ansible.windows.win_find module – Return a list of files based on specific criteria

Note

This module is part of the ansible.windows collection (version 2.5.0).

It is not included in ansible-core. To check whether it is installed, run ansible-galaxy collection list.

To install it, use: ansible-galaxy collection install ansible.windows.

To use it in a playbook, specify: ansible.windows.win_find.

Synopsis

• Return a list of files based on specified criteria.

• Multiple criteria are AND’d together.

• For non-Windows targets, use the ansible.builtin.find module instead.

Parameters

Parameter	Comments
age string	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 string	Choose the file property against which we compare age. The default attribute we compare with is the last modification time. Choices: "atime" "ctime" "mtime" ← (default)
checksum_algorithm string	Algorithm to determine the checksum of a file. Will throw an error if the host is unable to use specified algorithm. Choices: "md5" "sha1" ← (default) "sha256" "sha384" "sha512"
depth integer added in ansible.windows 2.0.0	Set the maximum number of levels to descend into. Setting recurse to false will override this value, which is effectively depth 1. Default depth is unlimited.
file_type string	Type of file to search for. Choices: "directory" "file" ← (default)
follow boolean	Set this to true to follow symlinks in the path. This needs to be used in conjunction with recurse. Choices: false ← (default) true
get_checksum boolean	Whether to return a checksum of the file in the return info (default sha1), use checksum_algorithm to change from the default. Choices: false true ← (default)
hidden boolean	Set this to include hidden files or folders. Choices: false ← (default) true
paths list / elements=string / 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 aliases: regex, regexp list / elements=string	One or more (powershell or regex) patterns to compare filenames with. The type of pattern matching is controlled by use_regex option. The patterns restrict 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 boolean	Will recursively descend into the directory looking for files or folders. Choices: false ← (default) true
size string	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 boolean	Will set patterns to run as a regex check if set to true. Choices: false ← (default) true

Notes

Note

• When scanning directories with a large number of files containing lots of data it is recommended to set get_checksum=false. This will speed up the time it takes to scan the folders as getting a checksum needs to read the contents of every file it returns.

Examples

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

- name: Find hidden files in path
  ansible.windows.win_find:
    paths: D:\Temp
    hidden: true

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

- name: Find files in directory while searching recursively
  ansible.windows.win_find:
    paths: D:\Temp
    recurse: true

- name: Find files in directory while following symlinks
  ansible.windows.win_find:
    paths: D:\Temp
    recurse: true
    follow: true

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

- name: Find files and return SHA256 checksum of files found
  ansible.windows.win_find:
    paths: C:\Temp
    get_checksum: true
    checksum_algorithm: sha256

- name: Find files and do not return the checksum
  ansible.windows.win_find:
    paths: C:\Temp
    get_checksum: false

Return Values

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

Key	Description
examined integer	The number of files/folders that was checked. Returned: always Sample: 10
files complex	Information on the files/folders that match the criteria returned as a list of dictionary elements for each file matched. The entries are sorted by the path value alphabetically. Returned: success
attributes string	attributes of the file at path in raw form. Returned: success, path exists Sample: "Archive, Hidden"
checksum string	The checksum of a file based on checksum_algorithm specified. Returned: success, path exists, path is a file, get_checksum == True Sample: "09cb79e8fc7453c84a07f644e441fd81623b7f98"
creationtime float	The create time of the file represented in seconds since epoch. Returned: success, path exists Sample: 1477984205.15
exists boolean	Whether the file exists, will always be true for ansible.windows.win_find. Returned: success, path exists Sample: true
extension string	The extension of the file at path. Returned: success, path exists, path is a file Sample: ".ps1"
filename string	The name of the file. Returned: success, path exists Sample: "temp"
hlnk_targets list / elements=string	List of other files pointing to the same file (hard links), excludes the current file. Returned: success, path exists Sample: ["C:\\temp\\file.txt", "C:\\Windows\\update.log"]
isarchive boolean	If the path is ready for archiving or not. Returned: success, path exists Sample: true
isdir boolean	If the path is a directory or not. Returned: success, path exists Sample: true
ishidden boolean	If the path is hidden or not. Returned: success, path exists Sample: true
isjunction boolean	If the path is a junction point. Returned: success, path exists Sample: true
islnk boolean	If the path is a symbolic link. Returned: success, path exists Sample: true
isreadonly boolean	If the path is read only or not. Returned: success, path exists Sample: true
isreg boolean	If the path is a regular file or not. Returned: success, path exists Sample: true
isshared boolean	If the path is shared or not. Returned: success, path exists Sample: true
lastaccesstime float	The last access time of the file represented in seconds since epoch. Returned: success, path exists Sample: 1477984205.15
lastwritetime float	The last modification time of the file represented in seconds since epoch. Returned: success, path exists Sample: 1477984205.15
lnk_source string	The target of the symlink normalized for the remote filesystem. Returned: success, path exists, path is a symbolic link or junction point Sample: "C:\\temp"
lnk_target string	The target of the symlink. Note that relative paths remain relative, will return null if not a link. Returned: success, path exists, path is a symbolic link or junction point Sample: "temp"
nlink integer	Number of links to the file (hard links) Returned: success, path exists Sample: 1
owner string	The owner of the file. Returned: success, path exists Sample: "BUILTIN\\Administrators"
path string	The full absolute path to the file. Returned: success, path exists Sample: "C:\\temp\\file.txt"
sharename string	The name of share if folder is shared. Returned: success, path exists, path is a directory and isshared == True Sample: "file-share"
size integer	The size in bytes of the file. Returned: success, path exists, path is a file Sample: 1024
matched integer	The number of files/folders that match the criteria. Returned: always Sample: 2

Authors

• Jordan Borean (@jborean93)

Collection links

• Issue Tracker
• Repository (Sources)