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

This can be achieved with the stat module to skip the task when file exists.

- hosts: servers
  tasks:
  - name: Ansible check file exists.
    stat:
      path: /etc/issue
    register: p
  - debug:
      msg: "File exists..."
    when: p.stat.exists
  - debug:
      msg: "File not found"
    when: p.stat.exists == False

Answer 2

vars:
  mypath: "/etc/file.txt"

tasks:
  - name: checking the file exists
    command: touch file.txt
    when: mypath is not exists

Answer 3

If you just want to make sure a certain file exists (f.ex. because it shoud be created in a different way than via ansible) and fail if it doesn't, then you can do this:

- name: sanity check that /some/path/file exists
  command: stat /some/path/file
  check_mode: no # always run
  changed_when: false # doesn't change anything

Answer 4

You can use Ansible stat module to register the file, and when module to apply the condition.

- name: Register file
      stat:
        path: "/tmp/test_file"
      register: file_path

- name: Create file if it doesn't exists
      file: 
        path: "/tmp/test_file"
        state: touch
      when: file_path.stat.exists == False

Answer 5

A note on relative paths to complement the other answers.

When doing infrastructure as code I'm usually using roles and tasks that accept relative paths, specially for files defined in those roles.

Special variables like playbook_dir and role_path are very useful to create the absolute paths needed to test for existence.