How to create an empty file with Ansible?

Question

What is the easiest way to create an empty file using Ansible? I know I can save an empty file into the files directory and then copy it to the remote host, but I f

Answer 1

Something like this (using the stat module first to gather data about it and then filtering using a conditional) should work:

- stat: path=/etc/nologin
  register: p

- name: create fake 'nologin' shell
  file: path=/etc/nologin state=touch owner=root group=sys mode=0555
  when: p.stat.exists is defined and not p.stat.exists

You might alternatively be able to leverage the changed_when functionality.