# Find all instances, and build a list **URL:** \ **Category:** Ansible Project\ **Created:** [December 3, 2018, 11:33pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/find-all-instances-and-build-a-list/29183 "2018-12-03T23:33:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![John\_Harmon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/edb3f5/32.png) [@John\_Harmon](https://forum.ansible.com/u/John_Harmon)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2018, 11:33pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/find-all-instances-and-build-a-list/29183/1 "2018-12-03T23:33:41Z")
I have a file, as an example, with the following content: `disk = [file:/OVS/Repositories/0004fb0000030000df2ee11376f1cd94/VirtualDisks/b7558d7745c14b02806d08f8003906e1.img,xvda,w,phy:/OVS/Repositories/0004fb0000030000df2ee11376f1cd94/VirtualDisks/0004fb0000120000049ec392e534e039,xvdb,w,file:/OVS/Repositories/0004fb0000030000df2ee11376f1cd94/VirtualDisks/0004fb0000120000843bb7e2fe395f24.img,xvdc,w]` I wish to find all instances of image files, and build a list with them. Here is my regexp: `(\w+.img)` Here is a regexp tester with all of the above: [https://regex101.com/r/UKcYIa/3](https://regex101.com/r/UKcYIa/3) I know that I can do this with shell, or similar modules, but I wish to do this in a more ansible-native way (if there is one). Is there a module that will allow me to search a file with a regular expression and then register the results to a variable? I just want to build a list of \*img files (can be more than 1 and probably wont exceed 10) so that I can manipulate them later. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Harmon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/edb3f5/32.png) [@John\_Harmon](https://forum.ansible.com/u/John_Harmon)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2018, 11:46pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/find-all-instances-and-build-a-list/29183/2 "2018-12-03T23:46:27Z")
I am trying the following, but it isn’t quite working like I hoped: ` - name: Gather current virtual disks lineinfile: path: “{{ file }}” regexp: (\w+.img) line: ‘’ check\_mode: yes register: virt\_disk ` Result (debug of virt\_disk): ` ok: [myftpserver] =\> { “virt\_disk”: { “backup”: “”, “changed”: true, “diff”: [ { “after”: “”, “after\_header”: “/var/ftp/vm.cfg (content)”, “before”: “”, “before\_header”: “/var/ftp/vm.cfg (content)” }, { “after\_header”: “/var/ftp/vm.cfg (file attributes)”, “before\_header”: “/var/ftp/vm.cfg (file attributes)” } ], “failed”: false, “msg”: “line replaced” } } ` ---
**Author:** ![powcarz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3be4f8/32.png) [@powcarz](https://forum.ansible.com/u/powcarz)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2018, 11:48pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/find-all-instances-and-build-a-list/29183/3 "2018-12-03T23:48:23Z")
Hi Read the file contents with the ‘file’ lookup [https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/2.6/plugins/lookup/file.html](https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/2.6/plugins/lookup/file.html) then run regexp filter on the lookup result: [https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/2.5/user\_guide/playbooks\_filters.html#regular-expression-filters](https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/2.5/user_guide/playbooks_filters.html#regular-expression-filters) eg: “{{ lookup(‘file’, ‘/path/to/file’) | regex\_findall(‘(\w+.img)’) }}” ---
**Author:** ![John\_Harmon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/edb3f5/32.png) [@John\_Harmon](https://forum.ansible.com/u/John_Harmon)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2018, 11:50pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/find-all-instances-and-build-a-list/29183/4 "2018-12-03T23:50:04Z")
Great! Thank you. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Harmon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/edb3f5/32.png) [@John\_Harmon](https://forum.ansible.com/u/John_Harmon)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2018, 5:21pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/find-all-instances-and-build-a-list/29183/5 "2018-12-04T17:21:23Z")
Perhaps I am doing this wrong, but it doesn’t like my syntax. If I escape the backslash (‘\w+.img’) it tries to run but with a different error: ` - name: Find virtual Disks set\_fact: virt\_disks: “{{ lookup(‘file’,‘/var/ftp/vm.cfg’) | regex\_findall(‘\w+.img’) }}” ` Result: ` ERROR! Syntax Error while loading YAML. found unknown escape character The error appears to have been in ‘/etc/ansible/playbooks/one-offs/sanitize\_vm.yml’: line 21, column 75, but may be elsewhere in the file depending on the exact syntax problem. The offending line appears to be: set\_fact: virt\_disks: “{{ lookup(‘file’,‘/var/ftp/vm.cfg’) | regex\_findall(‘\w+.img’) }}” ^ here We could be wrong, but this one looks like it might be an issue with missing quotes. Always quote template expression brackets when they start a value. For instance: with\_items: - {{ foo }} Should be written as: with\_items: - “{{ foo }}” ` If I escape the backslash: ` TASK [Find virtual Disks] \*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\* [WARNING]: Unable to find ‘/var/ftp/vm.cfg’ in expected paths (use -vvvvv to see paths) fatal: [ovmftp]: FAILED! =\> {“msg”: “An unhandled exception occurred while running the lookup plugin ‘file’. Error was a \, original message: could not locate file in lookup: /var/ftp/vm.cfg”} ` I find the error strange on the last one, because I stat the file previous to it and can see it fine. ---
**Author:** ![Kai\_Stian\_Olstad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e19adc/32.png) [@Kai\_Stian\_Olstad](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Kai_Stian_Olstad)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2018, 5:32pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/find-all-instances-and-build-a-list/29183/6 "2018-12-04T17:32:20Z")
> Perhaps I am doing this wrong, but it doesn't like my syntax. If I escape > the backslash ('\\w+.img') it tries to run but with a different error: >     - name: Find virtual Disks >       set\_fact: >         virt\_disks: "{{ lookup('file','/var/ftp/vm.cfg') | > regex\_findall('\w+.img') }}" > > Result: > ERROR! Syntax Error while loading YAML. >   found unknown escape character > > The error appears to have been in > '/etc/ansible/playbooks/one-offs/sanitize\_vm.yml': line 21, column 75, but > may > be elsewhere in the file depending on the exact syntax problem. > > The offending line appears to be: > >       set\_fact: >         virt\_disks: "{{ lookup('file','/var/ftp/vm.cfg') | regex\_findall('\w+.img') }}" \ > I find the error strange on the last one, because I stat the file previous > to it and can see it fine. In your set\_fact, try to swap your single quotes to double quotes and you double to single quotes. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Harmon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/edb3f5/32.png) [@John\_Harmon](https://forum.ansible.com/u/John_Harmon)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2018, 6:02pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/find-all-instances-and-build-a-list/29183/7 "2018-12-04T18:02:13Z")
Now, whether escaped or not it says it can’t find the file. Do I need to delegate\_to in set\_fact? or should it be looking on the host specified? ---
**Author:** ![powcarz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3be4f8/32.png) [@powcarz](https://forum.ansible.com/u/powcarz)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2018, 6:03pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/find-all-instances-and-build-a-list/29183/8 "2018-12-04T18:03:52Z")
John, ---
**Author:** ![John\_Harmon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/edb3f5/32.png) [@John\_Harmon](https://forum.ansible.com/u/John_Harmon)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2018, 6:07pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/find-all-instances-and-build-a-list/29183/9 "2018-12-04T18:07:16Z")
Thx Piotr. That works. I was hoping to be able to do this without shell, but I haven’t been able to find another way around it either. ---
**Author:** ![Kai\_Stian\_Olstad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e19adc/32.png) [@Kai\_Stian\_Olstad](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Kai_Stian_Olstad)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2018, 6:07pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/find-all-instances-and-build-a-list/29183/10 "2018-12-04T18:07:40Z")
lookup plugins run only on localhost not remote, if you file is on the host you can't use lookup. ---
**Author:** ![powcarz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3be4f8/32.png) [@powcarz](https://forum.ansible.com/u/powcarz)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2018, 6:10pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/find-all-instances-and-build-a-list/29183/11 "2018-12-04T18:10:14Z")
Yeah, I’ve turned a full circle… Sorry, but I don’t have a better solution… Piotr ---
**Author:** ![Kai\_Stian\_Olstad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e19adc/32.png) [@Kai\_Stian\_Olstad](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Kai_Stian_Olstad)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2018, 6:11pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/find-all-instances-and-build-a-list/29183/12 "2018-12-04T18:11:27Z")
A lot more code. First use the slurp module to fetch the content and store it to a variable. The result is base64 encode, so you need to use b64decode filer and then you can use the regex filter.