# New to ansible -- Looping through files with wildcards **URL:** \ **Category:** Ansible Project\ **Created:** [August 11, 2017, 8:42pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/new-to-ansible-looping-through-files-with-wildcards/25237 "2017-08-11T20:42:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![John\_Harmon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/edb3f5/32.png) [@John\_Harmon](https://forum.ansible.com/u/John_Harmon)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2017, 8:42pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/new-to-ansible-looping-through-files-with-wildcards/25237/1 "2017-08-11T20:42:17Z")
Hi all, I am new to ansible and am looking for some help. I don’t mind finding the answer on my own; however, I could use a shove in the right direction. I need to modify some files (/etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-\* files). I was trying to use with\_fileglob (among other options), but I read somewhere that wont work ( [https://stackoverflow.com/questions/29831690/ansible-with-fileglob-not-matching-files-with-only-wildcard](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/29831690/ansible-with-fileglob-not-matching-files-with-only-wildcard) ) Basically, I am looking to run a loop against all ifcfg-\* files. I want to modify some entries (which I can do individually) and delete some entries (which I can also do individually), I just don’t know how to approach looping through all of the files. I am even unsure if fileglob is the right approach. I would appreciate some education on the matter. How would you approach it? Thanks, john ---
**Author:** ![John\_Harmon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/edb3f5/32.png) [@John\_Harmon](https://forum.ansible.com/u/John_Harmon)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2017, 8:59pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/new-to-ansible-looping-through-files-with-wildcards/25237/2 "2017-08-11T20:59:28Z")
Trying this (which doesn’t delete the lines yet)… but the other problem is that the shell task is not idempotent ---
**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:** [August 11, 2017, 9:42pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/new-to-ansible-looping-through-files-with-wildcards/25237/3 "2017-08-11T21:42:48Z")
> Trying this (which doesn't delete the lines yet).... but the other problem > is that the shell task is not idempotent What do you mean by "is not idempotent" it's just listing files and it need to do that every time. > --- > # tasks file for dns\_update > - name: Retrieve ifcfg files in /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts >    shell: ls /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts | grep ^ifcfg- >    register: path\_files Alternative is the find module - name: Retrieve ifcfg files in /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts    find:      paths: ls /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts      pattern: ifcfg-\*    register: path\_files > - name: Removing all DNS entries in ifcfg-\* files >    lineinfile: >      path: /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/{{ path\_files.stdout\_lines }} >      state: absent >      regexp: '^DNS' >    with\_items: "{{ path\_files.stdout\_lines }}" The value from with\_items i in a variable called item so the path sould be    path: /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/{{ item }} With the find module above this task should look like this - name: Removing all DNS entries in ifcfg-\* files     lineinfile:       path: '{{ item.path }}'       state: absent       regexp: '^DNS'     with\_items: '{{ path\_files.files }}' ---
**Author:** ![John\_Harmon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/edb3f5/32.png) [@John\_Harmon](https://forum.ansible.com/u/John_Harmon)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2017, 9:43pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/new-to-ansible-looping-through-files-with-wildcards/25237/4 "2017-08-11T21:43:10Z")
Forgive me for responding to myself… I just hope that someone in the future might find this relevant/useful. added “changed\_when: false” to the shell task. That took care of the idempotent issue I was seeing by overriding the change result. Still plugging away on the other issue - name: Disabling NetworkManager in ifcfg-\* files lineinfile: path: /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/{{path\_files.stdout\_lines}} regexp: ‘^NM\_CONTROLLED’ line: “NM\_CONTROLLED=no” The above is now returning: TASK [dns\_update : Disabling NetworkManager in ifcfg-\* files] \*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\* fatal: [ansibletest-rhel7]: FAILED! =\> {“changed”: false, “failed”: true, “msg”: “Destination /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/[u’ifcfg-bond0’, u’ifcfg-eth0’, u’ifcfg-eth1’, u’ifcfg-eth2’, u’ifcfg-eth3’, u’ifcfg-eth4’, u’ifcfg-eth5’, u’ifcfg-lo’] does not exist !”, “rc”: 257} fatal: [ansibletest-rhel6]: FAILED! =\> {“changed”: false, “failed”: true, “msg”: “Destination /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/[u’ifcfg-bond0’, u’ifcfg-eth0’, u’ifcfg-eth1’, u’ifcfg-eth2’, u’ifcfg-eth3’, u’ifcfg-eth4’, u’ifcfg-eth5’, u’ifcfg-lo’] does not exist !”, “rc”: 257} fatal: [ansibletest-oel6]: FAILED! =\> {“changed”: false, “failed”: true, “msg”: “Destination /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/[u’ifcfg-bond0’, u’ifcfg-eth0’, u’ifcfg-eth1’, u’ifcfg-eth2’, u’ifcfg-eth3’, u’ifcfg-eth4’, u’ifcfg-eth5’, u’ifcfg-lo’] does not exist !”, “rc”: 257} Notice the ifcfg\* names are messed up. I am trying to narrow down the reason