Ansible: How to delete files and folders inside a directory?
AnsibleDelete FileDelete DirectoryAnsible Problem Overview
The below code only deletes the first file it gets inside the web dir. I want to remove all the files and folders inside the web directory and retain the web directory. How can I do that?
- name: remove web dir contents
file: path='/home/mydata/web/{{ item }}' state=absent
with_fileglob:
- /home/mydata/web/*
Note: I've tried rm -rf
using command and shell, but they don't work. Perhaps I am using them wrongly.
Any help in the right direction will be appreciated.
I am using ansible 2.1.0.0
Ansible Solutions
Solution 1 - Ansible
- name: Delete content & directory
file:
state: absent
path: /home/mydata/web/
Note: this will delete the directory too.
Solution 2 - Ansible
Using shell module (idempotent too):
- shell: /bin/rm -rf /home/mydata/web/*
If there are dot/hidden files:
- shell: /bin/rm -rf /home/mydata/web/* /home/mydata/web/.*
Cleanest solution if you don't care about creation date and owner/permissions:
- file: path=/home/mydata/web state=absent
- file: path=/home/mydata/web state=directory
Solution 3 - Ansible
Remove the directory (basically a copy of https://stackoverflow.com/a/38201611/1695680), Ansible does this operation with rmtree
under the hood.
- name: remove files and directories
file:
state: "{{ item }}"
path: "/srv/deleteme/"
owner: 1000 # set your owner, group, and mode accordingly
group: 1000
mode: '0777'
with_items:
- absent
- directory
If you don't have the luxury of removing the whole directory and recreating it, you can scan it for files, (and directories), and delete them one by one. Which will take a while. You probably want to make sure you have [ssh_connection]\npipelining = True
in your ansible.cfg on.
- block:
- name: 'collect files'
find:
paths: "/srv/deleteme/"
hidden: True
recurse: True
# file_type: any # Added in ansible 2.3
register: collected_files
- name: 'collect directories'
find:
paths: "/srv/deleteme/"
hidden: True
recurse: True
file_type: directory
register: collected_directories
- name: remove collected files and directories
file:
path: "{{ item.path }}"
state: absent
with_items: >
{{
collected_files.files
+ collected_directories.files
}}
Solution 4 - Ansible
I really didn't like the rm solution, also ansible gives you warnings about using rm. So here is how to do it without the need of rm and without ansible warnings.
- hosts: all
tasks:
- name: Ansible delete file glob
find:
paths: /etc/Ansible
patterns: "*.txt"
register: files_to_delete
- name: Ansible remove file glob
file:
path: "{{ item.path }}"
state: absent
with_items: "{{ files_to_delete.files }}"
source: http://www.mydailytutorials.com/ansible-delete-multiple-files-directories-ansible/
Solution 5 - Ansible
try the below command, it should work
- shell: ls -1 /some/dir
register: contents
- file: path=/some/dir/{{ item }} state=absent
with_items: {{ contents.stdout_lines }}
Solution 6 - Ansible
That's what I come up with:
- name: Get directory listing
find:
path: "{{ directory }}"
file_type: any
hidden: yes
register: directory_content_result
- name: Remove directory content
file:
path: "{{ item.path }}"
state: absent
with_items: "{{ directory_content_result.files }}"
loop_control:
label: "{{ item.path }}"
First, we're getting directory listing with find
, setting
file_type
toany
, so we wouldn't miss nested directories and linkshidden
toyes
, so we don't skip hidden files- also, do not set
recurse
toyes
, since it is not only unnecessary, but may increase execution time.
Then, we go through that list with file
module. It's output is a bit verbose, so loop_control.label
will help us with limiting output (found this advice here).
But I found previous solution to be somewhat slow, since it iterates through the content, so I went with:
- name: Get directory stats
stat:
path: "{{ directory }}"
register: directory_stat
- name: Delete directory
file:
path: "{{ directory }}"
state: absent
- name: Create directory
file:
path: "{{ directory }}"
state: directory
owner: "{{ directory_stat.stat.pw_name }}"
group: "{{ directory_stat.stat.gr_name }}"
mode: "{{ directory_stat.stat.mode }}"
- get directory properties with the
stat
- delete directory
- recreate directory with the same properties.
That was enough for me, but you can add attributes
as well, if you want.
Solution 7 - Ansible
Created an overall rehauled and fail-safe implementation from all comments and suggestions:
# collect stats about the dir
- name: check directory exists
stat:
path: '{{ directory_path }}'
register: dir_to_delete
# delete directory if condition is true
- name: purge {{directory_path}}
file:
state: absent
path: '{{ directory_path }}'
when: dir_to_delete.stat.exists and dir_to_delete.stat.isdir
# create directory if deleted (or if it didn't exist at all)
- name: create directory again
file:
state: directory
path: '{{ directory_path }}'
when: dir_to_delete is defined or dir_to_delete.stat.exist == False
Solution 8 - Ansible
Using file glob also it will work. There is some syntax error in the code you posted. I have modified and tested this should work.
- name: remove web dir contents
file:
path: "{{ item }}"
state: absent
with_fileglob:
- "/home/mydata/web/*"
Solution 9 - Ansible
While Ansible is still debating to implement state = empty
https://github.com/ansible/ansible-modules-core/issues/902
my_folder: "/home/mydata/web/"
empty_path: "/tmp/empty"
- name: "Create empty folder for wiping."
file:
path: "{{ empty_path }}"
state: directory
- name: "Wipe clean {{ my_folder }} with empty folder hack."
synchronize:
mode: push
#note the backslash here
src: "{{ empty_path }}/"
dest: "{{ nl_code_path }}"
recursive: yes
delete: yes
delegate_to: "{{ inventory_hostname }}"
Note though, with synchronize you should be able to sync your files (with delete) properly anyway.
Solution 10 - Ansible
Below code worked for me :
- name: Get directory listing
become: yes
find:
paths: /applications/cache
patterns: '*'
hidden: yes
register: directory_content_result
- name: Remove directory content
become: yes
file:
path: "{{ item.path }}"
state: absent
with_items: "{{ directory_content_result.files }}"
Solution 11 - Ansible
There is an issue open with respect to this.
For now, the solution works for me: create a empty folder locally and synchronize it with the remote one.
Here is a sample playbook:
- name: "Empty directory"
hosts: *
tasks:
- name: "Create an empty directory (locally)"
local_action:
module: file
state: directory
path: "/tmp/empty"
- name: Empty remote directory
synchronize:
src: /tmp/empty/
dest: /home/mydata/web/
delete: yes
recursive: yes
Solution 12 - Ansible
I have written an custom ansible module to cleanup files based on multiple filters like age, timestamp, glob patterns, etc.
It is also compatible with ansible older versions. It can be found here.
Here is an example:
- cleanup_files:
path_pattern: /tmp/*.log
state: absent
excludes:
- foo*
- bar*
Solution 13 - Ansible
I want to make sure that the find command only deletes everything inside the directory and leave the directory intact because in my case the directory is a filesystem. The system will generate an error when trying to delete a filesystem but that is not a nice option. Iam using the shell option because that is the only working option I found so far for this question.
What I did:
Edit the hosts file to put in some variables:
[all:vars]
COGNOS_HOME=/tmp/cognos
find=/bin/find
And create a playbook:
- hosts: all
tasks:
- name: Ansible remove files
shell: "{{ find }} {{ COGNOS_HOME }} -xdev -mindepth 1 -delete"
This will delete all files and directories in the COGNOS_HOME variable directory/filesystem. The "-mindepth 1" option makes sure that the current directory will not be touched.
Solution 14 - Ansible
Just a small cleaner copy & paste template of ThorSummoners answer, if you are using Ansible >= 2.3 (distinction between files and dirs not necessary anymore.)
- name: Collect all fs items inside dir
find:
path: "{{ target_directory_path }}"
hidden: true
file_type: any
changed_when: false
register: collected_fsitems
- name: Remove all fs items inside dir
file:
path: "{{ item.path }}"
state: absent
with_items: "{{ collected_fsitems.files }}"
when: collected_fsitems.matched|int != 0
Solution 15 - Ansible
Isn't it that simple ... tested working ..
eg.
---
- hosts: localhost
vars:
cleandir: /var/lib/cloud/
tasks:
- shell: ls -a -I '.' -I '..' {{ cleandir }}
register: ls2del
ignore_errors: yes
- name: Cleanup {{ cleandir }}
file:
path: "{{ cleandir }}{{ item }}"
state: absent
with_items: "{{ ls2del.stdout_lines }}"
Solution 16 - Ansible
Following up on the most upvoted answer here (which I cannot edit since "edit queue is full"):
- name: Delete content & directory
file:
state: absent
path: /home/mydata/web/
- name: Re-create the directory
file:
state: directory
path: /home/mydata/web/
Solution 17 - Ansible
Assuming you are always in Linux, try the find
cmd.
- name: Clean everything inside {{ item }}
shell: test -d {{ item }} && find {{ item }} -path '{{ item }}/*' -prune -exec rm -rf {} \;
with_items: [/home/mydata/web]
This should wipe out files/folders/hidden under /home/mydata/web
Solution 18 - Ansible
先删除对应的目录,然后在创建该目录,使用的是嵌套循环
- name: delete old data and clean cache
file:
path: "{{ item[0] }}"
state: "{{ item[1] }}"
with_nested:
- [ "/data/server/{{ app_name }}/webapps/", "/data/server/{{ app_name }}/work/" ]
- [ "absent", "directory" ]
ignore_errors: yes
Solution 19 - Ansible
Below worked for me,
- name: Ansible delete html directory
file:
path: /var/www/html
state: directory