Ansible: How to delete files and folders inside a directory?

Question

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

Answer 1

- name: Delete content & directory
  ansible.builtin.file:
    state: absent
    path: /home/mydata/web/

Note: this will delete the directory too.

Answer 2

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
  ansible.builtin.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
      }}

Answer 3

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

Answer 4

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/

Answer 5

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 }}

Answer 6

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 to any, so we wouldn't miss nested directories and links
• hidden to yes, so we don't skip hidden files
• also, do not set recurse to yes, 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.

Answer 7

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/*"

Answer 8

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.

Answer 9

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

Answer 10

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/

Answer 11

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 }}"

Answer 12

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

Answer 13

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.

Answer 14

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*

Answer 15

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

Answer 16

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 }}"

Answer 17

- name: Files to delete search
  find:
    paths: /home/mydata/web/
    file_type: any
  register: files_to_delete

- name: Deleting files to delete
  file:
    path: '{{ item.path }}'
    state: absent
  with_items: "{{ files_to_delete.files }}"

Answer 18

I like the following solution:

- name: remove web dir contents
  command:
    cmd: "find . -path '*/*' -delete -print"
    chdir: "/home/mydata/web/"
  register: web_files_list
  changed_when: web_files_list.stdout | length > 0

because it is:

• simple
• idempotent
• fast

Answer 19

This solution worked for me and its a rather simple one, just had to read the man page of find command in linux.

- name: Remove contents of a directory
  hosts: localhost
  tasks:
    - name: Find files and directories within the directory
      shell:
        cmd: "find path_to_your_directory -mindepth 1 -delete"

ref to the man page of find:

-mindepth levels Do not apply any tests or actions at levels less than levels (a non- negative integer). Using -mindepth 1 means process all files except the starting-points.

Answer 20

I follow this file module its worst to try something from the official docs: https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/latest/collections/ansible/builtin/file_module.html

Answer 21

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

Answer 22

  - 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