# Deleting files based on a name pattern

**URL:** <https://forum.ansible.com/t/deleting-files-based-on-a-name-pattern/14921>\
**Category:** Ansible Project\
**Created:** [April 2, 2014, 5:05pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/deleting-files-based-on-a-name-pattern/14921 "2014-04-02T17:05:24Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![James\_Carroll](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e36b37/32.png) [@James\_Carroll](https://forum.ansible.com/u/James_Carroll)\
**Post date:** [April 2, 2014, 5:05pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/deleting-files-based-on-a-name-pattern/14921/1 "2014-04-02T17:05:24Z")

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I’m trying to clear a directory with certain file names based on a pattern and it doesn’t seem to work:

- name: Remove any extant jars  
file: name=“{{app\_home}}/server/deploy/{{item}}” state=absent  
with\_items:
- “_token_.jar”
- “_opm_.jar”
- “_pf-sm_.jar”

This isn’t working; the existing jars stay there even though Ansible reports “CHANGED” on all three.

I need this since these jars have their versions in their names and I need to make sure that they are deleted prior to pushing the updated files.

Thanks,

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**Author:** ![Michael\_DeHaan1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5e9695/32.png) [@Michael\_DeHaan1](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Michael_DeHaan1)\
**Post date:** [April 2, 2014, 8:33pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/deleting-files-based-on-a-name-pattern/14921/2 "2014-04-02T20:33:19Z")

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Nope, the file module doesn’t accept shell wildcards, it needs real filenames.

I’d shell out to rm in this case, though you won’t be able to use the “deletes=” keyword to the shell module to override the “changed value” so it will register as a change every time.

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**Author:** ![James\_Carroll](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e36b37/32.png) [@James\_Carroll](https://forum.ansible.com/u/James_Carroll)\
**Post date:** [April 3, 2014, 3:37pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/deleting-files-based-on-a-name-pattern/14921/3 "2014-04-03T15:37:55Z")

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Thanks. I kind of came to that same conclusion about shelling it out, but hoping I was missing something.

James

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**Author:** ![David\_Adams](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/df788c/32.png) [@David\_Adams](https://forum.ansible.com/u/David_Adams)\
**Post date:** [April 3, 2014, 5:45pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/deleting-files-based-on-a-name-pattern/14921/4 "2014-04-03T17:45:01Z")

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You could shell out to collect the filenames if you still want to use the Ansible objects to do the deletions (this code assumes your shell is bash):

- shell: ls {{app\_home}}/server/deploy/_{token,opm,pf-sm}_.jar  
register: jars\_to\_cleanup  
ignore\_errors: yes

- file: name={{item}} state=absent  
with\_items: jars\_to\_cleanup.stdout\_lines

Not sure if that’s better or worse than just shelling out for the rm statement, but it’s an option. Perhaps Ansible needs a glob-expansion function/operator to handle such a case?