How to create an empty file with Ansible

Question

What is the easiest way to create an empty file using Ansible  I know I can save an empty file into the files directory and then copy it to the remote host  but I find that somewhat unsatisfactory   Another way is to touch a file on the remote host   - name  create fake  nologin  shell   file  path  etc nologin state touch owner root group sys mode 0555   But then the file gets touched every time  showing up as a yellow line in the log  which is also unsatisfactory     Is there any better solution to this simple problem

User · Answer

Another option  using the command module   - name  Create file   command  touch  path to file   args      creates   path to file   The  creates  argument ensures that this action is not performed if the file exists

User · Answer

The documentation of the file module says     If state file  the file will NOT be created if it does not exist  see the copy or template module if you want that behavior    So we use the copy module  using force no to create a new empty file only when the file does not yet exist  if the file exists  its content is preserved    - name  ensure file exists   copy      content         dest   etc nologin     force  no     group  sys     owner  root     mode  0555   This is a declarative and elegant solution

User · Answer

Changed if file not exists  Create empty file   - name  create fake  nologin  shell   file      path   etc nologin     state  touch   register  p   changed when  p diff before state     absent

User · Answer

In order to create a file in the remote machine with the ad-hoc command  ansible client -m file -a dest  tmp file state touch    Please correct me if I am wrong

User · Answer

A combination of two answers  with a twist   The code will be detected as changed  when the file is created or the permission updated   - name  Touch again the same file  but dont change times this makes the task idempotent   file      path   etc foo conf     state  touch     mode  0644     modification time  preserve     access time  preserve   changed when   gt      p diff before state     absent  or     p diff before mode default  0644       0644    and a version that also corrects the owner and group and detects it as changed when it does correct these   - name  Touch again the same file  but dont change times this makes the task idempotent   file      path   etc foo conf     state  touch     state  touch     mode  0644     owner  root     group  root     modification time  preserve     access time  preserve   register  p   changed when   gt      p diff before state     absent  or     p diff before mode default  0644       0644  or     p diff before owner default 0     0 or     p diff before group default 0     0

User · Answer

Something like this  using the stat module first to gather data about it and then filtering using a conditional  should work   - stat  path  etc nologin   register  p  - name  create fake  nologin  shell   file  path  etc nologin state touch owner root group sys mode 0555   when  p stat exists is defined and not p stat exists   You might alternatively be able to leverage the changed when functionality

User · Answer

file module provide way to touch file without modifying its time   - name  Touch again the same file  but dont change times this makes the task idempotent   file      path   etc foo conf     state  touch     mode  u rw g-wx o-rwx     modification time  preserve     access time  preserve    Reference  https   docs ansible com ansible latest modules file module html

User · Answer

file  path  etc nologin state touch  Full equivalent of touch  new in 1 4   - use stat if you don t want to change file timestamp

User · Answer

Turns out I don t have enough reputation to put this as a comment  which would be a more appropriate place for this   Re  AllBlackt s answer  if you prefer Ansible s multiline format you need to adjust the quoting for state  I spent a few minutes working this out  so hopefully this speeds someone else up    - stat      path    etc nologin    register  p  - name  create fake  nologin  shell   file      path    etc nologin      owner  root     group  sys     mode  0555     state       file  if  p stat exists else  touch

User · Answer

Building on the accepted answer  if you want the file to be checked for permissions on every run  and these changed accordingly if the file exists  or just create the file if it doesn t exist  you can use the following   - stat  path  etc nologin   register  p  - name  create fake  nologin  shell   file  path  etc nologin          owner root         group sys         mode 0555         state     file  if  p stat exists else  touch

[file] How to create an empty file with Ansible?

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