'Delete all old files, but keep newest 4 files using ansible-playbook

I would like to delete all old files, and keep newest 4 files. The output isn't what i expected. Even i use absent on file modules, but it doesn't delete the files.

My files are here

# ls -l /home/tomcat/backup
total 0
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 0 Mar  3 14:21 1
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 0 Mar  3 14:21 2
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 0 Mar  3 14:21 3
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 0 Mar  3 14:21 4
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 0 Mar  3 14:21 5
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 0 Mar  3 14:21 6
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 0 Mar  3 14:21 as
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 0 Mar  3 14:21 asd
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 0 Mar  3 14:21 df
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 0 Mar  3 14:21 fas
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 0 Mar  3 14:21 y6

ansible.yml

- name: Prerequsite Deployement | Get first 4 files
  shell: "ls -t {{ item.path }}/{{ item.filename }} | tail -n +4"
  with_items:
    - { path: /home/tomcat/backup, filename: "*" }
  register: files_matched
  tags: prerequsite_deployment

- debug:
    msg: "{{item.stdout_lines}}"
  with_items: "{{files_matched.results}}"
  tags: prerequsite_deployment

- name: Prerequsite Deployement | Clean up path
  file:
    path: "{{item.stdout_lines}}"
    state: absent
  with_items:
    - "{{files_matched.results}}"
  tags: prerequsite_deployment

the result ouput

# ls -l /home/tomcat/backup
total 0
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 0 Mar  3 14:21 1
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 0 Mar  3 14:21 2
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 0 Mar  3 14:21 3
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 0 Mar  3 14:21 4
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 0 Mar  3 14:21 5
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 0 Mar  3 14:21 6
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 0 Mar  3 14:21 as
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 0 Mar  3 14:21 asd
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 0 Mar  3 14:21 df
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 0 Mar  3 14:21 fas
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 0 Mar  3 14:21 y6

My expected result output

# ls -l /home/tomcat/backup
total 0
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 0 Mar  3 14:21 1
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 0 Mar  3 14:21 2
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 0 Mar  3 14:21 3
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 0 Mar  3 14:21 4
linuxshellansible


Solution 1:[1]

The attribute mtime of the dictionaries, listed in the registered variable result.files, can be used to sort the files. For example

  - find:
      paths: dir1
      recurse: true
    register: result

  - set_fact:
      my_files: "{{ result.files|
                    sort(attribute='mtime')|
                    map(attribute='path')|
                    list }}"

Optionally, list the files but the last (newest) 4 files

  - debug:
      var: my_files[0:-4]

and delete the files if this is what you want

  - file:
      state: absent
      path: "{{ item }}"
    loop: "{{ my_files[0:-4] }}"

Sources

This article follows the attribution requirements of Stack Overflow and is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

Source: Stack Overflow

Solution Source
Solution 1

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