Delete a group - Ansible module group
How to delete the "example" group or verify that is not present on your target Linux system or macOS.


How to delete a group in Linux 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 deletes a group account
ansible.builtin.group
Add or remove groups
Today we’re talking about the Ansible module group.
The full name is ansible.builtin.group, 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 adds or removes groups.
It supports a huge variety of Linux distributions and macOS.
It relies on three Linux commands: groupadd
, groupdel
and groupmod
.
For Windows, use the ansible.windows.win_group
module instead.
Parameters
- name string - group name
- state string - present/absent
- local string - “local” command alternatives
This module has some parameters to perform some tasks. The only required is “name”, which is the group name. The “state” parameter allows us to create or delete a group, in our use case set to “absent” to delete a group. The “local” parameter allows using the “local” command alternatives on platforms that implement it if you have a central authentication system.
The Best Resources For Ansible
Video Course
Printed Book
eBooks
- Ansible by Examples: 200+ Automation Examples For Linux and Windows System Administrator and DevOps
- Ansible For Windows By Examples: 50+ Automation Examples For Windows System Administrator And DevOps
- Ansible For Linux by Examples: 100+ Automation Examples For Linux System Administrator and DevOps
- Ansible Linux Filesystem By Examples: 40+ Automation Examples on Linux File and Directory Operation for Modern IT Infrastructure
- Ansible For Containers and Kubernetes By Examples: 20+ Automation Examples To Automate Containers, Kubernetes and OpenShift
- Ansible For Security by Examples: 100+ Automation Examples to Automate Security and Verify Compliance for IT Modern Infrastructure
- Ansible Tips and Tricks: 10+ Ansible Examples to Save Time and Automate More Tasks
- Ansible Linux Users & Groups By Examples: 20+ Automation Examples on Linux Users and Groups Operation for Modern IT Infrastructure
- Ansible For PostgreSQL by Examples: 10+ Examples To Automate Your PostgreSQL database
- Ansible For Amazon Web Services AWS By Examples: 10+ Examples To Automate Your AWS Modern Infrastructure
demo
Let’s jump in a real-life Ansible Playbook to delete a group.
code
- group_delete.yml
---
- name: group module demo
hosts: all
become: true
vars:
mygroup: "example"
tasks:
- name: delete group
ansible.builtin.group:
name: "{{ mygroup }}"
state: absent
execution
output
$ ansible-playbook -i demo/inventory group/delete.yml
PLAY [group module demo] **************************************************************************
TASK [Gathering Facts] ****************************************************************************
ok: [demo.example.com]
TASK [delete group] *******************************************************************************
changed: [demo.example.com]
PLAY RECAP ****************************************************************************************
demo.example.com : ok=2 changed=1 unreachable=0 failed=0 skipped=0 rescued=0 ignored=0
verification
$ ssh [email protected]
[[email protected] ~]$ sudo su
[[email protected] devops]# getent group | grep example
[[email protected] devops]# getent group
root:x:0:
bin:x:1:
daemon:x:2:
sys:x:3:
adm:x:4:
tty:x:5:
disk:x:6:
lp:x:7:
mem:x:8:
kmem:x:9:
wheel:x:10:
cdrom:x:11:
mail:x:12:
man:x:15:
dialout:x:18:
floppy:x:19:
games:x:20:
tape:x:33:
video:x:39:
ftp:x:50:
lock:x:54:
audio:x:63:
users:x:100:devops
nobody:x:65534:
dbus:x:81:
utmp:x:22:
utempter:x:35:
input:x:999:
kvm:x:36:
render:x:998:
systemd-journal:x:190:
systemd-coredump:x:997:
systemd-resolve:x:193:
tss:x:59:
polkitd:x:996:
ssh_keys:x:995:
unbound:x:994:
sssd:x:993:
chrony:x:992:
sshd:x:74:
vagrant:x:1000:
vboxsf:x:991:
slocate:x:21:
Recap
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