ansible.builtin.find module – Return a list of files based on specific criteria

Note

This module is part of ansible-core and included in all Ansible installations. In most cases, you can use the short module name find even without specifying the collections keyword. However, we recommend you use the Fully Qualified Collection Name (FQCN) ansible.builtin.find for easy linking to the module documentation and to avoid conflicting with other collections that may have the same module name.

Synopsis
Parameters
Attributes
See Also
Examples
Return Values

Synopsis

Return a list of files based on specific criteria. Multiple criteria are AND’d together.
For Windows targets, use the ansible.windows.win_find module instead.
This module does not use the find command, it is a much simpler and slower Python implementation. It is intended for small and simple uses. Those that need the extra power or speed and have expertise with the UNIX command, should use it directly.

Parameters

Parameter	Comments
age string	Select files whose age is equal to or greater than the specified time. Use a negative age to find files equal to or less than the specified time. You can choose seconds, minutes, hours, days, or weeks by specifying the first letter of any of those words (e.g., “1w”).
age_stamp string	Choose the file property against which we compare age. Choices: `"atime"` `"ctime"` `"mtime"` ← (default)
contains string	A regular expression or pattern which should be matched against the file content. If `read_whole_file` is `false` it matches against the beginning of the line (uses `re.match()`). If `read_whole_file` is `true`, it searches anywhere for that pattern (uses `re.search()`). Works only when `file_type` is `file`.
depth integer	Set the maximum number of levels to descend into. Setting recurse to `false` will override this value, which is effectively depth 1. Default is unlimited depth.
encoding string added in ansible-core 2.17	When doing a `contains` search, determine the encoding of the files to be searched.
exact_mode boolean added in ansible-core 2.16	Restrict mode matching to exact matches only, and not as a minimum set of permissions to match. Choices: `false` `true` ← (default)
excludes aliases: exclude list / elements=string	One or more (shell or regex) patterns, which type is controlled by `use_regex` option. Items whose basenames match an `excludes` pattern are culled from `patterns` matches. Multiple patterns can be specified using a list.
file_type string	Type of file to select. The ‘link’ and ‘any’ choices were added in Ansible 2.3. Choices: `"any"` `"directory"` `"file"` ← (default) `"link"`
follow boolean	Set this to `true` to follow symlinks in path for systems with python 2.6+. Choices: `false` ← (default) `true`
get_checksum boolean	Set this to `true` to retrieve a file’s SHA1 checksum. Choices: `false` ← (default) `true`
hidden boolean	Set this to `true` to include hidden files, otherwise they will be ignored. Choices: `false` ← (default) `true`
mode any added in ansible-core 2.16	Choose objects matching a specified permission. This value is restricted to modes that can be applied using the python `os.chmod` function. The mode can be provided as an octal such as `"0644"` or as symbolic such as `u=rw,g=r,o=r`
paths aliases: name, path list / elements=string / required	List of paths of directories to search. All paths must be fully qualified.
patterns aliases: pattern list / elements=string	One or more (shell or regex) patterns, which type is controlled by `use_regex` option. The patterns restrict the list of files to be returned to those whose basenames match at least one of the patterns specified. Multiple patterns can be specified using a list. The pattern is matched against the file base name, excluding the directory. When using regexen, the pattern MUST match the ENTIRE file name, not just parts of it. So if you are looking to match all files ending in .default, you’d need to use `.\.default` as a regexp and not just `\.default`. This parameter expects a list, which can be either comma separated or YAML. If any of the patterns contain a comma, make sure to put them in a list to avoid splitting the patterns in undesirable ways. Defaults to `` when `use_regex=False`, or `.` when `use_regex=True`. Default:* `[]`
read_whole_file boolean added in ansible-core 2.11	When doing a `contains` search, determines whether the whole file should be read into memory or if the regex should be applied to the file line-by-line. Setting this to `true` can have performance and memory implications for large files. This uses `re.search()` instead of `re.match()`. Choices: `false` ← (default) `true`
recurse boolean	If target is a directory, recursively descend into the directory looking for files. Choices: `false` ← (default) `true`
size string	Select files whose size is equal to or greater than the specified size. Use a negative size to find files equal to or less than the specified size. Unqualified values are in bytes but b, k, m, g, and t can be appended to specify bytes, kilobytes, megabytes, gigabytes, and terabytes, respectively. Size is not evaluated for directories.
use_regex boolean	If `false`, the patterns are file globs (shell). If `true`, they are python regexes. Choices: `false` ← (default) `true`

Attributes

Attribute	Support	Description
check_mode	Support: full since this action does not modify the target it just executes normally during check mode	Can run in check_mode and return changed status prediction without modifying target, if not supported the action will be skipped.
diff_mode	Support: none	Will return details on what has changed (or possibly needs changing in check_mode), when in diff mode
platform	Platform: posix	Target OS/families that can be operated against

Examples

- name: Recursively find /tmp files older than 2 days
  ansible.builtin.find:
    paths: /tmp
    age: 2d
    recurse: yes

- name: Recursively find /tmp files older than 4 weeks and equal or greater than 1 megabyte
  ansible.builtin.find:
    paths: /tmp
    age: 4w
    size: 1m
    recurse: yes

- name: Recursively find /var/tmp files with last access time greater than 3600 seconds
  ansible.builtin.find:
    paths: /var/tmp
    age: 3600
    age_stamp: atime
    recurse: yes

- name: Find /var/log files equal or greater than 10 megabytes ending with .old or .log.gz
  ansible.builtin.find:
    paths: /var/log
    patterns: '*.old,*.log.gz'
    size: 10m

# Note that YAML double quotes require escaping backslashes but yaml single quotes do not.
- name: Find /var/log files equal or greater than 10 megabytes ending with .old or .log.gz via regex
  ansible.builtin.find:
    paths: /var/log
    patterns: "^.*?\\.(?:old|log\\.gz)$"
    size: 10m
    use_regex: yes

- name: Find /var/log all directories, exclude nginx and mysql
  ansible.builtin.find:
    paths: /var/log
    recurse: no
    file_type: directory
    excludes: 'nginx,mysql'

# When using patterns that contain a comma, make sure they are formatted as lists to avoid splitting the pattern
- name: Use a single pattern that contains a comma formatted as a list
  ansible.builtin.find:
    paths: /var/log
    file_type: file
    use_regex: yes
    patterns: ['^_[0-9]{2,4}_.*.log$']

- name: Use multiple patterns that contain a comma formatted as a YAML list
  ansible.builtin.find:
    paths: /var/log
    file_type: file
    use_regex: yes
    patterns:
      - '^_[0-9]{2,4}_.*.log$'
      - '^[a-z]{1,5}_.*log$'

Return Values

Common return values are documented here, the following are the fields unique to this module:

Key	Description
examined integer	Number of filesystem objects looked at Returned: success Sample: `34`
files list / elements=string	All matches found with the specified criteria (see stat module for full output of each dictionary) Returned: success Sample: `[{"...": "...", "checksum": "16fac7be61a6e4591a33ef4b729c5c3302307523", "mode": "0644", "path": "/var/tmp/test1"}, {"...": "...", "path": "/var/tmp/test2"}]`
matched integer	Number of matches Returned: success Sample: `14`
skipped_paths dictionary added in ansible-core 2.12	skipped paths and reasons they were skipped Returned: success Sample: `{"/laskdfj": "'/laskdfj' is not a directory"}`

Authors

Brian Coca (@bcoca)

Collection links

© 2012–2018 Michael DeHaan
© 2018–2024 Red Hat, Inc.
Licensed under the GNU General Public License version 3.
https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/latest/collections/ansible/builtin/find_module.html