Check if a directory exists - Ansible module stat
Deep dive into the Ansible module stat of the collection ansible.builtin to test if a specified path is a directory and print a message. Live demo and Ansible playbook included.


How to check if a directory exists in Ansible?
I’m going to show you a live demo and some simple Ansible code. I’m Luca Berton and welcome to today’s episode of Ansible Pilot.
Ansible check directory exists
Today we’re talking about the Ansible module stat.
The full name is ansible.builtin.stat, which means that is part of the collection of modules “builtin” with ansible and shipped with it.
It’s a module pretty stable and out for years.
It works in a different variety of operating systems.
It retrieves a file entry or a file system status.
For Windows target use the ansible.windows.win_stat
module instead.
Main parameters and return values
- path string
The only mandatory parameter is “path” which is the filesystem full path of the object to check.
- stat complex
The module returns a complex object, the property that is interesting for us is “isdir”. This attribute is “true” if the object is a directory.
Demo
Let’s jump in a real-life playbook to check if a directory exists with Ansible.
code
- directory_check_exists.yml
---
- name: check if the directory exists
hosts: all
become: false
vars:
directory: "/tmp"
tasks:
- name: Check if the directory exists
ansible.builtin.stat:
path: "{{ directory }}"
register: dir_to_check
- name: Directory found
ansible.builtin.debug:
msg: "Directory {{ directory }} present"
when: dir_to_check.stat.isdir is defined and dir_to_check.stat.isdir
Recap
Now you know better the Ansible module stat and you could use it successfully in your playbook. Subscribe to the YouTube channel, Medium, Website, Twitter, and Substack to not miss the next episode of the Ansible Pilot.
Academy
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