# Utilizing timestamps within filenames **URL:** \ **Category:** Ansible Project\ **Created:** [April 21, 2016, 3:45pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/utilizing-timestamps-within-filenames/21232 "2016-04-21T15:45:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Joe\_Louthan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a698b9/32.png) [@Joe\_Louthan](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Joe_Louthan)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2016, 3:45pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/utilizing-timestamps-within-filenames/21232/1 "2016-04-21T15:45:53Z")
Hello, In my deployments, I tend to do db backups and dump them into filenames containing a timestamp like so: ` mysqldump dbname | gzip -9c > ~/dbname.`date +%Y-%m-%d.%H%M`.sql.gz ; ls -la ~/ | grep `date +%Y-%m-%d` ` As you can see, when the dump is done, I want to see the resulting file just to eyeball it and make everything looks right. (To answer future questions: we date time stamp our backup files so that we can keep them for an extended period of time.) I would like to write something like this: ` - hosts: dbserver remote\_user: jlouthan tasks: - name: Backup Prod Database shell: mysqldump dbdump | gzip -9c \> ~jlouthan/dbdump.`date +%Y-%m-%d`.sql.gz become: yes become\_method: sudo - name: Check to see if the dbdump has been successfully created wait\_for: path=~jlouthan/dbdump.`date +%Y-%m-%d`.sql.gz ` Is there any chance that Ansible would be able to pick up on backticks or is there a better way? ---
**Author:** ![felixfontein](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/ansible/user_avatar/forum.ansible.com/felixfontein/32/7530_2.png) [@felixfontein](https://forum.ansible.com/u/felixfontein)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2016, 9:41pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/utilizing-timestamps-within-filenames/21232/2 "2016-04-21T21:41:29Z")
Hi Joe, you could add a task - name: Get current timestamp   local\_action: command bash -c "date +%Y-%m-%d.%H%M"   register: now   run\_once: true (or something similar adapted to your local environment) before your dump task and then use {{ now }} in the next tasks to always get the same timestamp. Best, Felix ---
**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:** [April 22, 2016, 2:21am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/utilizing-timestamps-within-filenames/21232/3 "2016-04-22T02:21:14Z")
You can use a lookup or create a var based on it: ​datestring: ​"{{lookup(‘pipe’, “date +%Y-%m-%d.%H%M”)}}" ---
**Author:** ![Johannes\_Kastl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Johannes\_Kastl](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Johannes_Kastl)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2016, 6:42pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/utilizing-timestamps-within-filenames/21232/4 "2016-04-22T18:42:58Z")
Apart form the other answers, I avoid using backticks and use the $(date ...) syntax instead (a leading dollar sign and brackets instead of backticks). Have you tried this? Johannes ---
**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:** [April 22, 2016, 6:58pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/utilizing-timestamps-within-filenames/21232/5 "2016-04-22T18:58:21Z")
$() depends on shell, I prefer it as it is stackable and cleaner than the backticks, but not always available. ---
**Author:** ![Joe\_Louthan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a698b9/32.png) [@Joe\_Louthan](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Joe_Louthan)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2016, 8:11pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/utilizing-timestamps-within-filenames/21232/6 "2016-04-22T20:11:50Z")
I ran this: ` - hosts: dbserver remote\_user: jlouthan tasks: - name: Get current timestamp local\_action: command bash -c “date +%Y-%m-%d.%H%M” register: timestamp run\_once: true - debug: var=timestamp.stdout - name: Get current datestamp local\_action: command bash -c “date +%Y-%m-%d” register: datestamp run\_once: true - debug: var=datestamp.stdout - name: Backup Stag Database mysql\_db: state=dump name=dbname target=~jlouthan/dbname.{{ datestamp }}.sql become: yes become\_method: sudo - name: See the the Stag DB backup shell: ls -la ~jlouthan/ | grep {{ timestamp }} register: dumpstag - debug: var=dumpstag.stdout\_lines - name: Make sure that the Stag DB Backups look good before you continue pause: ` And got this: ` [jlouthan@ansible-server Playbooks]$ ansible-playbook test-backup-Client-staging-db.yml SUDO password: PLAY [dbserver] \*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\* GATHERING FACTS \*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\* ok: [dbserver] TASK: [Get current timestamp] \*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\* changed: [dbserver → 127.0.0.1] TASK: [debug var=timestamp.stdout] \*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\* ok: [dbserver] =\> { “var”: { “timestamp.stdout”: “2016-04-22.1507” } } TASK: [Get current datestamp] \*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\* changed: [dbserver → 127.0.0.1] TASK: [debug var=datestamp.stdout] \*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\* ok: [dbserver] =\> { “var”: { “datestamp.stdout”: “2016-04-22” } } TASK: [Backup Stag Database] \*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\* failed: [dbserver] =\> {“failed”: true} msg: this module requires key=value arguments ([‘state=dump’, ‘name=dbname’, ‘target=~jlouthan/dbname.{changed:’, ‘True,’, ‘end:’, ‘2016-04-22 15:07:30.816204,’, ‘stdout:’, ‘2016-04-22,’, ‘cmd:’, ‘[bash,’, ‘-c,’, ‘date +%Y-%m-%d],’, ‘rc:’, ‘0,’, ‘start:’, ‘2016-04-22 15:07:30.810278,’, ‘stderr:’, ‘,’, ‘delta:’, ‘0:00:00.005926,’, ‘invocation:’, ‘{module\_name:’, ‘ucommand,’, ‘module\_complex\_args:’, ‘{},’, ‘module\_args:’, ‘ubash -c “date +%Y-%m-%d”},’, ‘stdout\_lines:’, ‘[2016-04-22],’, ‘warnings:’, ‘}.sql’]) FATAL: all hosts have already failed – aborting PLAY RECAP \*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\* to retry, use: --limit @/home/jlouthan/test-backup-Client-staging-db.retry dbserver : ok=5 changed=2 unreachable=0 failed=1 ` What am I doing wrong? ---
**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:** [April 22, 2016, 8:20pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/utilizing-timestamps-within-filenames/21232/7 "2016-04-22T20:20:38Z")
that the module name in the error is ‘ucommand’ and the spacing you posted, lends me to believe you are not matching the error to the actual play. ---
**Author:** ![felixfontein](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/ansible/user_avatar/forum.ansible.com/felixfontein/32/7530_2.png) [@felixfontein](https://forum.ansible.com/u/felixfontein)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2016, 9:00pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/utilizing-timestamps-within-filenames/21232/8 "2016-04-22T21:00:35Z")
Hi Joe, > I ran this: > - hosts: dbserver >   remote\_user: jlouthan >   tasks: >       - name: Get current timestamp >         local\_action: command bash -c "date +%Y-%m-%d.%H%M" >         register: timestamp >         run\_once: true > >       - debug: var=timestamp.stdout as you correctly note here, the variable you need is not timestamp, but timestamp.stdout. (I forgot the .stdout in my original mail.) >       - name: Backup Stag Database >         mysql\_db: state=dump name=dbname target=~jlouthan/dbname.{{ > datestamp }}.sql Here you have to write {{ datestamp.stdout }} instead of {{ datestamp }}; otherwise, instead of just the datestamp, the whole dict will be appended, which results in the error message you get below. > TASK: [Backup Stag Database] > \*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\* > failed: [dbserver] =\> {"failed": true} > msg: this module requires key=value arguments (['state=dump', > 'name=dbname', 'target=~jlouthan/dbname.{changed:', 'True,', 'end:', > '2016-04-22 15:07:30.816204,', 'stdout:', '2016-04-22,', 'cmd:', > '[bash,', '-c,', 'date +%Y-%m-%d],', 'rc:', '0,', 'start:', > '2016-04-22 15:07:30.810278,', 'stderr:', ',', 'delta:', > '0:00:00.005926,', 'invocation:', '{module\_name:', 'ucommand,', > 'module\_complex\_args:', '{},', 'module\_args:', 'ubash -c "date > +%Y-%m-%d"},', 'stdout\_lines:', '[2016-04-22],', 'warnings:', > '}.sql']) Here you can see that {{ datestamp }} was replaced by: {changed:', 'True,', 'end:', '2016-04-22 15:07:30.816204,', 'stdout:', '2016-04-22,', 'cmd:', '[bash,', '-c,', 'date +%Y-%m-%d],', 'rc:', '0,', 'start:', '2016-04-22 15:07:30.810278,', 'stderr:', ',', 'delta:', '0:00:00.005926,', 'invocation:', '{module\_name:', 'ucommand,', 'module\_complex\_args:', '{},', 'module\_args:', 'ubash -c "date +%Y-%m-%d"} which is NOT what you want 🙂 Best, Felix ---
**Author:** ![Joe\_Louthan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a698b9/32.png) [@Joe\_Louthan](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Joe_Louthan)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2016, 1:40pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/utilizing-timestamps-within-filenames/21232/9 "2016-04-25T13:40:22Z")
That’s it! Thank you! To avoid being “that guy”, here is the working playbook: ` ---
**Author:** ![sivel](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/ansible/user_avatar/forum.ansible.com/sivel/32/1198_2.png) [@sivel](https://forum.ansible.com/u/sivel)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2016, 1:53pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/utilizing-timestamps-within-filenames/21232/10 "2016-04-25T13:53:27Z")
Also, just as an FYI, this can be achieved without calling the date command: