# error when running a windows command using 'raw' **URL:** \ **Category:** Ansible Developer\ **Tags:** windows, awx\ **Created:** [August 15, 2019, 4:08pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/error-when-running-a-windows-command-using-raw/31051 "2019-08-15T16:08:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Chris\_Jackson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8c91f0/32.png) [@Chris\_Jackson](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Chris_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2019, 4:08pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/error-when-running-a-windows-command-using-raw/31051/1 "2019-08-15T16:08:28Z")
Hi all, Tearing my hair out trying to resolve this. I am getting the following:- “reason”: “failed at splitting arguments, either an unbalanced jinja2 block or quotes: C:\‘Program Files’\IBM\SQLLIB\BIN\db2licm -a\n{{ temp\_area }}\{{ db2\_lic\_file }}\n\nThe error appears to have been in ‘/var/lib/awx/projects/\_49\_\_ansible\_chrisj\_testing/playbooks/MQ\_Test/Machine\_Setup/roles/DB2\_Install/tasks/Win32NT\_DB2\_Install.yml’: line 51, column 7, but may\nbe elsewhere in the file depending on the exact syntax problem.\n\nThe offending line appears to be:\n\n\n - name: Installing the license\n ^ here\n” This is the errant piece of yaml:- - name: Installing the license raw: | C:'Program Files’\IBM\SQLLIB\BIN\db2licm -a {{ temp\_area }}{{ db2\_lic\_file }} Can anyone help? Many Thanks Chris. ---
**Author:** ![dnsbob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ea5d25/32.png) [@dnsbob](https://forum.ansible.com/u/dnsbob)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2019, 8:07pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/error-when-running-a-windows-command-using-raw/31051/2 "2019-08-15T20:07:36Z")
My first guess is that the backslash "" characters are ‘escaping’ the following character. Try doubling each of them “\” ---
**Author:** ![dnsbob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ea5d25/32.png) [@dnsbob](https://forum.ansible.com/u/dnsbob)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2019, 8:14pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/error-when-running-a-windows-command-using-raw/31051/3 "2019-08-15T20:14:59Z")
Probably not that, it seems to have understood the backslash. It is complaining about the “name:” line, so either there is an invisible character (happens when I cut/paste from a doc or web page), or likely the problem is before that line, so it is not expecting the ‘name:’ line. Can you show us the preceding few lines? ---
**Author:** ![jborean](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/ansible/user_avatar/forum.ansible.com/jborean/32/1525_2.png) [@jborean](https://forum.ansible.com/u/jborean)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2019, 8:50pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/error-when-running-a-windows-command-using-raw/31051/4 "2019-08-15T20:50:31Z")
Not sure why it is complaining here, maybe an invisble control character. Anyway you are best off doing the following; ` - name: Installing the license raw: ‘“C:\Program Files\IBM\SQLLIB\BIN\db2licm” -a “{{ temp\_area }}{{ db2\_lic\_file }}”’ ` Raw in Windows is not truly raw as it is run in a PowerShell shell so the standard quoting rules apply. Having C:'Progam Files’.. wouldn’t work as that isn’t valid PowerShell. The example above will quote that whole string as well as your -a arg in case it has a space in it. You can also consider using win\_command for this if you want to talk advantage of things like become, environment, async and some of the other options it adds. Thanks Jordan ---
**Author:** ![jborean](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/ansible/user_avatar/forum.ansible.com/jborean/32/1525_2.png) [@jborean](https://forum.ansible.com/u/jborean)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2019, 8:51pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/error-when-running-a-windows-command-using-raw/31051/5 "2019-08-15T20:51:34Z")
Actually if your example is literal and -a is on a newline then that’s probably your issue, it sounds like you wanted ‘\>’ not ‘|’ to folder each newline in your string but I still recommend the way above I posted. ---
**Author:** ![Chris\_Jackson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8c91f0/32.png) [@Chris\_Jackson](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Chris_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2019, 9:01am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/error-when-running-a-windows-command-using-raw/31051/6 "2019-08-16T09:01:09Z")
Thankls for the responses so far. Getting a different error now after applying your suggestion Jordan (so positive) “stderr\_lines”: [ “At line:1 char:43”, “+ "C:\Program Files\IBM\SQLLIB\BIN\db2licm" -a "C:\Users\ADMINI~1\AppDa …”, “+ ~~”, “Unexpected token ‘-a’ in expression or statement.”, “At line:1 char:46”, “+ … \db2licm" -a "C:\Users\ADMINI~1\AppData\Local\Temp\db2\_11\_aese\_u.lic"”, “+ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ”, “Unexpected token ‘"C:\Users\ADMINI~1\AppData\Local\Temp\db2\_11\_aese\_u.lic"’ in expression or statement.”, “+ CategoryInfo : ParserError: (🙂 , ParentContainsErrorRecordException”, “+ FullyQualifiedErrorId : UnexpectedToken” ], “\_ansible\_no\_log”: false, “stdout”: “”, “changed”: true, “stderr”: “At line:1 char:43\r\n+ "C:\Program Files\IBM\SQLLIB\BIN\db2licm" -a "C:\Users\ADMINI~1\AppDa …\r\n+ ~~\r\nUnexpected token ‘-a’ in expression or statement.\r\nAt line:1 char:46\r\n+ … \db2licm" -a "C:\Users\ADMINI~1\AppData\Local\Temp\db2\_11\_aese\_u.lic"\r\n+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ \r\nUnexpected token ‘"C:\Users\ADMINI~1\AppData\Local\Temp\db2\_11\_aese\_u.lic"’ in expression or statement.\r\n+ CategoryInfo : ParserError: (🙂 , ParentContainsErrorRecordException\r\n+ FullyQualifiedErrorId : UnexpectedToken\r\n”, “rc”: 1, “msg”: “non-zero return code”, “stdout\_lines”: ---
**Author:** ![Chris\_Jackson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8c91f0/32.png) [@Chris\_Jackson](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Chris_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2019, 9:06am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/error-when-running-a-windows-command-using-raw/31051/7 "2019-08-16T09:06:03Z")
Sorry, just to add to the previous post, the yaml is now as follows:- - name: Installing the license raw: ‘“C:\Program Files\IBM\SQLLIB\BIN\db2licm” -a “{{ temp\_area }}{{ db2\_lic\_file }}”’ ---
**Author:** ![jborean](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/ansible/user_avatar/forum.ansible.com/jborean/32/1525_2.png) [@jborean](https://forum.ansible.com/u/jborean)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2019, 11:03am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/error-when-running-a-windows-command-using-raw/31051/8 "2019-08-16T11:03:45Z")
That’s my bad, when you quote the string and want to execute it you need to add the call operator like: - raw: ‘&” C:\Program Files\... “‘ The alternative is to use win\_command with the setup you have right now. ---
**Author:** ![Chris\_Jackson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8c91f0/32.png) [@Chris\_Jackson](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Chris_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2019, 11:42am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/error-when-running-a-windows-command-using-raw/31051/9 "2019-08-16T11:42:31Z")
Jordan, Worked like a dream! I changed the module to win\_command. Many thanks for your help! Regards Chris