tail_grep – Tail a logfile until a regex matcher is found or a timeout triggers

Note

This module is part of the middleware_automation.common collection.

It is not included in ansible-core. To check whether it is installed, run ansible-galaxy collection list.

To install it, use: ansible-galaxy collection install middleware_automation.common.

To use it in a playbook, specify: middleware_automation.common.tail_grep.

Synopsis

• This module is used to follow some application logfile and return successfully when a search string or regex is found; otherwise fail after a timeout.

Parameters

Parameter	Comments
delay integer	How many seconds to wait after opening the file before starting to look for the regex. Default: 0
from_regex string	Backwards from end of file, lines preceeding this string will not be considered for matching regex. By default, the whole file is read. If `$` is used, start from the first line written after the file is opened. Default: ""
path path / required	The file on the remote system to tail.
regex string / required	The string or regular expression to search in the file.
timeout integer	After how many seconds to exit unsuccessfully without having found the search regex. Default: 60

Attributes

Attribute	Support	Description
check_mode	Support: none	Can run in check_mode and return changed status prediction without modifying target, if not supported the action will be skipped.
diff_mode	Support: none	Will return details on what has changed (or possibly needs changing in check_mode), when in diff mode
platform	Platform: posix	Target OS/families that can be operated against

Examples

- name: Tail activemq log until the successful start status code is found
  ansible.builtin.tail_grep:
    path: /var/log/activemq/artemis.log
    regex: AMQ220010

Return Values

Common return values are documented here, the following are the fields unique to this module:

Key	Description
content string	The full string that was matched by the search regex Returned: success Sample: "Application has been started successfully."
source string	Actual path of file opened Returned: success Sample: "/var/log/messages"

Authors

• Guido Grazioli (@guidograzioli)