Delete a file, create a backup and mark the task as changed when it is

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I apologize if I am way off here, as I am not 100% sure I am answering what you want LOL.

I am not a huge fan of using shell unless absolutely necessary … so couldn’t you do something like:

  • use the ansible.builtin.stat module to check for the existence of file
  • use the ansible.builtin.copy module to copy file (backup) WHEN exists
  • use the ansible.builtin.file module to delete files as originally intended

There’s also options of using something like ansible.posix.synchronize to backup the whole directory if we are talking about tons of files, and it’s easier to do that…

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