How to Check If a File Exists in Ansible

Learn how to check if a file exists using Ansible's ansible.builtin.stat module. This guide includes a practical Playbook example for verifying file presence across various operating systems.

How to check if a file exists in Ansible?

I'm going to show you a live Playbook and some simple Ansible code.

I'm Luca Berton and welcome to today's episode of Ansible Pilot

Ansible check file exists

Today we're talking about the Ansible module stat.

The full name is ansible.builtin.stat, which means that is part of the collection of modules "builtin" with ansible and shipped with it.

It's a module pretty stable and out for years.

It works in a different variety of operating systems.

It retrieves a file entry or a file system status.

For Windows target use the [ansible.windows.win_stat](/articles/check-if-a-file-exists-on-windows-like-systems-ansible-module-winstat) module instead.

Mandatory Parameters

path string

Main Return Values

stat complex - exists

The only mandatory parameter is "path" which is the filesystem full path of the object to check.

The module returns a complex object, the property that is interesting for us is "exists". This attribute is "true" if the object exists.

## Playbook

Let's jump in a real-life playbook to check if a file exists with Ansible.

code

file_exist.yml

``yaml


---
name: check if a file exist
  hosts: all
  become: false
  vars:
    myfile: /home/devops/test.txt
  tasks:
    - name: check if a file exists
      ansible.builtin.stat:
        path: "{{ myfile }}"
      register: file_data
    - name: report file exists
      ansible.builtin.debug:
        msg: "The file {{ myfile }} exist"
      when: file_data.stat.exists
    - name: report file not exists
      ansible.builtin.debug:
        msg: "The file {{ myfile }} doesn't exist"
      when: not file_data.stat.exists

[code with ❤️ in GitHub](https://github.com/lucab85/ansible-pilot/tree/master/check%20file%20exists)

Conclusion

Now you know how to check if a file exists with Ansible.