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file – read file contents

Synopsis
Parameters
Notes
Examples
Return Values
Status

Synopsis

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

Parameters

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

This lookup is not guaranteed to have a backwards compatible interface. [preview]
This lookup is maintained by the Ansible Community. [community]

Authors

Daniel Hokka Zakrisson <daniel@hozac.com>

Hint

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

Hint

Configuration entries for each entry type have a low to high priority order. For example, a variable that is lower in the list will override a variable that is higher up.

© 2012–2018 Michael DeHaan
© 2018–2019 Red Hat, Inc.
Licensed under the GNU General Public License version 3.
https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/2.9/plugins/lookup/file.html