file - Sets attributes of files
Synopsis
- Sets attributes of files, symlinks, and directories, or removes files/symlinks/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
Parameter | Choices/Defaults | Comments |
---|---|---|
attributes
(added in 2.3)
|
Default:
None
|
Attributes the file or directory should have. To get supported flags look at the man page for
chattr on the target system. This string should contain the attributes in the same order as the one displayed by
lsattr.
aliases: attr |
follow
(added in 1.8)
|
|
This flag indicates that filesystem links, if they exist, should be followed.
Previous to Ansible 2.5, this was
no by default.
|
force |
|
force the creation of the symlinks in two cases: the source file does not exist (but will appear later); the destination exists and is a file (so, we need to unlink the "path" file and create symlink to the "src" file in place of it).
|
group | Default:
None
|
Name of the group that should own the file/directory, as would be fed to
chown.
|
mode | Default:
None
|
Mode the file or directory should be. For those used to
/usr/bin/chmod remember that modes are actually octal numbers (like
0644 or
01777 ). Leaving off the leading zero will likely have unexpected results. As of version 1.8, the mode may be specified as a symbolic mode (for example,
u+rwx or
u=rw,g=r,o=r ).
|
owner | Default:
None
|
Name of the user that should own the file/directory, as would be fed to
chown.
|
path
required
|
path to the file being managed. Aliases:
dest,
name
aliases: dest, name |
|
recurse |
|
recursively set the specified file attributes (applies only to directories)
|
selevel | Default:
s0
|
Level part of the SELinux file context. This is the MLS/MCS attribute, sometimes known as the
range .
_default feature works as for
seuser.
|
serole | Default:
None
|
Role part of SELinux file context,
_default feature works as for
seuser.
|
setype | Default:
None
|
Type part of SELinux file context,
_default feature works as for
seuser.
|
seuser | Default:
None
|
User part of SELinux file context. Will default to system policy, if applicable. If set to
_default , it will use the
user portion of the policy if available.
|
src |
path of the file to link to (applies only to
state=link and
state=hard ). Will accept absolute, relative and nonexisting paths. Relative paths are not expanded.
|
|
state |
|
If
directory , all intermediate subdirectories will be created if they do not exist. Since Ansible 1.7 they will be created with the supplied permissions. If
file , the file will NOT be created if it does not exist; see the
touch value or the
copy or
template module if you want that behavior. If
link , the symbolic link will be created or changed. Use
hard for hardlinks. If
absent , directories will be recursively deleted, and files or symlinks will be unlinked. Note that
absent will not cause
file to fail if the
path does not exist as the state did not change. If
touch (new in 1.4), an empty file will be created if the
path does not exist, while an existing file or directory will receive updated file access and modification times (similar to the way `touch` works from the command line).
|
unsafe_writes
(added in 2.2)
|
|
Normally this module uses atomic operations to prevent data corruption or inconsistent reads from the target files, sometimes systems are configured or just broken in ways that prevent this. One example are docker mounted files, they cannot be updated atomically and can only be done in an unsafe manner.
This boolean option allows ansible to fall back to unsafe methods of updating files for those cases in which you do not have any other choice. Be aware that this is subject to race conditions and can lead to data corruption.
|
Notes
Note
- For Windows targets, use the win_file module instead.
- See also copy, template, assemble
Examples
# change file ownership, group and mode. When specifying mode using octal numbers, first digit should always be 0. - file: path: /etc/foo.conf owner: foo group: foo mode: 0644 - file: path: /work owner: root group: root mode: 01777 - file: src: /file/to/link/to dest: /path/to/symlink owner: foo group: foo state: link - file: src: '/tmp/{{ item.src }}' dest: '{{ item.dest }}' state: link with_items: - { src: 'x', dest: 'y' } - { src: 'z', dest: 'k' } # 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" # touch the same file, but add/remove some permissions - file: path: /etc/foo.conf state: touch mode: "u+rw,g-wx,o-rwx" # create a directory if it doesn't exist - file: path: /etc/some_directory state: directory mode: 0755
Status
This module is flagged as stableinterface which means that the maintainers for this module guarantee that no backward incompatible interface changes will be made.
Support
For more information about Red Hat’s support of this module, please refer to this Knowledge Base article
Author
- Ansible Core Team
- Michael DeHaan
Hint
If you notice any issues in this documentation you can edit this document to improve it.
© 2012–2018 Michael DeHaan
© 2018–2019 Red Hat, Inc.
Licensed under the GNU General Public License version 3.
https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/2.5/modules/file_module.html