How to create an empty file in 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 creates an empty file
ansible.windows.win_file- Creates, touches, or removes files or directories
Today we’re talking about the Ansible module win_file.
The full name is ansible.windows.win_file, which means that is part of the collection of modules to interact with windows machines.
It’s a module pretty stable and out for years.
It creates, touches, or removes files or directories.
For Linux targets, use the ansible.builtin.file module) instead.
Parameters
- path path - file path
- state string - file/absent/directory/touch
This module has some parameters to perform any tasks. The only required is “path”, where you specify the filesystem path of the file you’re going to edit. The state defines the type of object we are modifying, the default is “file” but for our use case, we need the “touch” option.
Links
Playbook
Create an empty file in Windows-like systems with Ansible playbook
code
---
- name: win_file module demo
hosts: all
become: false
gather_facts: false
vars:
myfile: 'C:\Users\vagrant\Desktop\example.txt'
tasks:
- name: Creating an empty file
ansible.windows.win_file:
path: "{{ myfile }}"
state: touch
execution
ansible-pilot $ ansible-playbook -i virtualmachines/win/inventory create\ file/file-windows.yml
PLAY [win_file module demo] ***********************************************************************
TASK [Creating an empty file] *********************************************************************
changed: [WindowsServer]
PLAY RECAP ****************************************************************************************
WindowsServer : ok=1 changed=1 unreachable=0 failed=0 skipped=0 rescued=0 ignored=0
ansible-pilot $
idempotency not valid
ansible-pilot $ ansible-playbook -i virtualmachines/win/inventory create\ file/file-windows.yml
PLAY [win_file module demo] ***********************************************************************
TASK [Creating an empty file] *********************************************************************
changed: [WindowsServer]
PLAY RECAP ****************************************************************************************
WindowsServer : ok=1 changed=1 unreachable=0 failed=0 skipped=0 rescued=0 ignored=0
ansible-pilot $
before execution
after execution
Conclusion
Now you know how to create an empty file in 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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