file - Sets attributes of files

• Synopsis
• Parameters
• Notes
• Examples
• Status
  • Support
  • Author

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

Notes

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