Copy Multiple Files to Remote Hosts - Local to Remote - Ansible lookup plugin fileglob

How to automate the copy of the "example/*.txt" files to a target host using the with_fileglob Ansible loop statement and Ansible lookup plugin fileglob.

January 17, 2022

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How to Copy Multiple Files to Remote Hosts with Ansible?

I’m going to show you a live demo with some simple Ansible code. I’m Luca Berton and welcome to today’s episode of Ansible Pilot.

Ansible Copy Multiple Files

ansible.builtin.fileglob
list files matching a pattern

Today we’re talking about the Ansible lookup plugin fileglob. Plugins are a way to expand the Ansible functionality. With lookup plugins specifically, you can load variables or templates with information from external sources. The full name is ansible.builtin.fileglob, it’s part of ansible-core and is included in all Ansible installations. The purpose of the lookup plugin is to list files matching a pattern.

Usage

Parameters

_terms string - path(s) of files to read

Return Values

_list list - list of files

The parameters of the plugin fileglob. The only required parameter is the default “_terms”, with the path(s) of files to read. You could easily use it in any Ansible loop with the Ansible statement: with_fileglob.

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demo

Copy Multiple Files with Ansible Playbook.

code

copy-multiple.yml

---
- name: copy module demo
  hosts: all
  become: false
  tasks:
    - name: copy multiple file(s)
      ansible.builtin.copy:
        src: "{{ item }}"
        dest: "/home/devops/"
        owner: devops
        mode: '0644'
      with_fileglob:
        - "examples/*.txt"

examples/report.txt

example

examples/report2.txt

example2

execution

$ ansible-playbook -i virtualmachines/demo/inventory copy\ files\ to\ remote\ hosts/copy-multiple.yml
PLAY [copy module demo] ***************************************************************************
TASK [Gathering Facts] ****************************************************************************
ok: [demo.example.com]
TASK [copy multiple file(s)] **********************************************************************
changed: [demo.example.com] => (item=/Users/lberton/prj/github/ansible-pilot/copy files to remote hosts/examples/report2.txt)
changed: [demo.example.com] => (item=/Users/lberton/prj/github/ansible-pilot/copy files to remote hosts/examples/report.txt)
PLAY RECAP ****************************************************************************************
demo.example.com           : ok=2    changed=1    unreachable=0    failed=0    skipped=0    rescued=0    ignored=0
ansible-pilot $

idempotency

$ ansible-playbook -i virtualmachines/demo/inventory copy\ files\ to\ remote\ hosts/copy-multiple.yml
PLAY [copy module demo] ***************************************************************************
TASK [Gathering Facts] ****************************************************************************
ok: [demo.example.com]
TASK [copy multiple file(s)] **********************************************************************
ok: [demo.example.com] => (item=/Users/lberton/prj/github/ansible-pilot/copy files to remote hosts/examples/report2.txt)
ok: [demo.example.com] => (item=/Users/lberton/prj/github/ansible-pilot/copy files to remote hosts/examples/report.txt)
PLAY RECAP ****************************************************************************************
demo.example.com           : ok=2    changed=0    unreachable=0    failed=0    skipped=0    rescued=0    ignored=0
ansible-pilot $

before execution

$ ssh [email protected]
Last login: Mon Jan 17 11:50:11 2022 from 192.168.0.105
[[email protected] ~]$ ls -al
total 16
drwx------. 4 devops wheel 111 Jan 11 17:37 .
drwxr-xr-x. 4 root   root   35 Jan  5 10:18 ..
drwx------. 3 devops wheel  17 Jan  5 10:22 .ansible
-rw-------. 1 devops wheel  92 Jan 17 11:50 .bash_history
-rw-r--r--. 1 devops wheel  18 Jul 26 09:51 .bash_logout
-rw-r--r--. 1 devops wheel 141 Jul 26 09:51 .bash_profile
-rw-r--r--. 1 devops wheel 376 Jul 26 09:51 .bashrc
drwx------. 2 devops wheel  29 Jan  5 10:18 .ssh
[[email protected] ~]$

after execution

$ ssh [email protected]
Last login: Mon Jan 17 11:52:24 2022 from 192.168.0.105
[[email protected] ~]$ ls -al
total 24
drwx------. 4 devops wheel 148 Jan 17 11:52 .
drwxr-xr-x. 4 root   root   35 Jan  5 10:18 ..
drwx------. 3 devops wheel  17 Jan  5 10:22 .ansible
-rw-------. 1 devops wheel 104 Jan 17 11:51 .bash_history
-rw-r--r--. 1 devops wheel  18 Jul 26 09:51 .bash_logout
-rw-r--r--. 1 devops wheel 141 Jul 26 09:51 .bash_profile
-rw-r--r--. 1 devops wheel 376 Jul 26 09:51 .bashrc
drwx------. 2 devops wheel  29 Jan  5 10:18 .ssh
-rw-r--r--. 1 devops wheel  16 Jan 17 11:52 report.txt
-rw-r--r--. 1 devops wheel  16 Jan 17 11:51 report2.txt
[[email protected] ~]$ cat report.txt
test report.txt
[[email protected] ~]$ cat report2.txt
test report.txt
[[email protected] ~]$

code with ❤️ in GitHub

Recap

Now you know how to Copy Multiple Files to Remote Hosts with Ansible. Subscribe to the YouTube channel, Medium, Website, Twitter, and Substack to not miss the next episode of the Ansible Pilot.