# Bug in shell module? Wrong syntax not noticed **URL:** \ **Category:** Ansible Project\ **Created:** [June 1, 2016, 12:40pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/bug-in-shell-module-wrong-syntax-not-noticed/21633 "2016-06-01T12:40:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Johannes\_Kastl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Johannes\_Kastl](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Johannes_Kastl)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2016, 12:40pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/bug-in-shell-module-wrong-syntax-not-noticed/21633/1 "2016-06-01T12:40:20Z")
Dear all, I stumbled upon this code, because it was not idempotent and reported as changed each time I ran the playbook: - name: "copy file"   shell: "cp /some/path/to/a/file.txt /home/foobar/some/other/path"   args:     creates="/home/foobar/some/other/path/file.txt" Somehow I had missed that the creates argument is to be given with a colon, not with an equal sign. When using a colon, this task is idempotent. Should this syntax error not be detected somehow? Or is this (by coincidence) valid YAML? The shell module does not respect the setting with an equal sign, only with a colon. Johannes ---
**Author:** ![Brian\_Coca](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6de8d8/32.png) [@Brian\_Coca](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Brian_Coca)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2016, 10:35pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/bug-in-shell-module-wrong-syntax-not-noticed/21633/2 "2016-06-01T22:35:47Z")
​the problem is you are mixing syntax: this is valid: ​- name: “copy file” shell: “cp /some/path/to/a/file.txt /home/foobar/some/other/path creates=”/home/foobar/some/other/path/file.txt" this is also valid: - name: “copy file” shell: “cp /some/path/to/a/file.txt /home/foobar/some/other/path” args: creates: “/home/foobar/some/other/path/file.txt” args won’t give you an error in the case you showed as you passed a string to the shell module which allows for arbitrary strings (shell commands). To the shell that would have appeared as setting a variable inline or an extra parameter. ---
**Author:** ![Johannes\_Kastl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Johannes\_Kastl](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Johannes_Kastl)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2016, 7:25am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/bug-in-shell-module-wrong-syntax-not-noticed/21633/3 "2016-06-02T07:25:19Z")
But I would have thought that as soon as an 'args:' appears, the shell module should get that the following is syntax-with-colon and throw an error otherwise. Or do you mean that creates=foo could be a valid argument? But all arguments to the shell module should declare something (a=b), not just switch something on or off (disable\_foo). Johannes ---
**Author:** ![Brian\_Coca](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6de8d8/32.png) [@Brian\_Coca](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Brian_Coca)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2016, 4:54pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/bug-in-shell-module-wrong-syntax-not-noticed/21633/4 "2016-06-02T16:54:00Z")
modules don’t read args, ansible does, then passes them to the module, since the shell module is ‘free form’ there is really nothing to validate against, since what you are passing can work in a shell … there is no error thrown either. ---
**Author:** ![Johannes\_Kastl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Johannes\_Kastl](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Johannes_Kastl)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2016, 5:36pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/bug-in-shell-module-wrong-syntax-not-noticed/21633/5 "2016-06-02T17:36:13Z")
I'll reword my thought: If ansible is doing the parsing, it already distinguishes between the two syntax methods (the one with one line and all stuff and the other one where there is a line containing 'args:' and some more lines). IMHO it should note that as soon as the 'args:' appears, everything after that should be in declarative syntax (foo: bar) and every line not containing a colon is wrong syntax. Johannes