stat - Retrieve file or file system status

New in version 1.3.

Synopsis

Parameters

Parameter Choices/Defaults Comments
checksum_algorithm
(added in 2.0)
    Choices:
  • md5
  • sha1 ←
  • sha224
  • sha256
  • sha384
  • sha512
Algorithm to determine checksum of file. Will throw an error if the host is unable to use specified algorithm.
The remote host has to support the hashing method specified, md5 can be unavailable if the host is FIPS-140 compliant.

aliases: checksum, checksum_algo
follow
bool
    Choices:
  • no ←
  • yes
Whether to follow symlinks.
get_attributes
bool

(added in 2.3)
    Choices:
  • no
  • yes ←
Get file attributes using lsattr tool if present.

aliases: attr, attributes
get_checksum
bool

(added in 1.8)
    Choices:
  • no
  • yes ←
Whether to return a checksum of the file (default sha1).
get_md5
bool
    Choices:
  • no ←
  • yes
Whether to return the md5 sum of the file.
Will return None if not a regular file or if we're unable to use md5 (Common for FIPS-140 compliant systems).
The default of this option changed from yes to no in Ansible 2.5 and will be removed altogether in Ansible 2.9.
Use get_checksum=true with checksum_algorithm=md5 to return an md5 hash under the checksum return value.
get_mime
bool

(added in 2.1)
    Choices:
  • no
  • yes ←
Use file magic and return data about the nature of the file. this uses the 'file' utility found on most Linux/Unix systems.
This will add both `mime_type` and 'charset' fields to the return, if possible.
In 2.3 this option changed from 'mime' to 'get_mime' and the default changed to 'Yes'.

aliases: mime, mime_type, mime-type
path
required
The full path of the file/object to get the facts of.

Notes

Note

  • For Windows targets, use the win_stat module instead.

Examples

# Obtain the stats of /etc/foo.conf, and check that the file still belongs
# to 'root'. Fail otherwise.
- stat:
    path: /etc/foo.conf
  register: st
- fail:
    msg: "Whoops! file ownership has changed"
  when: st.stat.pw_name != 'root'

# Determine if a path exists and is a symlink. Note that if the path does
# not exist, and we test sym.stat.islnk, it will fail with an error. So
# therefore, we must test whether it is defined.
# Run this to understand the structure, the skipped ones do not pass the
# check performed by 'when'
- stat:
    path: /path/to/something
  register: sym

- debug:
    msg: "islnk isn't defined (path doesn't exist)"
  when: sym.stat.islnk is not defined

- debug:
    msg: "islnk is defined (path must exist)"
  when: sym.stat.islnk is defined

- debug:
    msg: "Path exists and is a symlink"
  when: sym.stat.islnk is defined and sym.stat.islnk

- debug:
    msg: "Path exists and isn't a symlink"
  when: sym.stat.islnk is defined and sym.stat.islnk == False


# Determine if a path exists and is a directory.  Note that we need to test
# both that p.stat.isdir actually exists, and also that it's set to true.
- stat:
    path: /path/to/something
  register: p
- debug:
    msg: "Path exists and is a directory"
  when: p.stat.isdir is defined and p.stat.isdir

# Don't do checksum
- stat:
    path: /path/to/myhugefile
    get_checksum: no

# Use sha256 to calculate checksum
- stat:
    path: /path/to/something
    checksum_algorithm: sha256

Return Values

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

Key Returned Description
stat
complex
success
dictionary containing all the stat data, some platforms might add additional fields

  isuid
boolean
success, path exists and user can read stats
Tells you if the invoking user's id matches the owner's id

  uid
int
success, path exists and user can read stats
Numeric id representing the file owner

Sample:
1003
  exists
boolean
success
if the destination path actually exists or not

Sample:
True
  lnk_target
string

(added in 2.4)
success, path exists and user can read stats and the path is a symbolic link
Target of the symlink. Note that relative paths remain relative

Sample:
../foobar/21102015-1445431274-908472971
  woth
boolean
success, path exists and user can read stats
Tells you if others have write permission

  mtime
float
success, path exists and user can read stats
Time of last modification

Sample:
1424348972.58
  inode
int
success, path exists and user can read stats
Inode number of the path

Sample:
12758
  isgid
boolean
success, path exists and user can read stats
Tells you if the invoking user's group id matches the owner's group id

  size
int
success, path exists and user can read stats
Size in bytes for a plain file, amount of data for some special files

Sample:
203
  wgrp
boolean
success, path exists and user can read stats
Tells you if the owner's group has write permission

  executable
boolean

(added in 2.2)
success, path exists and user can execute the path
Tells you if the invoking user has the execute the path

  charset
string
success, path exists and user can read stats and installed python supports it and the `mime` option was true, will return 'unknown' on error.
file character set or encoding

Sample:
us-ascii
  readable
boolean

(added in 2.2)
success, path exists and user can read the path
Tells you if the invoking user has the right to read the path

  isreg
boolean
success, path exists and user can read stats
Tells you if the path is a regular file

Sample:
True
  pw_name
string
success, path exists and user can read stats and installed python supports it
User name of owner

Sample:
httpd
  gid
int
success, path exists and user can read stats
Numeric id representing the group of the owner

Sample:
1003
  ischr
boolean
success, path exists and user can read stats
Tells you if the path is a character device

  wusr
boolean
success, path exists and user can read stats
Tells you if the owner has write permission

Sample:
True
  writeable
boolean

(added in 2.2)
success, path exists and user can write the path
Tells you if the invoking user has the right to write the path

  isdir
boolean
success, path exists and user can read stats
Tells you if the path is a directory

  xoth
boolean
success, path exists and user can read stats
Tells you if others have execute permission

Sample:
True
  rusr
boolean
success, path exists and user can read stats
Tells you if the owner has read permission

Sample:
True
  nlink
int
success, path exists and user can read stats
Number of links to the inode (hard links)

Sample:
1
  issock
boolean
success, path exists and user can read stats
Tells you if the path is a unix domain socket

  rgrp
boolean
success, path exists and user can read stats
Tells you if the owner's group has read permission

Sample:
True
  gr_name
string
success, path exists and user can read stats and installed python supports it
Group name of owner

Sample:
www-data
  path
string
success and if path exists
The full path of the file/object to get the facts of

Sample:
/path/to/file
  xusr
boolean
success, path exists and user can read stats
Tells you if the owner has execute permission

Sample:
True
  atime
float
success, path exists and user can read stats
Time of last access

Sample:
1424348972.58
  lnk_source
string
success, path exists and user can read stats and the path is a symbolic link
Target of the symlink normalized for the remote filesystem

Sample:
/home/foobar/21102015-1445431274-908472971
  md5
string
success, path exists and user can read stats and path supports hashing and md5 is supported
md5 hash of the path; this will be removed in Ansible 2.9 in favor of the checksum return value

Sample:
f88fa92d8cf2eeecf4c0a50ccc96d0c0
  mimetype
string
success, path exists and user can read stats and installed python supports it and the `mime` option was true, will return 'unknown' on error.
file magic data or mime-type

Sample:
application/pdf; charset=binary
  ctime
float
success, path exists and user can read stats
Time of last metadata update or creation (depends on OS)

Sample:
1424348972.58
  isblk
boolean
success, path exists and user can read stats
Tells you if the path is a block device

  xgrp
boolean
success, path exists and user can read stats
Tells you if the owner's group has execute permission

Sample:
True
  dev
int
success, path exists and user can read stats
Device the inode resides on

Sample:
33
  roth
boolean
success, path exists and user can read stats
Tells you if others have read permission

Sample:
True
  isfifo
boolean
success, path exists and user can read stats
Tells you if the path is a named pipe

  mode
octal
success, path exists and user can read stats
Unix permissions of the file in octal

Sample:
1755
  checksum
string
success, path exists, user can read stats, path supports hashing and supplied checksum algorithm is available
hash of the path

Sample:
50ba294cdf28c0d5bcde25708df53346825a429f
  islnk
boolean
success, path exists and user can read stats
Tells you if the path is a symbolic link

  attributes
list

(added in 2.3)
success, path exists and user can execute the path
list of file attributes

Sample:
['immutable', 'extent']


Status

This module is flagged as stableinterface which means that the maintainers for this module guarantee that no backward incompatible interface changes will be made.

Maintenance

This module is flagged as core which means that it is maintained by the Ansible Core Team. See Module Maintenance & Support for more info.

For a list of other modules that are also maintained by the Ansible Core Team, see here.

Support

For more information about Red Hat’s support of this module, please refer to this Knowledge Base article

Author

  • Bruce Pennypacker (@bpennypacker)

Hint

If you notice any issues in this documentation you can edit this document to improve it.