# Error reading config file (/etc/ansible/ansible.cfg): Source contains parsing errors: '\' \[line 4\]: ' 3 \\n' #601 **URL:** \ **Category:** Ansible Project\ **Created:** [March 15, 2021, 7:53pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/error-reading-config-file-etc-ansible-ansible-cfg-source-contains-parsing-errors-string-line-4-3-n-601/34786 "2021-03-15T19:53:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Mohamed\_Rahiman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e495f1/32.png) [@Mohamed\_Rahiman](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Mohamed_Rahiman)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2021, 7:53pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/error-reading-config-file-etc-ansible-ansible-cfg-source-contains-parsing-errors-string-line-4-3-n-601/34786/1 "2021-03-15T19:53:13Z")
Error reading config file (/etc/ansible/ansible.cfg): Source contains parsing errors: ‘’ [line 4]: ’ 3 \n’ #601 Hi Guys I am learning Ansible as a newbie so that i can get into the industry of IT, I am learning everything from scratch I have two hosts - hosts 1 and 2 i am trying to create a file from host 1 to host 2 - using ansible when i do this i get the following Error reading config file (/etc/ansible/ansible.cfg): Source contains parsing errors: ‘’ [line 4]: ’ 3 \n’ [line 5]: ’ 4 # nearly all parameters can be overridden in ansible-playbook\n’ [line 6]: ’ 5 # or with command line flags. ansible will read ANSIBLE\_CONFIG,\n’ [line 7]: ’ 6 # ansible.cfg in the current working directory, .ansible.cfg in\n’ [line 8]: ’ 7 # the home directory or /etc/ansible/ansible.cfg, whichever it\n’ [line 9]: ’ 8 # finds first\n’ ---
**Author:** ![Antony\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/4491bb/32.png) [@Antony\_Stone](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Antony_Stone)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2021, 8:14pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/error-reading-config-file-etc-ansible-ansible-cfg-source-contains-parsing-errors-string-line-4-3-n-601/34786/2 "2021-03-15T20:14:56Z")
Do you really have line numbers in your config file? You should watch out for line endings, as well - make sure you create these files using Linux, don't do it on a Windows machine and copy them across... Antony. ---
**Author:** ![Mohamed\_Rahiman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e495f1/32.png) [@Mohamed\_Rahiman](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Mohamed_Rahiman)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2021, 10:34am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/error-reading-config-file-etc-ansible-ansible-cfg-source-contains-parsing-errors-string-line-4-3-n-601/34786/3 "2021-03-16T10:34:13Z")
Hi Guys sorry new to this and thanks to Antony Stone - sorry if im being dents but im determined to learn this and glad i found such a great group so actually i did have the lines and took them out - now i am getting the following [WARNING]: \* Failed to parse /etc/ansible/hosts with yaml plugin: YAML inventory has invalid structure, it should be a dictionary, got: \ [WARNING]: \* Failed to parse /etc/ansible/hosts with ini plugin: /etc/ansible/hosts:1: Expected key=value host variable assignment, got: ubuntu2004 [WARNING]: Unable to parse /etc/ansible/hosts as an inventory source [WARNING]: No inventory was parsed, only implicit localhost is available [WARNING]: provided hosts list is empty, only localhost is available. Note that the implicit localhost does not match ‘all’ [WARNING]: Could not match supplied host pattern, ignoring: ubuntu2004\* Basically all i am trying to do is the following - im going through th basics [root@sc-centos-1-2-1-build-1 ansible]# ansible ubuntu2004\* -m file -a “path=/home/user1/file2.txt state=touch mode=700” ---
**Author:** ![Mohamed\_Rahiman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e495f1/32.png) [@Mohamed\_Rahiman](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Mohamed_Rahiman)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2021, 11:06am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/error-reading-config-file-etc-ansible-ansible-cfg-source-contains-parsing-errors-string-line-4-3-n-601/34786/4 "2021-03-16T11:06:35Z")
ok guys did a bit of rtfm and my format for the hosts file was in no format so i did the yaml format with colons and begnnining with all: however no i get this [root@sc-centos-1-2-1-build-1 ansible]# ansible ubuntu2004\* -m file -a “path=/home/user1/file2.txt state=touch mode=700” [WARNING]: Could not match supplied host pattern, ignoring: ubuntu2004\* [WARNING]: No hosts matched, nothing to do [root@sc-centos-1-2-1-build-1 ansible]# ---
**Author:** ![Antony\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/4491bb/32.png) [@Antony\_Stone](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Antony_Stone)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2021, 11:13am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/error-reading-config-file-etc-ansible-ansible-cfg-source-contains-parsing-errors-string-line-4-3-n-601/34786/5 "2021-03-16T11:13:08Z")
Instead of creating your own playbooks in a format you're not familiar with, have you tried starting from a worked-example tutorial which guides you through creating simple playbooks and getting used to ansible commands and YAML formatting? For example: [https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/latest/network/getting\_started/first\_playbook.html](https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/latest/network/getting_started/first_playbook.html) [https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/latest/user\_guide/intro\_getting\_started.html](https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/latest/user_guide/intro_getting_started.html) [https://www.ansible.com/resources/get-started](https://www.ansible.com/resources/get-started) Antony. ---
**Author:** ![Mohamed\_Rahiman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e495f1/32.png) [@Mohamed\_Rahiman](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Mohamed_Rahiman)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2021, 3:50pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/error-reading-config-file-etc-ansible-ansible-cfg-source-contains-parsing-errors-string-line-4-3-n-601/34786/6 "2021-03-16T15:50:31Z")
thanks Antony I think these docs are a good start , created the ssh key pair as i was getting a permission denied trying it out this first command below what is -m vyos.vyos.vyos\_facts -e and ansible\_network\_os=vyos.vyos.vyos ```auto ansible all -i [vyos.example.net](http://vyos.example.net), -c ansible.netcommon.network_cli -u my_vyos_user -k -m vyos.vyos.vyos_facts -e ansible_network_os=vyos.vyos.vyos ``` ---
**Author:** ![Mohamed\_Rahiman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e495f1/32.png) [@Mohamed\_Rahiman](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Mohamed_Rahiman)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2021, 7:20pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/error-reading-config-file-etc-ansible-ansible-cfg-source-contains-parsing-errors-string-line-4-3-n-601/34786/7 "2021-03-16T19:20:43Z")
ok getting the hang of it - but i have added the ssh keys from master to client but when i run ansible -m ping all i get the following root@ubuntu2004:/home/ubuntu# sudo ansible -m ping linux 192.168.1.115 | UNREACHABLE! =\> { “changed”: false, “msg”: “Failed to connect to the host via ssh: [root@192.168.1.115](mailto:root@192.168.1.115): Permission denied (publickey,gssapi-keyex,gssapi-with-mic,password).”, “unreachable”: true } root@ubuntu2004:/home/ubuntu# ---
**Author:** ![Emiliano\_Vazquez](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/df705f/32.png) [@Emiliano\_Vazquez](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Emiliano_Vazquez)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2021, 1:57pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/error-reading-config-file-etc-ansible-ansible-cfg-source-contains-parsing-errors-string-line-4-3-n-601/34786/8 "2021-03-17T13:57:13Z")
> “msg”: “Failed to connect to the host via ssh: [root@192.168.1.115](mailto:root@192.168.1.115): Permission denied (publickey,gssapi-keyex,gssapi-with-mic,password).”, > “unreachable”: true please first try to connect over ssh without asking password On your host running ansible try this: **_ssh [root@192.168.1.115](mailto:root@192.168.1.115)_** You need to enter this host without any password If you fail take a look at this link [https://www.digitalocean.com/community/tutorials/how-to-set-up-ssh-keys-on-debian-10](https://www.digitalocean.com/community/tutorials/how-to-set-up-ssh-keys-on-debian-10) or another talking about this theme. Best regards. ---
**Author:** ![Mohamed\_Rahiman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e495f1/32.png) [@Mohamed\_Rahiman](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Mohamed_Rahiman)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2021, 9:56am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/error-reading-config-file-etc-ansible-ansible-cfg-source-contains-parsing-errors-string-line-4-3-n-601/34786/9 "2021-03-18T09:56:08Z")
thanks Anthony ---
**Author:** ![omodotun\_Babatope](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/58956e/32.png) [@omodotun\_Babatope](https://forum.ansible.com/u/omodotun_Babatope)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2022, 11:09am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/error-reading-config-file-etc-ansible-ansible-cfg-source-contains-parsing-errors-string-line-4-3-n-601/34786/10 "2022-03-28T11:09:08Z")
Hello Anthony, Greetings to you. Hope my email finds you well. I am trying to connect to my linux ubuntu and centOS VM using this IP: 13.67.227.239 & 13.89.200.76 I have this error: (/home/ansible/tutorials/chapter1/ansible.cfg): Source contains parsing errors: ‘’ [line 2]: ‘13.67.227.239\n’ [line 4]: ‘13.89.200.76\n’ Can you please advise. I would be happpy to get a response from you. Best regards. Dotun. ---
**Author:** ![Zhen\_Zeng](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/9de0a6/32.png) [@Zhen\_Zeng](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Zhen_Zeng)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2023, 1:06am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/error-reading-config-file-etc-ansible-ansible-cfg-source-contains-parsing-errors-string-line-4-3-n-601/34786/11 "2023-11-14T01:06:16Z")
Hi Omodotun, I think that’s because your Ansible config file is too old. It’s old format. You should use new syntax in the config file. Here is my example ansible.cfg ---
**Author:** ![dnmvisser](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/8e8cbc/32.png) [@dnmvisser](https://forum.ansible.com/u/dnmvisser)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2023, 12:38pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/error-reading-config-file-etc-ansible-ansible-cfg-source-contains-parsing-errors-string-line-4-3-n-601/34786/12 "2023-11-14T12:38:48Z")
You seem to have added inventory to the ansible configuration file, instead of to the inventory. Start out with an empty configuration, and add your hosts to the inventory file. As this is fundamental to doing anything with ansible, you may want to read [https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/latest/getting\_started/index.html](https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/latest/getting_started/index.html) DIck ---
**Author:** ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/ansible/original/1X/1882d9a01da5d8996a862359b0913cc568a39b84.svg) [@system](https://forum.ansible.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2023, 3:48pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/error-reading-config-file-etc-ansible-ansible-cfg-source-contains-parsing-errors-string-line-4-3-n-601/34786/13 "2023-11-14T15:48:26Z")
> I think that's because your Ansible config file is too old. > It's old format. The ansible.cfg file format has not changed since 0.4, new options have been added but the format has always been the same. ---
**Author:** ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/ansible/original/1X/1882d9a01da5d8996a862359b0913cc568a39b84.svg) [@system](https://forum.ansible.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2023, 3:49pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/error-reading-config-file-etc-ansible-ansible-cfg-source-contains-parsing-errors-string-line-4-3-n-601/34786/14 "2023-11-14T15:49:36Z")
You can use `ansible-config` both to verify the file and to generate one.