How to Check if a file exists on Windows-like systems with Ansible?
I’m going to show you a live Playbook and some simple Ansible code. I’m Luca Berton and welcome to today’s episode of Ansible Pilot.
Ansible check file exists on Windows-like systems
ansible.windows.win_stat- Get information about Windows files
Today we’re talking about the Ansible module win_stat.
The full name is ansible.windows.win_stat, which means that is part of the collection of modules specialized to interact with Windows target host.
It’s a module pretty stable and out for years.
It works in Windows and Windows Server operating systems.
It gets information about Windows files.
For Linux target use the ansible.builtin.stat module instead.
Parameters & Return Values
Mandatory Parameters
- path string
Main Return Values
- stat complex - exists
The only mandatory parameter is “path” which is the filesystem full path of the object to check. You could also retrieve the checksum of the file in the most popular hash algorithm, just in case. The module returns a complex object, the property that is interesting for us is “exists”. This attribute is “true” if the object exists.
Links
Playbook
How to check if the file “example.txt” exists on the Desktop of the user on Windows-like systems with Ansible Playbook.
code
---
- name: check if a file exist
hosts: all
vars:
myfile: 'C:\Users\vagrant\Desktop\example.txt'
tasks:
- name: check if a file exist
ansible.windows.win_stat:
path: "{{ myfile }}"
register: file_data
- name: report file exist
ansible.builtin.debug:
msg: "The file {{ myfile }} exist"
when: file_data.stat.exists
- name: report file not exist
ansible.builtin.debug:
msg: "The file {{ myfile }} doesn't exist"
when: not file_data.stat.exists
file doesn’t exist execution
ansible-pilot $ ansible-playbook -i virtualmachines/win/inventory check\ file\ exists/file_exist_windows.yml
PLAY [check if a file exist] **********************************************************************
TASK [Gathering Facts] ****************************************************************************
ok: [WindowsServer]
TASK [check if a file exist] **********************************************************************
ok: [WindowsServer]
TASK [report file exist] **************************************************************************
skipping: [WindowsServer]
TASK [report file not exist] **********************************************************************
ok: [WindowsServer] => {
"msg": "The file C:\\Users\\vagrant\\Desktop\\example.txt doesn't exist"
}
PLAY RECAP ****************************************************************************************
WindowsServer : ok=3 changed=0 unreachable=0 failed=0 skipped=1 rescued=0 ignored=0
ansible-pilot $
file exist execution
ansible-pilot $ ansible-playbook -i virtualmachines/win/inventory check\ file\ exists/file_exist_windows.yml
PLAY [check if a file exist] **********************************************************************
TASK [Gathering Facts] ****************************************************************************
ok: [WindowsServer]
TASK [check if a file exist] **********************************************************************
ok: [WindowsServer]
TASK [report file exist] **************************************************************************
ok: [WindowsServer] => {
"msg": "The file C:\\Users\\vagrant\\Desktop\\example.txt exist"
}
TASK [report file not exist] **********************************************************************
skipping: [WindowsServer]
PLAY RECAP ****************************************************************************************
WindowsServer : ok=3 changed=0 unreachable=0 failed=0 skipped=1 rescued=0 ignored=0
ansible-pilot $
Conclusion
Now you know how to check if a file exists on Windows-like systems with Ansible. Subscribe to the YouTube channel, Medium, and Website, X (formerly Twitter) to not miss the next episode of the Ansible Pilot.
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