Copy local file if exists, using ansible

Question

I'm working in a project, and we use ansible to create a deploy a cluster of servers. One of the tasks that I've to implement, is to copy a local file to the remote host, only if that file exists locally. Now I'm trying to solve this problem using this

- hosts: 127.0.0.1 
  connection: local
  tasks:
    - name: copy local filetocopy.zip to remote if exists
    - shell: if [[ -f "../filetocopy.zip" ]]; then /bin/true; else /bin/false; fi;
      register: result    
    - copy: src=../filetocopy.zip dest=/tmp/filetocopy.zip
      when: result|success

Bu this is failing with the following message: ERROR: 'action' or 'local_action' attribute missing in task "copy local filetocopy.zip to remote if exists"

I've tried to create this if with command task. I've already tried to create this task with a local_action, but I couldn't make it work. All samples that I've found, doesn't consider a shell into local_action, there are only samples of command, and neither of them have anything else then a command. Is there a way to do this task using ansible?

Proof

Does this answer your question? Ansible include task only if file exists – Regressive

Hi @HelderPereira this was posted sometime ago, at that time the accepted answer solved my problem. The most voted one also solved this problem at that time, I can't evaluate it anymore, because I don't have access to it's code. – Proof

Answer 1

Change your first step into the following on

- name: copy local filetocopy.zip to remote if exists
  local_action: stat path="../filetocopy.zip"
  register: result    

Tidings

Hi @sandra-parsick , thanks for the reply, this is still failing with < TASK: copy local filetocopy.zip to remote if exists > failed: [52.11.12.29 -> 127.0.0.1] => {"failed": true, "parsed": false} [sudo via ansible, key=] password: – Proof

it seems, it doesn't like a sudo. How are you calling the playbook? – Tidings

the standard pattern for this is the stat module, which avoids the need for a shell/command. – Harlow

@SandraParsick I'm calling it like this: ansible-playbook -i inventory/hosts my.yml – Proof

@tedder42 You mean to use stat to know if the file exists? – Proof

yes, I mean use stat for existence. here's an example. – Harlow

@tedder42 you are right. My main point was that he has to use the local action command for running the check on the local machine. I corrected the step – Tidings

You also want "ignore_errors: true" and "changed_when: false" in the "register" stanza. – Bacciform

In the current version of Ansible, I had to add become: false to get this to work. Otherwise, it gives an error about not being able to sudo and fails. – Turbary

Thanks @Turbary this worked for me. Odd to me that Ansible seemingly defaults to attempting sudo for local tasks 🤔 – Corr

Answer 2

A more comprehensive answer:

If you want to check the existence of a local file before performing some task, here is the comprehensive snippet:

- name: get file stat to be able to perform a check in the following task
  local_action: stat path=/path/to/file
  register: file

- name: copy file if it exists
  copy: src=/path/to/file dest=/destination/path
  when: file.stat.exists

If you want to check the existence of a remote file before performing some task, this is the way to go:

- name: get file stat to be able to perform check in the following task
  stat: path=/path/to/file
  register: file

- name: copy file if it exists
  copy: src=/path/to/file dest=/destination/path
  when: file.stat.exists

Susansusana

Answer 3

If you don't wont to set up two tasks, you could use 'is file' to check if local files exists:

tasks:
- copy: src=/a/b/filetocopy.zip dest=/tmp/filetocopy.zip
  when: '/a/b/filetocopy.zip' is file

The path is relative to the playbook directory, so using the magic variable role_path is recommended if you are referring to files inside the role directory.

Ref: http://docs.ansible.com/ansible/latest/playbooks_tests.html#testing-paths

Shindig

This is clearly the most declarative version and it can be used in any tasks without requiring additional tasks. In recent versions of Ansible (2.6+) it can be written as when: '/a/b/filetocopy.zip' is file as can be seen from the URL that you provided for the documentation. – Ramification

trying to write this in old version and getting error This one looks easy to fix. It seems that there is a value started with a quote, and the YAML parser is expecting to see the line ended with the same kind of quote. For instance: when: "ok" in result.stdout Could be written as: when: '"ok" in result.stdout' or equivalently: when: "'ok' in result.stdout" – Etheline

Answer 4

Fileglob permits a lookup of an eventually present file.

- name: copy file if it exists
  copy: src="{{ item }}" dest=/destination/path
  with_fileglob: "/path/to/file"

Wellmeaning

Answer 5

How about this?

tasks:
- copy: src=../filetocopy.zip dest=/tmp/filetocopy.zip
  failed_when: false

This will copy the file to the target if it exists locally. If it does not exists, it simply does nothing since the error is ignored.

Rawlins

Is this a comment or an answer? – Independent

An answer, I added some explanation. – Rawlins

Interesting, I didn't have time to test it but seems great – Proof

This will hide other failure cases like running out of disk space. – Elsi

Answer 6

Apologies for resurrecting the dead, this was the first result of my search.

Use the 'file' lookup to try and load the file contents of local files - doesn't work for remote files.

- name: "Use lookup to test for local_file"
  vars:
    local_file: "{{ playbook_dir }}/generated.file"
    remote_file: "~/remote.file"
  when: lookup( 'file', local_file, errors='ignore' )
  copy:
    src: "{{ local_file}}"
    dest: "{{ remote_file }}"

Or use it for defaults:

- name: "Use lookup to test for local_file or use a default_file"
  vars:
    local_file: "{{ playbook_dir }}/generated.file"
    default_file: "{{ playbook_dir }}/default.file"
    file_to_copy: "{{ local_file if lookup( 'file', local_file, errors='ignore' else default_file )
  copy:
    src: "{{ file_to_copy}}"
    dest: "{{ remote_file }}"

NOTE: Small caveat for Ansible 2.9 is the warning message, even though it's supposed to be 'ignored' - I'd expect this if using the 'warning' option.

Gathard

Answer 7

Small correction to one of the examples by @awltux, the syntax should be:

- name: "Use lookup to test for local_file or use a default_file"
  vars:
    local_file: "{{ playbook_dir }}/generated.file"
    default_file: "{{ playbook_dir }}/default.file"
    file_to_copy: "{{ local_file if lookup( 'file', local_file, errors='ignore') else default_file }}"
  copy:
    src: "{{ file_to_copy}}"
    dest: "{{ remote_file }}"

Makell