win_find - Return a list of files based on specific criteria¶

New in version 2.3.

Synopsis
Parameters
Examples
Return Values
Status
Maintenance
- Author

Synopsis ¶

Return a list of files based on specified criteria.
Multiple criteria are AND’d together.
For non-Windows targets, use the find module instead.

Parameters ¶

Parameter	Choices/Defaults	Comments
age		Select files or folders 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 an of those words (e.g., "2s", "10d", 1w").
age_stamp	Choices: atime ctime mtime ←	Choose the file property against which we compare `age`. The default attribute we compare with is the last modification time.
checksum_algorithm	Choices: md5 sha1 ← sha256 sha384 sha512	Algorithm to determine the checksum of a file. Will throw an error if the host is unable to use specified algorithm.
file_type	Choices: directory file ←	Type of file to search for.
follow bool	Choices: no ← yes	Set this to `yes` to follow symlinks in the path. This needs to be used in conjunction with `recurse`.
get_checksum bool	Choices: no yes ←	Whether to return a checksum of the file in the return info (default sha1), use `checksum_algorithm` to change from the default.
hidden bool	Choices: no ← yes	Set this to include hidden files or folders.
paths required		List of paths of directories to search for files or folders in. This can be supplied as a single path or a list of paths.
patterns		One or more (powershell or regex) patterns to compare filenames with. The type of pattern matching is controlled by `use_regex` option. The patterns retrict the list of files or folders to be returned based on the filenames. For a file to be matched it only has to match with one pattern in a list provided.
recurse bool	Choices: no ← yes	Will recursively descend into the directory looking for files or folders.
size		Select files or folders whose size is equal to or greater than the specified size. Use a negative value to find files equal to or less than the specified size. You can specify the size with a suffix of the byte type i.e. kilo = k, mega = m... Size is not evaluated for symbolic links.
use_regex bool	Choices: no ← yes	Will set patterns to run as a regex check if set to `yes`.

Examples ¶

- name: Find files in path
  win_find:
    paths: D:\Temp

- name: Find hidden files in path
  win_find:
    paths: D:\Temp
    hidden: yes

- name: Find files in multiple paths
  win_find:
    paths:
    - C:\Temp
    - D:\Temp

- name: Find files in directory while searching recursively
  win_find:
    paths: D:\Temp
    recurse: yes

- name: Find files in directory while following symlinks
  win_find:
    paths: D:\Temp
    recurse: yes
    follow: yes

- name: Find files with .log and .out extension using powershell wildcards
  win_find:
    paths: D:\Temp
    patterns: [ '*.log', '*.out' ]

- name: Find files in path based on regex pattern
  win_find:
    paths: D:\Temp
    patterns: out_\d{8}-\d{6}.log

- name: Find files older than 1 day
  win_find:
    paths: D:\Temp
    age: 86400

- name: Find files older than 1 day based on create time
  win_find:
    paths: D:\Temp
    age: 86400
    age_stamp: ctime

- name: Find files older than 1 day with unit syntax
  win_find:
    paths: D:\Temp
    age: 1d

- name: Find files newer than 1 hour
  win_find:
    paths: D:\Temp
    age: -3600

- name: Find files newer than 1 hour with unit syntax
  win_find:
    paths: D:\Temp
    age: -1h

- name: Find files larger than 1MB
  win_find:
    paths: D:\Temp
    size: 1048576

- name: Find files larger than 1GB with unit syntax
  win_find:
    paths: D:\Temp
    size: 1g

- name: Find files smaller than 1MB
  win_find:
    paths: D:\Temp
    size: -1048576

- name: Find files smaller than 1GB with unit syntax
  win_find:
    paths: D:\Temp
    size: -1g

- name: Find folders/symlinks in multiple paths
  win_find:
    paths:
    - C:\Temp
    - D:\Temp
    file_type: directory

- name: Find files and return SHA256 checksum of files found
  win_find:
    paths: C:\Temp
    get_checksum: yes
    checksum_algorithm: sha256

- name: Find files and do not return the checksum
  win_find:
    paths: C:\Temp
    get_checksum: no

Return Values ¶

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

Key		Returned	Description
examined int		always	The number of files/folders that was checked Sample: 10
files complex		success	Information on the files/folders that match the criteria returned as a list of dictionary elements for each file matched
	lastwritetime float	success, path exists	the last modification time of the file represented in seconds since epoch Sample: 1477984205.15
	creationtime float	success, path exists	the create time of the file represented in seconds since epoch Sample: 1477984205.15
	lastaccesstime float	success, path exists	the last access time of the file represented in seconds since epoch Sample: 1477984205.15
	owner string	success, path exists	the owner of the file Sample: BUILTIN\Administrators
	path string	success, path exists	the full absolute path to the file Sample: BUILTIN\Administrators
	isarchive boolean	success, path exists	if the path is ready for archiving or not Sample: True
	ishidden boolean	success, path exists	if the path is hidden or not Sample: True
	lnk_source string		the target of the symbolic link, will return null if not a link or the link is broken Sample: C:\temp
	size int	success, path exists, path is not a link	the size in bytes of a file or folder Sample: 1024
	isdir boolean	success, path exists	if the path is a directory or not Sample: True
	extension string	success, path exists, path is a file	the extension of the file at path Sample: .ps1
	isreadonly boolean	success, path exists	if the path is read only or not Sample: True
	sharename string	success, path exists, path is a directory and isshared == True	the name of share if folder is shared Sample: file-share
	checksum string	success, path exists, path is a file, get_checksum == True	The checksum of a file based on checksum_algorithm specified Sample: 09cb79e8fc7453c84a07f644e441fd81623b7f98
	islnk boolean	success, path exists	if the path is a symbolic link or junction or not Sample: True
	attributes string	success, path exists	attributes of the file at path in raw form Sample: Archive, Hidden
	isshared boolean	success, path exists	if the path is shared or not Sample: True
matched int		always	The number of files/folders that match the criteria Sample: 2

Status ¶

This module is flagged as preview which means that it is not guaranteed to have a backwards compatible interface.

Maintenance ¶

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

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

Author ¶

Jordan Borean (@jborean93)

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win_find - Return a list of files based on specific criteria¶

Synopsis¶

Parameters¶

Examples¶

Return Values¶

Status¶

Maintenance¶

Author¶