playbook, in order to check if some repos exist in /etc/yum.repos.d/, but I am not sure if it is correct. Is it correct?
- name: Check that the repos exists
stat:
path: /etc/yum.repos.d/{{ item }}
with_items:
- "rhel-mc.repo"
- "epel-mc.repo"
- "redhat.repo"
register: stat_result
debug:
msg: "Repo file exists..."
when: stat_result.stat.exists
debug:
msg: "Repo file not found"
when: stat_result.stat.exists == False
It almost is perfect!
Make sure module options are the only things aligned inside the module, everything else should be outside of it. These include:
with_items
when
register
You need to ensure you wrap the {item} in single quotes, wrapping the entire path works fine here.
You forgot the dashes for the debugs.
Finally, ansible lint will fail if you compare to True or False so instead I would not before the conditional.
- name: Check that the repos exists
stat:
path: '/etc/yum.repos.d/{{ item }}'
with_items:
- "rhel-mc.repo"
- "epel-mc.repo"
- "redhat.repo"
register: stat_result
- debug:
msg: "Repo file exists..."
when: stat_result.stat.exists
- debug:
msg: "Repo file not found"
when: not stat_result.stat.exists
You can also use the module assert to check for a condition and based on the result display different messages. Something like this:
- name: Check that the repos exists
stat:
path: '/etc/yum.repos.d/{{ item }}'
with_items:
- "rhel-mc.repo"
- "epel-mc.repo"
- "redhat.repo"
register: stat_result
- assert:
that: stat_result.stat.exists
success_msg: "Repo file exists..."
fail_msg: "Repo file not found"
You don't have to wrap path with quotes but it is a good practice in programming in general, to wrap strings in quotes, especially when (in Ansible) it contains a variable.
I have to check whether a file exists in /etc/. If the file exists then I have to skip the task.
Here is the code I am using:
- name: checking the file exists
command: touch file.txt
when: $(! -s /etc/file.txt)
You can first check that the destination file exists or not and then make a decision based on the output of its result:
tasks:
- name: Check that the somefile.conf exists
stat:
path: /etc/file.txt
register: stat_result
- name: Create the file, if it doesnt exist already
file:
path: /etc/file.txt
state: touch
when: not stat_result.stat.exists
The stat module will do this as well as obtain a lot of other information for files. From the example documentation:
- stat: path=/path/to/something
register: p
- debug: msg="Path exists and is a directory"
when: p.stat.isdir is defined and p.stat.isdir
This can be achieved with the stat module to skip the task when file exists.
- hosts: servers
tasks:
- name: Ansible check file exists.
stat:
path: /etc/issue
register: p
- debug:
msg: "File exists..."
when: p.stat.exists
- debug:
msg: "File not found"
when: p.stat.exists == False
In general you would do this with the stat module. But the command module has the creates option which makes this very simple:
- name: touch file
command: touch /etc/file.txt
args:
creates: /etc/file.txt
I guess your touch command is just an example? Best practice would be to not check anything at all and let ansible do its job - with the correct module. So if you want to ensure the file exists you would use the file module:
- name: make sure file exists
file:
path: /etc/file.txt
state: touch
Discovered that calling stat is slow and collects a lot of info that is not required for file existence check.
After spending some time searching for solution, i discovered following solution, which works much faster:
- raw: test -e /path/to/something && echo -n true || echo -n false
register: file_exists
- debug: msg="Path exists"
when: file_exists.stdout == "true"
You can use Ansible stat module to register the file, and when module to apply the condition.
- name: Register file
stat:
path: "/tmp/test_file"
register: file_path
- name: Create file if it doesn't exists
file:
path: "/tmp/test_file"
state: touch
when: file_path.stat.exists == False
Below is the ansible play which i used to remove the file if the file exists on OS end.
- name: find out /etc/init.d/splunk file exists or not'
stat:
path: /etc/init.d/splunk
register: splunkresult
tags:
- always
- name: 'Remove splunk from init.d file if splunk already running'
file:
path: /etc/init.d/splunk
state: absent
when: splunkresult.stat.exists == true
ignore_errors: yes
tags:
- always
I have used play condition as like below
when: splunkresult.stat.exists == true --> Remove the file
you can give true/false based on your requirement
when: splunkresult.stat.exists == false
when: splunkresult.stat.exists == true
I find it can be annoying and error prone to do a lot of these .stat.exists type checks. For example they require extra care to get check mode (--check) working.
Many answers here suggest
get and register
apply when register expression is true
However, sometimes this is a code smell so always look for better ways to use Ansible, specifically there are many advantages to using the correct module. e.g.
- name: install ntpdate
package:
name: ntpdate
or
- file:
path: /etc/file.txt
owner: root
group: root
mode: 0644
But when it is not possible use one module, also investigate if you can register and check the result of a previous task. e.g.
# jmeter_version: 4.0
- name: Download Jmeter archive
get_url:
url: "http://archive.apache.org/dist/jmeter/binaries/apache-jmeter-{{ jmeter_version }}.tgz"
dest: "/opt/jmeter/apache-jmeter-{{ jmeter_version }}.tgz"
checksum: sha512:eee7d68bd1f7e7b269fabaf8f09821697165518b112a979a25c5f128c4de8ca6ad12d3b20cd9380a2b53ca52762b4c4979e564a8c2ff37196692fbd217f1e343
register: download_result
- name: Extract apache-jmeter
unarchive:
src: "/opt/jmeter/apache-jmeter-{{ jmeter_version }}.tgz"
dest: "/opt/jmeter/"
remote_src: yes
creates: "/opt/jmeter/apache-jmeter-{{ jmeter_version }}"
when: download_result.state == 'file'
Note the when: but also the creates: so --check doesn't error out
I mention this because often these less-than-ideal practices come in pairs i.e. no apt/yum package so we have to 1) download and 2) unzip
Hope this helps
I use this code and it works fine for folders and files. Just make sure there is no trailing spaces after the folder name. If folder exists , the file_exists.stdout will be "true" otherwise it will just be an empty string ""
- name: check filesystem existence
shell: if [[ -d "/folder_name" ]]; then echo "true"; fi
register: file_exists
- name: debug data
debug:
msg: "Folder exists"
when: file_exists.stdout == "true"
vars:
mypath: "/etc/file.txt"
tasks:
- name: checking the file exists
command: touch file.txt
when: mypath is not exists
A note on relative paths to complement the other answers.
When doing infrastructure as code I'm usually using roles and tasks that accept relative paths, specially for files defined in those roles.
Special variables like playbook_dir and role_path are very useful to create the absolute paths needed to test for existence.
You can use shell commands to check if file exists
- set_fact:
file: "/tmp/test_file"
- name: check file exists
shell: "ls {{ file }}"
register: file_path
ignore_errors: true
- name: create file if don't exist
shell: "touch {{ file }}"
when: file_path.rc != 0