# Compare files on two different remote hosts

**URL:** <https://forum.ansible.com/t/compare-files-on-two-different-remote-hosts/26179>\
**Category:** Ansible Project\
**Created:** [November 30, 2017, 6:04pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/compare-files-on-two-different-remote-hosts/26179 "2017-11-30T18:04:03Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![jasontapp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/74df32/32.png) [@jasontapp](https://forum.ansible.com/u/jasontapp)\
**Post date:** [November 30, 2017, 6:04pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/compare-files-on-two-different-remote-hosts/26179/1 "2017-11-30T18:04:03Z")

</div>

Does anyone know of a way to compare a file that resides on two separate hosts before and/or after a deployment? Meaning, I want to compare foo.conf on host1 against foo.conf on host2. If there are disparities, then list them in an output file.

I’ve read about a number of ways to potentially approach this (using diff command, shell module, stat module with get\_checksum param, check mode, etc.). But none of them have given exactly what I need yet.

Thanks for any advice.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Kai\_Stian\_Olstad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e19adc/32.png) [@Kai\_Stian\_Olstad](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Kai_Stian_Olstad)\
**Post date:** [December 1, 2017, 4:30pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/compare-files-on-two-different-remote-hosts/26179/2 "2017-12-01T16:30:03Z")

</div>

> Does anyone know of a way to compare a file that resides on two separate  
> hosts before and/or after a deployment? Meaning, I want to compare foo.conf  
> on host1 against foo.conf on host2. If there are disparities, then list  
> them in an output file.

Use the fetch module to get the file to the Ansible controller, then you can diff them.

> I've read about a number of ways to potentially approach this (using diff  
> command, shell module, stat module with get\_checksum param, check mode,  
> etc.). But none of them have given exactly what I need yet.

If diff is not what you need I'm out of ideas since diff print out the differences in two text files.