Documentation

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.

Options

parameter required default choices comments
follow
(added in 1.8)
 no no
  • yes
  • no
This flag indicates that filesystem links, if they exist, should be followed.
force
 no no
  • yes
  • no
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
 no
    name of the group that should own the file/directory, as would be fed to chown
    mode
    		 no
      mode the file or directory should be. For those used to /usr/bin/chmod remember that modes are actually octal numbers (like 0644). 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
      		 no
        name of the user that should own the file/directory, as would be fed to chown
        path
        		 yes
          path to the file being managed. Aliases: dest, name

          aliases: dest, name
          recurse
          		 no no
          • yes
          • no
          recursively set the specified file attributes (applies only to state=directory)
          selevel
          		 no 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
            		 no
              role part of SELinux file context, _default feature works as for seuser.
              setype
              		 no
                type part of SELinux file context, _default feature works as for seuser.
                seuser
                		 no
                  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
                  		 no
                    path of the file to link to (applies only to state=link). Will accept absolute, relative and nonexisting paths. Relative paths are not expanded.
                    state
                    		 no file
                    • file
                    • link
                    • directory
                    • hard
                    • touch
                    • absent
                    If directory, all immediate subdirectories will be created if they do not exist, since 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 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. 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).

                    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: 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

                    Notes

                    Note

                    See also copy, template, assemble

                    This is a Core Module

                    For more information on what this means please read Core Modules

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