[stable-2.9] find - set proper default based on use_regex (#73961)

changelogs/fragments/fix_find_default.yml

@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+bugfixes:
+  - find - fix default pattern when use_regex is true (https://github.com/ansible/ansible/issues/50067).

lib/ansible/modules/files/find.py

@@ -32,7 +32,7 @@
               first letter of any of those words (e.g., "1w").
         type: str
     patterns:
-        default: '*'
+        default: []
         description:
             - One or more (shell or regex) patterns, which type is controlled by C(use_regex) option.
             - The patterns restrict the list of files to be returned to those whose basenames match at
@@ -44,6 +44,7 @@
             - This parameter expects a list, which can be either comma separated or YAML. If any of the
               patterns contain a comma, make sure to put them in a list to avoid splitting the patterns
               in undesirable ways.
+            - Defaults to '*' when C(use_regex=False), or '.*' when C(use_regex=True).
         type: list
         aliases: [ pattern ]
     excludes:
@@ -359,9 +360,9 @@ def statinfo(st):
 def main():
     module = AnsibleModule(
         argument_spec=dict(
-            paths=dict(type='list', required=True, aliases=['name', 'path']),
-            patterns=dict(type='list', default=['*'], aliases=['pattern']),
-            excludes=dict(type='list', aliases=['exclude']),
+            paths=dict(type='list', required=True, aliases=['name', 'path'], elements='str'),
+            patterns=dict(type='list', default=[], aliases=['pattern'], elements='str'),
+            excludes=dict(type='list', aliases=['exclude'], elements='str'),
             contains=dict(type='str'),
             file_type=dict(type='str', default="file", choices=['any', 'directory', 'file', 'link']),
             age=dict(type='str'),
@@ -379,6 +380,16 @@ def main():
 
     params = module.params
 
+    # Set the default match pattern to either a match-all glob or
+    # regex depending on use_regex being set.  This makes sure if you
+    # set excludes: without a pattern pfilter gets something it can
+    # handle.
+    if not params['patterns']:
+        if params['use_regex']:
+            params['patterns'] = ['.*']
+        else:
+            params['patterns'] = ['*']
+
     filelist = []
 
     if params['age'] is None:

test/integration/targets/find/tasks/main.yml

@@ -95,3 +95,25 @@
           - 'find_test2.matched == 1'
           - 'find_test2.files[0].pw_name is defined'
           - 'find_test2.files[0].gr_name is defined'
+
+- name: exclude with regex
+  find:
+    paths: "{{ output_dir_test }}"
+    recurse: yes
+    use_regex: true
+    exclude: .*\.ogg
+  register: find_test3
+# Note that currently sane ways of doing this with map() or
+# selectattr() aren't available in centos6 era jinja2 ...
+- set_fact:
+    find_test3_list: >-
+      [ {% for f in find_test3.files %}
+      {{ f.path }}
+      {% if not loop.last %},{% endif %}
+      {% endfor %}
+      ]
+- debug: var=find_test3_list
+- name: assert we skipped the ogg file
+  assert:
+    that:
+      - '"{{ output_dir_test }}/e/f/g/h/8.ogg" not in find_test3_list'