# Ansible attach in mail module doesnt work **URL:** \ **Category:** Ansible Project\ **Created:** [September 5, 2019, 10:11am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/ansible-attach-in-mail-module-doesnt-work/31204 "2019-09-05T10:11:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Rakesh\_Parida](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/3ab097/32.png) [@Rakesh\_Parida](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Rakesh_Parida)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2019, 10:11am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/ansible-attach-in-mail-module-doesnt-work/31204/1 "2019-09-05T10:11:33Z")
I have a code as below and i have my html files present in /tmp/sanity/ . but i am getting error as “Failed to send mail: can’t attach file” i get file not found - name: list html files run\_once: true local\_action: shell find /tmp/sanity/ -type f -regex “.\*.html” | tr -s ‘\n’ ’ ’ | xargs | sort register: list\_html\_files - debug: msg=“{{ list\_html\_files }}” - name: generate final email body run\_once: true local\_action: shell for i in `find /tmp/sanity/ -type f -regex ".*email.*.txt" | sort`; do cat $i ;done register: email\_body - debug: msg=“{{email\_body}}” - name: email results become: true ignore\_errors: true run\_once: true mail: host: “{{smtp\_host}}” port: 25 body: ‘{{ email\_body.stdout }}’ attach: - ‘{{ list\_html\_files.stdout\_lines[0] }}’ charset: utf8 delegate\_to: localhost ---
**Author:** ![Dick\_Visser](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d9b06d/32.png) [@Dick\_Visser](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Dick_Visser)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2019, 11:44am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/ansible-attach-in-mail-module-doesnt-work/31204/2 "2019-09-05T11:44:10Z")
> I have a code as below and i have my html files present in /tmp/sanity/ . > but i am getting error as "Failed to send mail: can't attach file" i get file not found Well that's pretty clear: the file is not found. Debug what is in list\_html\_files.stdout\_lines[0] and adjust that. Without any further information it's hard to tell. On a related note, instead of fragile shell find/tr/xargs/sort , I would strongly suggest to use the 'find' module. That will at least return a standard data structure (which is easier to offer help with). Dick ---
**Author:** ![Akasurde](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/ansible/user_avatar/forum.ansible.com/akasurde/32/230_2.png) [@Akasurde](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Akasurde)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2019, 12:32pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/ansible-attach-in-mail-module-doesnt-work/31204/3 "2019-09-05T12:32:51Z")
Additionally, you can use `fileglob` - [https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/latest/plugins/lookup/fileglob.html](https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/latest/plugins/lookup/fileglob.html) for getting desired files from given directory structure. ---
**Author:** ![Rakesh\_Parida](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/3ab097/32.png) [@Rakesh\_Parida](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Rakesh_Parida)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2019, 1:21pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/ansible-attach-in-mail-module-doesnt-work/31204/4 "2019-09-05T13:21:00Z")
Hi Dick/Abhijit, The problem is not searching the file in the location. the problem is “attach” inside mail module doesn’t recognize the variable reference(it takes hard coded path).I dont want to hard code path inside attach. I want to use the variable reference inside attach module. In the debug of “list\_html\_files” below it clearly shows that the html files are present. i am using ansible.2.7.5 Pls suggest how can i achieve this. ok: [10.253.173.111] =\> { “msg”: { “changed”: true, “cmd”: “find /tmp/sanity\_RIC1/ -type f -regex ".\*.html" | tr -s ‘\n’ ’ ’ | xargs | sort”, “delta”: “0:00:00.006235”, “end”: “2019-09-05 04:03:01.195198”, “failed”: false, “rc”: 0, “start”: “2019-09-05 04:03:01.188963”, “stderr”: “”, “stderr\_lines”: , “stdout”: “/tmp/sanity\_RIC1/sanity\_RIC1IC01\_20190905-040234.html /tmp/sanity\_RIC1/sanity\_RIC1IC02\_20190905-040247.html”, “stdout\_lines”: [ “/tmp/sanity\_RIC1/sanity\_RIC1IC01\_20190905-040234.html /tmp/sanity\_RIC1/sanity\_RIC1IC02\_20190905-040247.html” ] } ---
**Author:** ![Dick\_Visser](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d9b06d/32.png) [@Dick\_Visser](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Dick_Visser)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2019, 11:53pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/ansible-attach-in-mail-module-doesnt-work/31204/5 "2019-09-05T23:53:12Z")
Hi You deliberately replaced newlines with spaces, so now your creative find/tr/xargs/sort command yields only one (1) line. Hence the attach parameter will see one line that isn't a file, and fail. I will repeat my previous advice: drop the shell and use the find module. The documentation is here: [https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/latest/modules/find\_module.html](https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/latest/modules/find_module.html) That will give you exactly what you want. Dick ---
**Author:** ![Rakesh\_Parida](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/3ab097/32.png) [@Rakesh\_Parida](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Rakesh_Parida)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2019, 6:56am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/ansible-attach-in-mail-module-doesnt-work/31204/6 "2019-09-06T06:56:32Z")
Hi Dick, Thanks for the Advice. It works like charm. I modified the code as below and it works as desired. Again Many thanks for your valuable Suggestion - name: list html files delegate\_to: localhost find: paths: /tmp/sanity patterns: ‘\*.html’ run\_once: true register: list\_html\_files - debug: msg=“{{list\_html\_files}}” - name: email results ignore\_errors: true run\_once: true mail: host: “{{smtp\_host}}” port: 25 body: Test attach: “{{ item.path }}” charset: utf8 delegate\_to: localhost with\_items: “{{ list\_html\_files.files }}”