file - read file contents

Synopsis

  • This lookup returns the contents from a file on the Ansible controller’s file system.

Parameters

Parameter Choices/Defaults Configuration Comments
_terms
required
path(s) of files to read
lstrip
    Choices:
  • no ←
  • yes
whether or not to remove whitespace from the beginning of the looked-up file
rstrip
    Choices:
  • no
  • yes ←
whether or not to remove whitespace from the ending of the looked-up file

Notes

Note

  • if read in variable context, the file can be interpreted as YAML if the content is valid to the parser.
  • this lookup does not understand ‘globing’, use the fileglob lookup instead.

Examples

- debug: msg="the value of foo.txt is {{lookup('file', '/etc/foo.txt') }}"

- name: display multiple file contents
  debug: var=item
  with_file:
    - "/path/to/foo.txt"
    - "bar.txt"  # will be looked in files/ dir relative to play or in role
    - "/path/to/biz.txt"

Return Values

Common return values are documented here, the following are the fields unique to this lookup:

Key Returned Description
_raw
content of file(s)


Status

Author

Hint

If you notice any issues in this documentation you can edit this document to improve it.

© 2012–2018 Michael DeHaan
© 2018–2019 Red Hat, Inc.
Licensed under the GNU General Public License version 3.
https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/2.5/plugins/lookup/file.html