Ansible stdout_lines writes as list syntax [u'text1',u'text2'] instead of multiline?

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1

Hello - Assistance requested with stdout_lines output.

I have some tasks that take diff results of two files and then writes the output to a log.

Code Snippet:

`

  • name: Gather diff output of deployed changes
    command: “diff {{ deployed_copy_output.dest }} {{ deployed_copy_output.backup_file }}”
    register: diff_output
    failed_when: diff_output.rc > 1

  • name: Log diff changes
    blockinfile:
    dest: “{{ log_dir }}/{{ pb_diff_logname }}”
    content: |
    {{ app_log_header }}
    Command: ‘diff {{ deployed_copy_output.dest }} {{ deployed_copy_output.backup_file }}’
    {{ diff_output.stdout_lines }}
    {{ app_log_footer }}
    create: yes
    insertafter: EOF
    marker: “{{ app_log_marker }}”

`

This results in output that looks like the below.

Command: ‘diff /opt/wmspt/.profile /opt/wmspt/.profile.2016-12-28@23:06:41~’
[u’2a3’, u’> echo hi’]

I would expect it to look more like the debug output:

TASK [role_config_shared_profile : debug] **************************************
ok: [ptl01a0fap006] => {
“diff_output”: {
“changed”: false,
“cmd”: [
“diff”,
“/opt/wmspt/.profile”,
“/opt/wmspt/.profile.2016-12-28@23:27:24~”
],
“delta”: “0:00:00.111675”,
“end”: “2016-12-28 23:27:25.068251”,
“failed”: false,
“failed_when_result”: false,
“rc”: 1,
“start”: “2016-12-28 23:27:24.956576”,
“stderr”: “”,
“stdout”: “2a3\n> echo hi”,
“stdout_lines”: [
“2a3”,
“> echo hi”
],
“warnings”:
}
}

Writing the stdout_lines has some sort of list syntax with [u’text1’,u’text2’], even though debug the same info is correct multiline output. Is there something that I’m missing here?

Thanks

2

Try using join, like this

{{ results.stdout_lines | join ('\n') }}

Not tried, but hope it helps,

Jon

3

Hello Jon - Thanks for the help!

The change you suggested did help clean it up a bit. It changed it from a list output to one line string separated by literal ‘\n’. Something like “2a3\n> echo hi”. This was a step in the right direction.

I did some more digging around and found an answer using Jinja2 whitespace control. Uses a for loop to parse the list output via jinja2 filters.
Updated Code Snippet:

`

  • name: Log diff changes
    blockinfile:
    dest: “{{ log_dir }}/{{ pb_diff_logname }}”
    content: |
    {{ app_log_header }}
    Command: ‘diff {{ deployed_copy_output.dest }} {{ deployed_copy_output.backup_file }}’
    {% for item in diff_output.stdout_lines %}
    {{ item }}
    {% endfor %}
    {{ app_log_footer }}
    create: yes
    insertafter: EOF
    marker: “{{ app_log_marker }}”

`

The output is then quite clean in the log file.

Command: ‘diff /opt/wmspt/.profile /opt/wmspt/.profile.2016-12-29@08:57:50~’
2a3

echo hi

Thanks!

4

Just use stdout … which is a multiline string, stdout_lines is a split of this for people to use each line in a list.