How to check if a file exists in Ansible?

Question

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 th         


        

Answer 1

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