when: a file contains this regexp

[Peter Leggett]

 Hi,

how can i execute a ansible task only if a file contains a specfic regexp ?
I was hoping to use the when: statement as follows :-

- name: do this task only if file contains fred
  command: some command
  when: file contains "fred"

Can something like this work ? Thanks for any help.

Pete

[Paul Durivage]

I think what you'd want to do here is use the shell module to check for the regex with grep, emphasis on "I think".  You could also use the exit code, since grep exits with a 0 when it matches lines, 1 if no match is found.  This is probably easier.

    - name: Check if file has Fred

      shell: grep 'fred' /path/to/file

      register: grep

    - name: Do this if we find Fred

      debug: msg="We found Fred"

      when: grep.stdout

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[Michael DeHaan]

You could also use the "slurp" module, and register the full file contents, and use 

when: foo.contents | match(regexp)

I think Paul's suggestion is clearer and easier though, and transfers less over the wire.

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[Michael DeHaan]

Could also just use the rc from grep vs stdout, I think.

[kevin wessel]

Also don't forget to add the "ignore_errors: yes" parameter, otherwise your play will just exit in error if the string isn't found.