How to Delete Only Files Inside a Directory with Ansible?
I’m going to show you a live Playbook with some simple Ansible code. I’m Luca Berton and welcome to today’s episode of Ansible Pilot.
Ansible How to Delete Only Files Inside a Directory
ansible.builtin.find- Return a list of files based on specific criteria
Today we’re talking about the Ansible module find.
The full name is ansible.builtin.find, which means that is part of the collection included in the ansible-core builtin collection.
This module returns a list of files based on specific criteria using the find popular Unix command.
Parameters
- paths string - List of paths of directories to search
- hidden boolean - no/yes
- recurse boolean - recursively descend into the directory looking for files
- file_type string - file/directory/any/link
The most important parameters of the find module for this use case.
The mandatory parameter paths specify the list of paths of directories to search.
You could include hidden files with the hidden parameter.
As well as recurse in any directory under the main path with the recurse parameter.
Another useful parameter is file_type, defaults to file but you could filter for directory, link or any filesystem object type.
Links
Playbook
How to delete Ooly files inside a directory with Ansible Playbook.
I’m going to delete only the files and directories under the example folder of my login user (devops).
code
---
- name: delete file(s) in dir Playbook
hosts: all
vars:
mypath: "/home/devops/example"
tasks:
- name: collect files
ansible.builtin.find:
paths: "{{ mypath }}"
hidden: true
recurse: true
file_type: any
register: collected_files
- name: remove collected files
ansible.builtin.file:
path: "{{ item.path }}"
state: absent
with_items: "{{ collected_files }}"
execution
$ ansible-playbook -i virtualmachines/demo/inventory delete\ file\ or\ directory/file_onlyfiles.yml
PLAY [delete file(s) in dir Playbook] *****************************************************************
TASK [Gathering Facts] ****************************************************************************
ok: [demo.example.com]
TASK [collect files] ******************************************************************************
ok: [demo.example.com]
TASK [remove collected files and directories] *****************************************************
changed: [demo.example.com] => (item={'path': '/home/devops/example/file1.txt', 'mode': '0644', 'isdir': False, 'ischr': False, 'isblk': False, 'isreg': True, 'isfifo': False, 'islnk': False, 'issock': False, 'uid': 1001, 'gid': 10, 'size': 0, 'inode': 484310, 'dev': 64768, 'nlink': 1, 'atime': 1652197335.6893907, 'mtime': 1652197335.6893907, 'ctime': 1652197335.6893907, 'gr_name': 'wheel', 'pw_name': 'devops', 'wusr': True, 'rusr': True, 'xusr': False, 'wgrp': False, 'rgrp': True, 'xgrp': False, 'woth': False, 'roth': True, 'xoth': False, 'isuid': False, 'isgid': False})
changed: [demo.example.com] => (item={'path': '/home/devops/example/file2.txt', 'mode': '0644', 'isdir': False, 'ischr': False, 'isblk': False, 'isreg': True, 'isfifo': False, 'islnk': False, 'issock': False, 'uid': 1001, 'gid': 10, 'size': 0, 'inode': 484311, 'dev': 64768, 'nlink': 1, 'atime': 1652197337.6393802, 'mtime': 1652197337.6393802, 'ctime': 1652197337.6393802, 'gr_name': 'wheel', 'pw_name': 'devops', 'wusr': True, 'rusr': True, 'xusr': False, 'wgrp': False, 'rgrp': True, 'xgrp': False, 'woth': False, 'roth': True, 'xoth': False, 'isuid': False, 'isgid': False})
changed: [demo.example.com] => (item={'path': '/home/devops/example/deleteme', 'mode': '0755', 'isdir': True, 'ischr': False, 'isblk': False, 'isreg': False, 'isfifo': False, 'islnk': False, 'issock': False, 'uid': 1001, 'gid': 10, 'size': 23, 'inode': 201823954, 'dev': 64768, 'nlink': 2, 'atime': 1652197359.8632617, 'mtime': 1652197356.4072802, 'ctime': 1652197356.4072802, 'gr_name': 'wheel', 'pw_name': 'devops', 'wusr': True, 'rusr': True, 'xusr': True, 'wgrp': False, 'rgrp': True, 'xgrp': True, 'woth': False, 'roth': True, 'xoth': True, 'isuid': False, 'isgid': False})
ok: [demo.example.com] => (item={'path': '/home/devops/example/deleteme/file3.txt', 'mode': '0644', 'isdir': False, 'ischr': False, 'isblk': False, 'isreg': True, 'isfifo': False, 'islnk': False, 'issock': False, 'uid': 1001, 'gid': 10, 'size': 0, 'inode': 201823955, 'dev': 64768, 'nlink': 1, 'atime': 1652197356.4072802, 'mtime': 1652197356.4072802, 'ctime': 1652197356.4072802, 'gr_name': 'wheel', 'pw_name': 'devops', 'wusr': True, 'rusr': True, 'xusr': False, 'wgrp': False, 'rgrp': True, 'xgrp': False, 'woth': False, 'roth': True, 'xoth': False, 'isuid': False, 'isgid': False})
PLAY RECAP ****************************************************************************************
demo.example.com : ok=3 changed=1 unreachable=0 failed=0 skipped=0 rescued=0 ignored=0
idempotency
$ ansible-playbook -i virtualmachines/demo/inventory delete\ file\ or\ directory/file_onlyfiles.yml
PLAY [delete file(s) in dir Playbook] *****************************************************************
TASK [Gathering Facts] ****************************************************************************
ok: [demo.example.com]
TASK [collect files] ******************************************************************************
ok: [demo.example.com]
TASK [remove collected files and directories] *****************************************************
PLAY RECAP ****************************************************************************************
demo.example.com : ok=2 changed=0 unreachable=0 failed=0 skipped=1 rescued=0 ignored=0
before execution
$ ssh [email protected]
[devops@demo ~]$ tree example/
example/
|-- deleteme
| `-- file3.txt
|-- file1.txt
`-- file2.txt
1 directory, 3 files
after execution
$ ssh [email protected]
[devops@demo ~]$ tree example/
example/
0 directories, 0 files
Conclusion
Now you know how to delete only files inside a directory with Ansible. Subscribe to the YouTube channel, Medium, and Website, X (formerly Twitter) to not miss the next episode of the Ansible Pilot.
Academy
Learn the Ansible automation technology with some real-life examples in my
Udemy 300+ Lessons Video Course.
My book Ansible By Examples: 200+ Automation Examples For Linux and Windows System Administrator and DevOps
Donate
Want to keep this project going? Please donate