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# stat – Retrieve file or file system status

- Synopsis

- Parameters

- See Also

- Examples

- Return Values

- Status

## Synopsis

- Retrieves facts for a file similar to the Linux/Unix ‘stat’ command.

- For Windows targets, use the win_stat module instead.

## Parameters

Parameter | Choices/Defaults | Comments
--- | --- | ---
checksum_algorithm string | Choices: md5 sha1 ← sha224 sha256 sha384 sha512 | Algorithm to determine checksum of file. Will throw an error if the host is unable to use specified algorithm. The remote host has to support the hashing method specified, `md5` can be unavailable if the host is FIPS-140 compliant. aliases: checksum, checksum_algo
follow boolean | Choices: no ← yes | Whether to follow symlinks.
get_attributes boolean | Choices: no yes ← | Get file attributes using lsattr tool if present. aliases: attr, attributes
get_checksum boolean | Choices: no yes ← | Whether to return a checksum of the file.
get_mime boolean | Choices: no yes ← | Use file magic and return data about the nature of the file. this uses the 'file' utility found on most Linux/Unix systems. This will add both `mime_type` and 'charset' fields to the return, if possible. In Ansible 2.3 this option changed from 'mime' to 'get_mime' and the default changed to 'Yes'. aliases: mime, mime_type, mime-type
path path / required |  | The full path of the file/object to get the facts of.

## See Also

See also

file – Manage files and file properties

  The official documentation on the file module.

win_stat – Get information about Windows files

  The official documentation on the win_stat module.

## Examples

    # Obtain the stats of /etc/foo.conf, and check that the file still belongs
    # to 'root'. Fail otherwise.
    - stat:
        path: /etc/foo.conf
      register: st
    - fail:
        msg: "Whoops! file ownership has changed"
      when: st.stat.pw_name != 'root'

    # Determine if a path exists and is a symlink. Note that if the path does
    # not exist, and we test sym.stat.islnk, it will fail with an error. So
    # therefore, we must test whether it is defined.
    # Run this to understand the structure, the skipped ones do not pass the
    # check performed by 'when'
    - stat:
        path: /path/to/something
      register: sym

    - debug:
        msg: "islnk isn't defined (path doesn't exist)"
      when: sym.stat.islnk is not defined

    - debug:
        msg: "islnk is defined (path must exist)"
      when: sym.stat.islnk is defined

    - debug:
        msg: "Path exists and is a symlink"
      when: sym.stat.islnk is defined and sym.stat.islnk

    - debug:
        msg: "Path exists and isn't a symlink"
      when: sym.stat.islnk is defined and sym.stat.islnk == False

    # Determine if a path exists and is a directory.  Note that we need to test
    # both that p.stat.isdir actually exists, and also that it's set to true.
    - stat:
        path: /path/to/something
      register: p
    - debug:
        msg: "Path exists and is a directory"
      when: p.stat.isdir is defined and p.stat.isdir

    # Don't do checksum
    - stat:
        path: /path/to/myhugefile
        get_checksum: no

    # Use sha256 to calculate checksum
    - stat:
        path: /path/to/something
        checksum_algorithm: sha256

## Return Values

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

Key | Returned | Description
--- | --- | ---
stat complex | success | dictionary containing all the stat data, some platforms might add additional fields
| atime float | success, path exists and user can read stats | Time of last access Sample: 1424348972.575
| attributes list added in 2.3 | success, path exists and user can execute the path | list of file attributes Sample: ['immutable', 'extent']
| charset string | success, path exists and user can read stats and installed python supports it and the `mime` option was true, will return 'unknown' on error. | file character set or encoding Sample: us-ascii
| checksum string | success, path exists, user can read stats, path supports hashing and supplied checksum algorithm is available | hash of the path Sample: 50ba294cdf28c0d5bcde25708df53346825a429f
| ctime float | success, path exists and user can read stats | Time of last metadata update or creation (depends on OS) Sample: 1424348972.575
| dev integer | success, path exists and user can read stats | Device the inode resides on Sample: 33
| executable boolean added in 2.2 | success, path exists and user can execute the path | Tells you if the invoking user has execute permission on the path
| exists boolean | success | If the destination path actually exists or not Sample: True
| gid integer | success, path exists and user can read stats | Numeric id representing the group of the owner Sample: 1003
| gr_name string | success, path exists and user can read stats and installed python supports it | Group name of owner Sample: www-data
| inode integer | success, path exists and user can read stats | Inode number of the path Sample: 12758
| isblk boolean | success, path exists and user can read stats | Tells you if the path is a block device
| ischr boolean | success, path exists and user can read stats | Tells you if the path is a character device
| isdir boolean | success, path exists and user can read stats | Tells you if the path is a directory
| isfifo boolean | success, path exists and user can read stats | Tells you if the path is a named pipe
| isgid boolean | success, path exists and user can read stats | Tells you if the invoking user's group id matches the owner's group id
| islnk boolean | success, path exists and user can read stats | Tells you if the path is a symbolic link
| isreg boolean | success, path exists and user can read stats | Tells you if the path is a regular file Sample: True
| issock boolean | success, path exists and user can read stats | Tells you if the path is a unix domain socket
| isuid boolean | success, path exists and user can read stats | Tells you if the invoking user's id matches the owner's id
| lnk_source string | success, path exists and user can read stats and the path is a symbolic link | Target of the symlink normalized for the remote filesystem Sample: /home/foobar/21102015-1445431274-908472971
| lnk_target string added in 2.4 | success, path exists and user can read stats and the path is a symbolic link | Target of the symlink. Note that relative paths remain relative Sample: ../foobar/21102015-1445431274-908472971
| md5 string | success, path exists and user can read stats and path supports hashing and md5 is supported | md5 hash of the path; this will be removed in Ansible 2.9 in favor of the checksum return value Sample: f88fa92d8cf2eeecf4c0a50ccc96d0c0
| mimetype string | success, path exists and user can read stats and installed python supports it and the `mime` option was true, will return 'unknown' on error. | file magic data or mime-type Sample: application/pdf; charset=binary
| mode string | success, path exists and user can read stats | Unix permissions of the file in octal representation as a string Sample: 1755
| mtime float | success, path exists and user can read stats | Time of last modification Sample: 1424348972.575
| nlink integer | success, path exists and user can read stats | Number of links to the inode (hard links) Sample: 1
| path string | success and if path exists | The full path of the file/object to get the facts of Sample: /path/to/file
| pw_name string | success, path exists and user can read stats and installed python supports it | User name of owner Sample: httpd
| readable boolean added in 2.2 | success, path exists and user can read the path | Tells you if the invoking user has the right to read the path
| rgrp boolean | success, path exists and user can read stats | Tells you if the owner's group has read permission Sample: True
| roth boolean | success, path exists and user can read stats | Tells you if others have read permission Sample: True
| rusr boolean | success, path exists and user can read stats | Tells you if the owner has read permission Sample: True
| size integer | success, path exists and user can read stats | Size in bytes for a plain file, amount of data for some special files Sample: 203
| uid integer | success, path exists and user can read stats | Numeric id representing the file owner Sample: 1003
| wgrp boolean | success, path exists and user can read stats | Tells you if the owner's group has write permission
| woth boolean | success, path exists and user can read stats | Tells you if others have write permission
| writeable boolean added in 2.2 | success, path exists and user can write the path | Tells you if the invoking user has the right to write the path
| wusr boolean | success, path exists and user can read stats | Tells you if the owner has write permission Sample: True
| xgrp boolean | success, path exists and user can read stats | Tells you if the owner's group has execute permission Sample: True
| xoth boolean | success, path exists and user can read stats | Tells you if others have execute permission Sample: True
| xusr boolean | success, path exists and user can read stats | Tells you if the owner has execute permission Sample: True

## Status

- This module is guaranteed to have backward compatible interface changes going forward. [stableinterface]

- This module is maintained by the Ansible Core Team. [core]

### Red Hat Support

More information about Red Hat’s support of this module is available from this Red Hat Knowledge Base article.

### Authors

- Bruce Pennypacker (@bpennypacker)

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