Ansible Check If Directory Exists: stat Module Guide — Video Tutorial

How to check if a directory exists in Ansible? I’m going to show you a live Playbook 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`](/articles/check-if-a-directory-exists-on-windows-like-systems-ansible-module-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 ```yaml --- - 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 ``` [code with ❤️ in GitHub](https://github.com/lucab85/ansible-pilot/tree/master/check%20directory%20exists) Conclusion Now you know better the Ansible module stat and you could use it successfully in your playbook. How It Works The `ansible.builtin.stat` module retrieves file or directory metadata without modifying anything. Combined with `register` and `when`, you can create conditional logic based on filesystem state. Complete Examples Check directory and create if missing ```yaml --- - name: Ensure directory exists hosts: all tasks: - name: Check if /opt/myapp exists ansible.builtin.stat: path: /opt/myapp register: myapp_dir - name: Create directory if not present ansible.builtin.file: path: /opt/myapp state: directory owner: appuser group: appuser mode: '0755' become: true when: not myapp_dir.stat.exists - name: Show directory info ansible.builtin.debug: msg: "Directory exists: {{ myapp_dir.stat.exists }}, isdir: {{ myapp_dir.stat.isdir | default(false) }}" ``` Check multiple directories ```yaml - name: Verify required directories exist ansible.builtin.stat: path: "{{ item }}" register: dir_checks loop: - /opt/myapp - /var/log/myapp - /etc/myapp - name: Report missing directories ansible.builtin.debug: msg: "MISSING: {{ item.item }}"