# using wildcards to fetching src files **URL:** \ **Category:** Ansible Project\ **Tags:** ansible-project\ **Created:** [October 29, 2012, 8:03pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/using-wildcards-to-fetching-src-files/12049 "2012-10-29T20:03:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Michael\_DeHaan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c4cdca/32.png) [@Michael\_DeHaan](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Michael_DeHaan)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2012, 8:03pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/using-wildcards-to-fetching-src-files/12049/1 "2012-10-29T20:03:32Z")
Ansible 0.8 contains "with\_fileglob", which does what you want action: modulename src=$item \ with\_fileglob: /data\_dump\_\*.sql It would send over all files matching the glob from the local server in that case. Looks like that will do exactly what you want. --Michael ---
**Author:** ![Daniel\_Hokka\_Zakriss](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f05b48/32.png) [@Daniel\_Hokka\_Zakriss](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Daniel_Hokka_Zakriss)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2012, 8:37pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/using-wildcards-to-fetching-src-files/12049/2 "2012-10-29T20:37:36Z")
Michael DeHaan wrote: > Ansible 0.8 contains "with\_fileglob", which does what you want > > action: modulename src=$item \ > with\_fileglob: /data\_dump\_\*.sql > > It would send over all files matching the glob from the local server > in that case. However, when you want the opposite and you're using fetch, that is not going to work. > Looks like that will do exactly what you want. > > --Michael > > > Hi all, > > > > I'm trying to copy a files down from one of our hosts, and it contains a > > timestamp in the name. This, unfortunately, is going to be hard to > > change > > for us (if at all). > > > > Is there a way in ansible to have a source file with a wildcard? > > > > i.e.: > > > > > action: fetch src=/data\_dump\_\*.sql dest=/var/lib/ansible/files/fetched Yes, the way to do it is to list the files in one action, and then use with\_items on the result. For example - name: list files   action: command ls -1 /data\_dump\_\*.sql   register: dumpfiles - name: fetch files   action: fetch src=$item dest=/var/lib/ansible/files/fetched   with\_items: ${dumpfiles.stdout\_lines} Daniel ---
**Author:** ![Dag\_Wieers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/45deac/32.png) [@Dag\_Wieers](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Dag_Wieers)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2012, 11:51pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/using-wildcards-to-fetching-src-files/12049/3 "2012-10-29T23:51:09Z")
What I usually do in this case, especially if you need to recurse over directories is: ---
**Author:** ![Michael\_DeHaan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c4cdca/32.png) [@Michael\_DeHaan](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Michael_DeHaan)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2012, 12:26am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/using-wildcards-to-fetching-src-files/12049/4 "2012-10-30T00:26:50Z")
I prefer Daniel's approach in this case, but I think we can also make syntax easier if using fetch by building a "with\_remote\_fileglob" if we wanted to. -- Michael ---
**Author:** ![Dag\_Wieers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/45deac/32.png) [@Dag\_Wieers](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Dag_Wieers)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2012, 12:34am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/using-wildcards-to-fetching-src-files/12049/5 "2012-10-30T00:34:52Z")
Which should have read: ---
**Author:** ![Michael\_DeHaan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c4cdca/32.png) [@Michael\_DeHaan](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Michael_DeHaan)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2012, 12:37am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/using-wildcards-to-fetching-src-files/12049/6 "2012-10-30T00:37:02Z")
The only disadvantage of shelling out to rsync is it assumes you have keys and such configured. So if you're using paramiko with askpass, it is not a clean option. However, if you are moving a large amount of data, it's definitely a great option, and most people will be using SSH-agent anyway. Also: fetch is a minority of the use cases anyway 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![jdelaporte](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/ansible/user_avatar/forum.ansible.com/jdelaporte/32/366_2.png) [@jdelaporte](https://forum.ansible.com/u/jdelaporte)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2016, 7:50pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/using-wildcards-to-fetching-src-files/12049/7 "2016-05-18T19:50:31Z")
I am wondering if a remote fileglob mechanism has been added for fetch. If not, I’ll use Daniel’s solution from above. Thanks! Joanna ---
**Author:** ![Brian\_Coca](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6de8d8/32.png) [@Brian\_Coca](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Brian_Coca)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2016, 7:54pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/using-wildcards-to-fetching-src-files/12049/8 "2016-05-18T19:54:57Z")
instead of shell/ls, you can use the ‘find’ module to create the list and feed that to the ‘fetch’ module. as for rsync, the syncronize module can handle many of the same scenarios.