How to create an empty file with Ansible?

The documentation of the file module says

If state=file, the file will NOT be created if it does not exist, see the copy or template module if you want that behavior.

So we use the copy module, using force=no to create a new empty file only when the file does not yet exist (if the file exists, its content is preserved).

- name: ensure file exists
  copy:
    content: ""
    dest: /etc/nologin
    force: no
    group: sys
    owner: root
    mode: 0555

This is a declarative and elegant solution.

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.

Another option, using the command module:

- name: Create file
  command: touch /path/to/file
  args:
    creates: /path/to/file

The 'creates' argument ensures that this action is not performed if the file exists.

file module provide way to touch file without modifying its time.

- name: Touch again the same file, but dont change times this makes the task idempotent
  file:
    path: /etc/foo.conf
    state: touch
    mode: u+rw,g-wx,o-rwx
    modification_time: preserve
    access_time: preserve

Reference: https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/latest/modules/file_module.html