file – Manage files and file properties

• Synopsis
• Parameters
• See Also
• Examples
• Status

Synopsis

• Set attributes of files, symlinks or directories.
• Alternatively, remove files, symlinks or directories.
• Many other modules support the same options as the file module - including copy, template, and assemble.
• For Windows targets, use the win_file module instead.

Parameters

See Also

Examples

- name: Change file ownership, group and permissions
  file:
    path: /etc/foo.conf
    owner: foo
    group: foo
    mode: '0644'

- name: Give insecure permissions to an existing file
  file:
    path: /work
    owner: root
    group: root
    mode: '1777'

- name: Create a symbolic link
  file:
    src: /file/to/link/to
    dest: /path/to/symlink
    owner: foo
    group: foo
    state: link

- name: Create two hard links
  file:
    src: '/tmp/{{ item.src }}'
    dest: '{{ item.dest }}'
    state: hard
  loop:
    - { src: x, dest: y }
    - { src: z, dest: k }

- name: Touch a file, using symbolic modes to set the permissions (equivalent to 0644)
  file:
    path: /etc/foo.conf
    state: touch
    mode: u=rw,g=r,o=r

- name: Touch the same file, but add/remove some permissions
  file:
    path: /etc/foo.conf
    state: touch
    mode: u+rw,g-wx,o-rwx

- name: Touch again the same file, but dont change times this makes the task idempotent
  file:
    path: /etc/foo.conf
    state: touch
    mode: u+rw,g-wx,o-rwx
    modification_time: preserve
    access_time: preserve

- name: Create a directory if it does not exist
  file:
    path: /etc/some_directory
    state: directory
    mode: '0755'

- name: Update modification and access time of given file
  file:
    path: /etc/some_file
    state: file
    modification_time: now
    access_time: now

- name: Set access time based on seconds from epoch value
  file:
    path: /etc/another_file
    state: file
    access_time: '{{ "%Y%m%d%H%M.%S" | strftime(stat_var.stat.atime) }}'

- name: Recursively change ownership of a directory
  file:
    path: /etc/foo
    state: directory
    recurse: yes
    owner: foo
    group: foo

- name: Remove file (delete file)
  file:
    path: /etc/foo.txt
    state: absent

- name: Recursively remove directory
  file:
    path: /etc/foo
    state: absent

Status

• This module is guaranteed to have backward compatible interface changes going forward. [stableinterface]
• This module is maintained by the Ansible Core Team. [core]

Red Hat Support

More information about Red Hat’s support of this module is available from this Red Hat Knowledge Base article.

Authors

• Ansible Core Team
• Michael DeHaan