# ansible-playbook truncating results **URL:** \ **Category:** Ansible Developer\ **Created:** [August 14, 2014, 11:08am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/ansible-playbook-truncating-results/15946 "2014-08-14T11:08:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![bruce\_bushby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/958977/32.png) [@bruce\_bushby](https://forum.ansible.com/u/bruce_bushby)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2014, 11:08am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/ansible-playbook-truncating-results/15946/1 "2014-08-14T11:08:08Z")
Hi I’m new to ansible so still copying examples. I have this playbook example which appears to work…but is truncating the results: [root@adm1-lon ansible]# cat ps.yaml - hosts: development gather\_facts: no tasks: - shell: “ps -eo ppid,pid,user,pcpu,args” register: ps - debug: var=“ps.stdout\_lines” [root@adm1-lon ansible]# and when I run it… [root@adm1-lon ansible]# ansible-playbook -i hosts ps.yaml PLAY [development] \*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\* TASK: [shell ps -eo ppid,pid,user,pcpu,args] \*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\* changed: [[appl12-lon.global.tudor.com](http://appl12-lon.global.tudor.com)] TASK: [debug var=“{{ps.stdout\_lines}}”] \*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\* ok: [[appl12-lon.global.tudor.com](http://appl12-lon.global.tudor.com)] =\> { “”: } PLAY RECAP \*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\* [appl12-lon.global.tudor.com](http://appl12-lon.global.tudor.com) : ok=2 changed=1 unreachable=0 failed=0 [root@adm1-lon ansible]# However, if I change the yaml to limit the line count like so: [root@adm1-lon ansible]# cat ps.yaml - hosts: development gather\_facts: no tasks: - shell: “ps -eo ppid,pid,user,pcpu,args | head -200” register: ps - debug: var=“ps.stdout\_lines” [root@adm1-lon ansible]# I then get my results…although only the first 200 lines: [root@adm1-lon ansible]# ansible-playbook -i hosts ps.yaml PLAY [development] \*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\* TASK: [shell ps -eo ppid,pid,user,pcpu,args | head -200] \*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\* changed: [[appl12-lon.global.tudor.com](http://appl12-lon.global.tudor.com)] TASK: [debug var=“ps.stdout\_lines”] \*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\* ok: [[appl12-lon.global.tudor.com](http://appl12-lon.global.tudor.com)] =\> { “ps.stdout\_lines”: [ " PPID PID USER %CPU COMMAND", " 0 1 root 0.0 /sbin/init", " 0 2 root 0.0 [kthreadd]“, " 2 3 root 0.0 [migration/0]”, " 2 4 root 0.0 [ksoftirqd/0]“, " 2 5 root 0.0 [migration/0]”, " 2 6 root 0.0 [migration/1]“, " 2 7 root 0.0 [migration/1]”, … System details: [root@adm1-lon ansible]# cat /etc/redhat-release Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server release 6.4 (Santiago) [root@adm1-lon ansible]# rpm -qa | grep -i ansible ansible-1.5.3-1.el6.noarch [root@adm1-lon ansible]# Any ideas? ---
**Author:** ![Michael\_DeHaan1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5e9695/32.png) [@Michael\_DeHaan1](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Michael_DeHaan1)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2014, 12:17pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/ansible-playbook-truncating-results/15946/2 "2014-08-14T12:17:24Z")
Do you mean you only get 200 lines of the standard output, or you don’t see the rest of the playbook run? Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![bruce\_bushby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/958977/32.png) [@bruce\_bushby](https://forum.ansible.com/u/bruce_bushby)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2014, 12:33pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/ansible-playbook-truncating-results/15946/3 "2014-08-14T12:33:32Z")
I don’t get ANY results…unless I limit the line count. Here you can see my ps.yaml and the empty results: [root@adm1-lon ansible]# [root@adm1-lon ansible]# cat ps.yaml - hosts: development gather\_facts: no tasks: - **shell: “ps -eo ppid,pid,user,pcpu,args”** register: ps - debug: var=“ps.stdout\_lines” [root@adm1-lon ansible]# [root@adm1-lon ansible]# ansible-playbook -i hosts ps.yaml PLAY [development] \*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\* TASK: [shell ps -eo ppid,pid,user,pcpu,args] \*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\* changed: [[appl12-lon.global.tudor.com](http://appl12-lon.global.tudor.com)] TASK: [debug var=“ps.stdout\_lines”] \*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\* ok: [[appl12-lon.global.tudor.com](http://appl12-lon.global.tudor.com)] =\> { **“ps.stdout\_lines”: []** } PLAY RECAP \*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\* [appl12-lon.global.tudor.com](http://appl12-lon.global.tudor.com) : ok=2 changed=1 unreachable=0 failed=0 [root@adm1-lon ansible]# The all I do is add a “| tail -210” and suddenly I start getting results: [root@adm1-lon ansible]# cat ps.yaml - hosts: development gather\_facts: no tasks: - **shell: “ps -eo ppid,pid,user,pcpu,args | tail -210”** register: ps - debug: var=“ps.stdout\_lines” [root@adm1-lon ansible]# [root@adm1-lon ansible]# ansible-playbook -i hosts ps.yaml PLAY [development] \*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\* TASK: [shell ps -eo ppid,pid,user,pcpu,args | tail -210] \*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\* changed: [[appl12-lon.global.tudor.com](http://appl12-lon.global.tudor.com)] TASK: [debug var=“ps.stdout\_lines”] \*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\* ok: [[appl12-lon.global.tudor.com](http://appl12-lon.global.tudor.com)] =\> { **“ps.stdout\_lines”: [** " 2748 2793 68 0.0 hald-addon-acpi: listening on acpid socket /var/run/acpid.socket", " 1 2805 bbushby 0.0 /bin/sh /etc/vnc/xstartup", " 2805 2809 bbushby 0.0 /usr/bin/ck-xinit-session /usr/bin/ssh-agent /etc/X11/xinit/Xclients", " 1 2825 bbushby 0.0 dbus-launch --sh-syntax --exit-with-session", " 1 2827 bbushby 0.0 /bin/dbus-daemon --fork --print-pid 5 --print-address 7 --session", " 2809 2855 bbushby 0.0 /usr/bin/gnome-session", " 2855 2856 bbushby 0.0 /usr/bin/ssh-agent /etc/X11/xinit/Xclients", I was wondering about paramiko buffers/max char reads? This is not a “line count” issue because it varies from system to system, it’s more a “max chars” limit that renders the result blank. To make things more confusing…I created a large file with thousands of lines with many thousands of chars and I can “cat” it without any truncation. ---
**Author:** ![Michael\_DeHaan1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5e9695/32.png) [@Michael\_DeHaan1](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Michael_DeHaan1)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2014, 12:40pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/ansible-playbook-truncating-results/15946/4 "2014-08-14T12:40:27Z")
Hmm, ok, I think I understand now, you’re not seeing any stdout from that task. Can you please debug the full value and show me what you get (without the tail?) - debug: var=ps I’m also interested in your Ansible version. (Also, are you sure you are using paramiko? Perhaps explicitly specify with -c, as I want to make sure of the connection type). Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![bruce\_bushby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/958977/32.png) [@bruce\_bushby](https://forum.ansible.com/u/bruce_bushby)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2014, 1:15pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/ansible-playbook-truncating-results/15946/5 "2014-08-14T13:15:50Z")
Here we go…I simplified the “ps” command [root@adm1-lon ansible]# [root@adm1-lon ansible]# cat ps.yaml - hosts: development gather\_facts: no tasks: - shell: “ps -ef” register: ps - debug: var=ps [root@adm1-lon ansible]# [root@adm1-lon ansible]# ansible-playbook -i hosts ps.yaml PLAY [development] \*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\* TASK: [shell ps -ef] \*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\* changed: [[appl12-lon.global.tudor.com](http://appl12-lon.global.tudor.com)] TASK: [debug var=ps] \*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\* ok: [[appl12-lon.global.tudor.com](http://appl12-lon.global.tudor.com)] =\> { “ps”: { “changed”: true, “cmd”: "ps -ef ", “delta”: “0:00:00.025065”, “end”: “2014-08-14 14:00:52.483265”, “invocation”: { “module\_args”: “ps -ef”, “module\_name”: “shell” }, “rc”: 0, “start”: “2014-08-14 14:00:52.458200”, “stderr”: “”, “stdout”: “”, “stdout\_lines”: } } PLAY RECAP \*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\* [appl12-lon.global.tudor.com](http://appl12-lon.global.tudor.com) : ok=2 changed=1 unreachable=0 failed=0 [root@adm1-lon ansible]# I think it has something to do with the way ansible is parsing the shell command. If I change the command to simply “ps” …then it works 100% on my 3 test servers…although “ps” on it’s does generate less characters. [root@adm1-lon ansible]# [root@adm1-lon ansible]# [root@adm1-lon ansible]# cat ps.yaml - hosts: development gather\_facts: no tasks: - shell: “ps” register: ps - debug: var=ps [root@adm1-lon ansible]# [root@adm1-lon ansible]# ansible-playbook -i hosts ps.yaml PLAY [development] \*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\* TASK: [shell ps] \*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\* changed: [[appl12-lon.global.tudor.com](http://appl12-lon.global.tudor.com)] TASK: [debug var=ps] \*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\* ok: [[appl12-lon.global.tudor.com](http://appl12-lon.global.tudor.com)] =\> { “ps”: { “changed”: true, “cmd”: "ps ", “delta”: “0:00:00.016743”, “end”: “2014-08-14 14:03:04.342171”, “invocation”: { “module\_args”: “ps”, “module\_name”: “shell” }, “rc”: 0, “start”: “2014-08-14 14:03:04.325428”, “stderr”: “”, “stdout”: " PID TTY TIME CMD\n 1 ? 00:00:04 init\n 2 ? 00:00:00 kthreadd\n 3 ? 00:00:09 migration/0\n 4 ? 00:02:37 ksoftirqd/0\n 5 ? 00:00:00 migration/0\ …cut Here I run a simple “cat /tmp/file” which returns 768k+ characters…so perhaps not just a simple max character/buffer issue. [root@adm1-lon ansible]# [root@adm1-lon ansible]# cat count.yaml - hosts: development gather\_facts: no tasks: - shell: cat /tmp/test-count register: count - debug: var=“{{count.stdout\_lines}}” [root@adm1-lon ansible]# [root@adm1-lon ansible]# ansible-playbook -i hosts count.yaml | wc -c 768386 [root@adm1-lon ansible]# ---
**Author:** ![Michael\_DeHaan1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5e9695/32.png) [@Michael\_DeHaan1](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Michael_DeHaan1)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2014, 1:22pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/ansible-playbook-truncating-results/15946/6 "2014-08-14T13:22:07Z")
That’s really weird - all shell commands are parsed the same. before I ask you to file a bug on this, can you share what version of Ansible you are using? Aside on one thing really quickly: " - debug: var=“{{count.stdout\_lines}}” This really should be: - debug: msg=“{{ count.stdout\_lines }}” Though it appears to work for simple integers, 768386 is not a variable name, so that’s why it’s weird. - debug: var=count.stdout\_lines should be legit.