.. _ansible.windows.win_template_module: **************************** ansible.windows.win_template **************************** **Template a file out to a remote server** .. contents:: :local: :depth: 1 Synopsis -------- - Templates are processed by the `Jinja2 templating language `_. - Documentation on the template formatting can be found in the `Template Designer Documentation `_. - Additional variables listed below can be used in templates. - ``ansible_managed`` (configurable via the ``defaults`` section of ``ansible.cfg``) contains a string which can be used to describe the template name, host, modification time of the template file and the owner uid. - ``template_host`` contains the node name of the template's machine. - ``template_uid`` is the numeric user id of the owner. - ``template_path`` is the path of the template. - ``template_fullpath`` is the absolute path of the template. - ``template_destpath`` is the path of the template on the remote system (added in 2.8). - ``template_run_date`` is the date that the template was rendered. Parameters ---------- .. raw:: html
Parameter Choices/Defaults Comments
backup
boolean
    Choices:
  • no ←
  • yes
Determine whether a backup should be created.
When set to yes, create a backup file including the timestamp information so you can get the original file back if you somehow clobbered it incorrectly.
block_end_string
string
Default:
"%}"
The string marking the end of a block.
block_start_string
string
Default:
"{%"
The string marking the beginning of a block.
dest
path / required
Location to render the template to on the remote machine.
force
boolean
    Choices:
  • no
  • yes ←
Determine when the file is being transferred if the destination already exists.
When set to yes, replace the remote file when contents are different than the source.
When set to no, the file will only be transferred if the destination does not exist.
lstrip_blocks
boolean
    Choices:
  • no ←
  • yes
Determine when leading spaces and tabs should be stripped.
When set to yes leading spaces and tabs are stripped from the start of a line to a block.
This functionality requires Jinja 2.7 or newer.
newline_sequence
string
    Choices:
  • \n
  • \r
  • \r\n ←
Specify the newline sequence to use for templating files.
output_encoding
string
Default:
"utf-8"
Overrides the encoding used to write the template file defined by dest.
It defaults to utf-8, but any encoding supported by python can be used.
The source template file must always be encoded using utf-8, for homogeneity.
src
path / required
Path of a Jinja2 formatted template on the Ansible controller.
This can be a relative or an absolute path.
The file must be encoded with utf-8 but output_encoding can be used to control the encoding of the output template.
trim_blocks
boolean
    Choices:
  • no
  • yes ←
Determine when newlines should be removed from blocks.
When set to yes the first newline after a block is removed (block, not variable tag!).
variable_end_string
string
Default:
"}}"
The string marking the end of a print statement.
variable_start_string
string
Default:
"{{"
The string marking the beginning of a print statement.

Notes ----- .. note:: - Including a string that uses a date in the template will result in the template being marked 'changed' each time. - Also, you can override jinja2 settings by adding a special header to template file. i.e. ``#jinja2:variable_start_string:'[%', variable_end_string:'%]', trim_blocks: False`` which changes the variable interpolation markers to ``[% var %]`` instead of ``{{ var }}``. This is the best way to prevent evaluation of things that look like, but should not be Jinja2. - Using raw/endraw in Jinja2 will not work as you expect because templates in Ansible are recursively evaluated. - To find Byte Order Marks in files, use ``Format-Hex -Count 16`` on Windows, and use ``od -a -t x1 -N 16 `` on Linux. - Beware fetching files from windows machines when creating templates because certain tools, such as Powershell ISE, and regedit's export facility add a Byte Order Mark as the first character of the file, which can cause tracebacks. - You can use the :ref:`ansible.windows.win_copy ` module with the ``content:`` option if you prefer the template inline, as part of the playbook. - For Linux you can use :ref:`ansible.builtin.template ` which uses '\\n' as ``newline_sequence`` by default. See Also -------- .. seealso:: :ref:`ansible.windows.win_copy_module` The official documentation on the **ansible.windows.win_copy** module. :ref:`ansible.builtin.copy_module` The official documentation on the **ansible.builtin.copy** module. :ref:`ansible.builtin.template_module` The official documentation on the **ansible.builtin.template** module. Examples -------- .. code-block:: yaml - name: Create a file from a Jinja2 template ansible.windows.win_template: src: /mytemplates/file.conf.j2 dest: C:\Temp\file.conf - name: Create a Unix-style file from a Jinja2 template ansible.windows.win_template: src: unix/config.conf.j2 dest: C:\share\unix\config.conf newline_sequence: '\n' backup: yes Return Values ------------- Common return values are documented `here `_, the following are the fields unique to this module: .. raw:: html
Key Returned Description
backup_file
string
if backup=yes
Name of the backup file that was created.

Sample:
C:\Path\To\File.txt.11540.20150212-220915.bak


Status ------ Authors ~~~~~~~ - Jon Hawkesworth (@jhawkesworth)