community.windows.win_file_compression module – Alters the compression of files and directories on NTFS partitions.

Note

This module is part of the community.windows collection (version 2.4.0).

You might already have this collection installed if you are using the ansible package. 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 community.windows.

To use it in a playbook, specify: community.windows.win_file_compression.

Synopsis

  • This module sets the compressed attribute for files and directories on a filesystem that supports it like NTFS.

  • NTFS compression can be used to save disk space.

Parameters

Parameter

Comments

force

boolean

This option only has an effect when recurse is true

If true, will check the compressed state of all subdirectories and files and make a change if any are different from compressed.

If false, will only make a change if the compressed state of path is different from compressed.

If the folder structure is complex or contains a lot of files, it is recommended to set this option to false so that not every file has to be checked.

Choices:

  • false

  • true ← (default)

path

path / required

The full path of the file or directory to modify.

The path must exist on file system that supports compression like NTFS.

recurse

boolean

Whether to recursively apply changes to all subdirectories and files.

This option only has an effect when path is a directory.

When set to false, only applies changes to path.

When set to true, applies changes to path and all subdirectories and files.

Choices:

  • false ← (default)

  • true

state

string

Set to present to ensure the path is compressed.

Set to absent to ensure the path is not compressed.

Choices:

  • "absent"

  • "present" ← (default)

Notes

Note

Examples

- name: Compress log files directory
  community.windows.win_file_compression:
    path: C:\Logs
    state: present

- name: Decompress log files directory
  community.windows.win_file_compression:
    path: C:\Logs
    state: absent

- name: Compress reports directory and all subdirectories
  community.windows.win_file_compression:
    path: C:\business\reports
    state: present
    recurse: true

# This will only check C:\business\reports for the compressed state
# If C:\business\reports is compressed, it will not make a change
# even if one of the child items is uncompressed

- name: Compress reports directory and all subdirectories (quick)
  community.windows.win_file_compression:
    path: C:\business\reports
    compressed: true
    recurse: true
    force: false

Return Values

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

Key

Description

rc

integer

The return code of the compress/uncompress operation.

If no changes are made or the operation is successful, rc is 0.

Returned: always

Sample: 0

Authors

  • Micah Hunsberger (@mhunsber)