Watch: Create a directory in Linux - Ansible module file

How to set up the "~/example" directory, set user and group ownership, and apply UNIX mode 0644 in Linux using Ansible with a live Playbook.

How to create a directory with 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 create a directory

> ansible.builtin.file: Manage files and file properties

Today we're talking about the Ansible module file.

The full name is ansible.builtin.file, 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 manages files and file properties.

For Windows targets, use the ansible.windows.win_file module instead.

Parameters

path string (dest, name) - file path

state string - file/absent/directory/hard/link/touch

mode/owner/group - permission

setype/seuser/selevel - SELinux

This module has some parameters to perform any tasks.

The only required is "path", where you specify the filesystem path of the file you're going to edit.

The state defines the type of object we are modifying, the default is "file" but for our use case, we need the "directory" option.

Demo

Let's jump into a real-life playbook on how to create a directory with Ansible.

code

create_directory.yml

``yaml


---
name: file module demo
  hosts: all
  vars:
    mydir: "~/example"
  tasks:
    - name: Creating a directory
      ansible.builtin.file:
        path: "{{ mydir }}"
        state: directory
        owner: devops
        group: users
        mode: '0644'



execution

`bash


$ ansible-playbook -i Playbook/inventory create\ directory/file.yml
PLAY [file module demo] *
TASK [Gathering Facts] 
ok: [demo.example.com]
TASK [Creating a directory] *
changed: [demo.example.com]
PLAY RECAP **
demo.example.com           : ok=2    changed=1    unreachable=0    failed=0    skipped=0    rescued=0    ignored=0



before execution

``bash

$ ssh [email protected]

[devops@demo ~]$ ls -al

total 16

drwx------. 4 devops wheel 111 Nov 14 13:43 .

drwxr-xr-x. 5 root root 50 Nov 8 17:07 ..

drwx------. 3 devops wheel 17 Sep 6 05:53 .ansible

-rw-------. 1 devops wheel 2849 Nov 14 13:43 .bash_history

-rw-r--r