Ansible Create Symlink: file Module with state=link (Guide) — Video Tutorial

How to create a symbolic link with 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 create a symbolic link > `ansible.builtin.file` Manage files and file properties Today we're talking about the Ansible module `file`. The full name is `ansible.builtin.file`, 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 manages files and file properties. For a hardlink use see the following parameters of [Ansible file module](/articles/create-a-hard-link-ansible-module-file). For Windows targets, use the `ansible.windows.win_file` module instead. Parameters - `src` string - symlink path - `dest` string - destination file path - `state` string - file/absent/symbolic link/hard/link/touch - `mode`/`owner`/`group` - permission - `setype`/`seuser`/`selevel` - SELinux This module has some parameters to perform any tasks. The two required fields are "src" and "dest" which specify the filesystem paths of the link and the target file. The state defines the type of object we are modifying, the default is "file" but for our use case, we need the "link" option. Let me highlight also the permission and SELinux parameters. ## Playbook Let's jump into a real-life playbook on how to create a symbolic link with Ansible. code - create_symlink.yml ```yaml --- - name: file module demo hosts: all vars: mylink: "~/example" mysrc: "/proc/cpuinfo" tasks: - name: Creating a symlink ansible.builtin.file: src: "{{ mysrc }}" dest: "{{ mylink }}" state: link ``` execution ```bash $ ansible-playbook -i Playbook/inventory create\ symlink/file.yml PLAY [file module demo] ********************************************************************* TASK [Gathering Facts] ********************************************************************** ok: [demo.example.com] TASK [Creating a symlink] ******************************************************************* changed: [demo.example.com] PLAY RECAP ********************************************************************************** demo.example.com : ok=2 changed=1 unreachable=0 failed=0 skipped=0 rescued=0 ignored=0 ``` before execution ```bash $ ssh devops@demo.example.com [devops@demo ~]$ ls -al total 16 drwx------. 4 devops wheel 111 Nov 14 14:26 . drwxr-xr-x. 5 root root 50 Nov 8 17:07 .. drwx------. 3 devops wheel 17 Sep 6 05:53 .ansible -rw-------. 1 devops wheel 3055 Nov 14 14:26 .bash_history -rw-r--r--. 1 devops wheel 18 Dec 4 2020 .bash_logout -rw-r--r--. 1 devops wheel 141 Dec 4 2020 .bash_profile -rw-r--r--. 1 devops wheel 376 Dec 4 2020 .bashrc drwx------. 2 devops wheel 94 Sep 16 10:09 .ssh [devops@demo ~]$ ``` after execution ```bash $ ssh devops@demo.example.com [devop