How to perform Ansible task if given directory is not empty?

Question

I am using Ansible to move logs to backup directory (using shell module, mv command).

mv command fails if there are no files to move. By default, it causes whole Ansible play to fail. I can proceed with play, even if task fails (ignore_errors: yes)

I am not satisfied with this solution, because it produces error message

TASK [move files to backup directory] ****************************************** fatal: [xx.xx.xx.xx]: FAILED! =...?No such file or directory", "stdout": "", "stdout_lines": [], "warnings": []} ...ignoring

How to check if directory is empty in Ansible, and if empty jus skip task?

Answer 1

You can use find module in ansible 2.0 to find files with .log extension in directory then execute move if files is found

- find: paths=DIRECTORY file_type=directory patterns="*.log"
  register: dir_files

- shell: mv *.log /tmp
  when: dir_files.matched|int != 0

Answer 2

There is accepted answer that uses find module.

Another option (less readable and more verbose) is to use native Linux commands- test result of ls command

- name: "backup logs"
  shell: test "$(ls /var/logs/)"
  register: logsPresent
  changed_when: false

- name: "move files to backup directory"
  when: "logsPresent.rc != 0"
  shell: "mv /var/logs/ /backup/logs"