# ERROR: Error reading config file (/Users/user/.ansible.cfg): Source contains parsing errors: '\<string\>'

**URL:** <https://forum.ansible.com/t/error-error-reading-config-file-users-user-ansible-cfg-source-contains-parsing-errors-string/37254>\
**Category:** Ansible Project\
**Created:** [October 20, 2022, 5:33pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/error-error-reading-config-file-users-user-ansible-cfg-source-contains-parsing-errors-string/37254 "2022-10-20T17:33:26Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Caglayan\_Sancaktar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Caglayan\_Sancaktar](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Caglayan_Sancaktar)\
**Post date:** [October 20, 2022, 5:33pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/error-error-reading-config-file-users-user-ansible-cfg-source-contains-parsing-errors-string/37254/1 "2022-10-20T17:33:26Z")

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Hi, I got this error

> >

ERROR: Error reading config file (/Users/sahabt/.ansible.cfg): Source contains parsing errors: ‘’

\<\<

My .ansible.cfg file’s content like this:

> >

[node5]  
172.17.0.2

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Walter\_Rowe](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/ansible/user_avatar/forum.ansible.com/walter_rowe/32/4506_2.png) [@Walter\_Rowe](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Walter_Rowe)\
**Post date:** [October 20, 2022, 5:38pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/error-error-reading-config-file-users-user-ansible-cfg-source-contains-parsing-errors-string/37254/2 "2022-10-20T17:38:57Z")

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That looks like an inventory syntax vs an ansible config syntax.

Walter

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Caglayan\_Sancaktar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Caglayan\_Sancaktar](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Caglayan_Sancaktar)\
**Post date:** [October 20, 2022, 6:05pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/error-error-reading-config-file-users-user-ansible-cfg-source-contains-parsing-errors-string/37254/3 "2022-10-20T18:05:09Z")

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I fixed it.

First of all I created a hosts file in /etc/ansible

then I run this command in main path  
ansible-config init --disabled all \> .ansible.cfg

next I added to .ansible.cfg file this line:  
nventory = /etc/ansible/hosts

finally I could list my hosts.

Thanks.

20 Ekim 2022 Perşembe tarihinde saat 20:39:09 UTC+3 itibarıyla [walte...@nist.gov](mailto:walte...@nist.gov) şunları yazdı: