# format url module output

**URL:** <https://forum.ansible.com/t/format-url-module-output/13938>\
**Category:** Ansible Project\
**Created:** [November 19, 2013, 9:28pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/format-url-module-output/13938 "2013-11-19T21:28:42Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 20\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![David\_Neudorfer1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/46a35a/32.png) [@David\_Neudorfer1](https://forum.ansible.com/u/David_Neudorfer1)\
**Post date:** [November 19, 2013, 9:28pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/format-url-module-output/13938/1 "2013-11-19T21:28:42Z")

</div>

I’m using Ansible to purchase a domain name using the [namecheap.com](http://namecheap.com) api. Here is a example of the playbook.

- name: Purchase Domain Name  
local\_action: \>  
uri url=[https://api.sandbox.namecheap.com/xml.response](https://api.sandbox.namecheap.com/xml.response)  
method=GET body=“{{ namecheap\_purchase\_domain\_name }}”  
status\_code=200 HEADER\_Content-Type=“application/x-www-form-urlencoded”  
register: domain\_name\_purchase

- debug: msg=“{{ domain\_name\_purchase }}”

The output looks like this:

ok: [162.243.95.241] =\> {“cache\_control”: “private”, “changed”: false, “content”: “\<?xml version=\"1.0\" encoding=\"utf-8\"?\>\r\n\<ApiResponse Status="OK" xmlns="[http://api.namecheap.com/xml.response\](http://api.namecheap.com/xml.response%5C)”\>\r\n \r\n \r\n namecheap.domains.getList\r\n \<CommandResponse Type="namecheap.domains.getList"\>\r\n \r\n \<Domain ID="33320" Name="asdfasdfasdfasdfasdfasdfasdfjk123.com" User="username" Created="11/19/2013" Expires="11/19/2014" IsExpired="false" IsLocked="false" AutoRenew="false" WhoisGuard="NOTPRESENT" /\>\r\n \<Domain ID="33321" Name="avd.com" User="username" Created="11/19/2013" Expires="11/19/2014" IsExpired="false" IsLocked="false" AutoRenew="false" WhoisGuard="NOTPRESENT" /\>\r\n \<Domain ID="33319" Name="domain.com" User="username" Created="11/19/2013" Expires="11/19/2014" IsExpired="false" IsLocked="false" AutoRenew="false" WhoisGuard="NOTPRESENT" /\>\r\n \<Domain ID="33318" Name="domain.com" User="username" Created="11/19/2013" Expires="11/19/2014" IsExpired="false" IsLocked="false" AutoRenew="false" WhoisGuard="NOTPRESENT" /\>\r\n \<Domain ID="33322" Name="domain11.com" User="username" Created="11/19/2013" Expires="11/19/2014" IsExpired="false" IsLocked="false" AutoRenew="false" WhoisGuard="NOTPRESENT" /\>\r\n \<Domain ID="33323" Name="domain [13.com](http://13.com)" User="username" Created="11/19/2013" Expires="11/19/2014" IsExpired="false" IsLocked="false" AutoRenew="false" WhoisGuard="NOTPRESENT" /\>\r\n \<Domain ID="32804" Name="domain.com" User="username" Created="11/01/2013" Expires="11/02/2014" IsExpired="false" IsLocked="false" AutoRenew="false" WhoisGuard="NOTPRESENT" /\>\r\n \<Domain ID="32805" Name="domain3.com" User="username" Created="11/01/2013" Expires="11/02/2014" IsExpired="false" IsLocked="false" AutoRenew="false" WhoisGuard="NOTPRESENT" /\>\r\n \<Domain ID="32806" Name="domain [4.com](http://4.com)" User="username" Created="11/01/2013" Expires="11/02/2014" IsExpired="false" IsLocked="false" AutoRenew="false" WhoisGuard="NOTPRESENT" /\>\r\n \<Domain ID="33316" Name="domain5.com" User="username" Created="11/19/2013" Expires="11/19/2014" IsExpired="false" IsLocked="false" AutoRenew="false" WhoisGuard="NOTPRESENT" /\>\r\n \r\n \r\n 10\r\n 1\r\n 20\r\n \r\n \r\n WEB1-SANDBOX1\r\n –5:00\r\n 0.096\r\n", “content\_length”: “2478”, “content\_location”: “[https://api.sandbox.namecheap.com/xml.response](https://api.sandbox.namecheap.com/xml.response)”, “content\_type”: “text/xml; charset=utf-8”, “date”: “Wed, 20 Nov 2013 02:06:37 GMT”, “item”: “”, “redirected”: false, “server”: “Microsoft-IIS/7.0”, “status”: 200, “x\_aspnet\_version”: “4.0.30319”, “x\_powered\_by”: “[ASP.NET](http://ASP.NET)”}

I’m interested in the XML inside the ‘content’ container. Is there any way to query this output so I know if the purchase was successful or not

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![kahlil.hodgson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b9bd4f/32.png) [@kahlil.hodgson](https://forum.ansible.com/u/kahlil.hodgson)\
**Post date:** [November 19, 2013, 9:51pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/format-url-module-output/13938/2 "2013-11-19T21:51:23Z")

</div>

something like

- command: /bin/echo FOO

when: ‘“FOO” in domain\_name\_purchase.stdout’

where FOO is a string indicating successful purchase.

Hope this helps,

K

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**Author:** ![David\_Neudorfer1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/46a35a/32.png) [@David\_Neudorfer1](https://forum.ansible.com/u/David_Neudorfer1)\
**Post date:** [November 19, 2013, 10:23pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/format-url-module-output/13938/3 "2013-11-19T22:23:07Z")

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Thanks Kahlil,

Thats a great idea. Thank you. I’ve updated my code now:

- name: Purchase Domain Name  
local\_action: \>  
uri  
url=[https://api.sandbox.namecheap.com/xml.response](https://api.sandbox.namecheap.com/xml.response)  
method=GET  
body=“{{ namecheap\_purchase\_domain\_name }}”  
status\_code=200  
HEADER\_Content-Type=“application/x-www-form-urlencoded”  
return\_content=yes  
register: domain\_name\_purchase

- command: /bin/echo SUCCESS  
when: ‘“ApiResponse Status=OK” in domain\_name\_purchase.stdout’

Now I’m getting this error:

TypeError: argument of type ‘StrictUndefined’ is not iterable

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Michael\_DeHaan2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/da6949/32.png) [@Michael\_DeHaan2](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Michael_DeHaan2)\
**Post date:** [November 19, 2013, 10:26pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/format-url-module-output/13938/4 "2013-11-19T22:26:38Z")

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yes, you can’t call things on undefined variables.

Perhaps there’s a copy paste error and that variable isn’t named what you expect.

Also, it should _NOT_ be a thing, but might be in some versions of ansible, make sure there’s not a trailing space after the register line. If there is, let me know, I’m just being paranoid that that could be a thing.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![kahlil.hodgson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b9bd4f/32.png) [@kahlil.hodgson](https://forum.ansible.com/u/kahlil.hodgson)\
**Post date:** [November 19, 2013, 10:36pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/format-url-module-output/13938/5 "2013-11-19T22:36:15Z")

</div>

Hmm … just searched by ansible setup because I’ve seen this recently. Here’s an example where selinux.stdout is undefined when it perhaps should be an empty string.

# this is mainly to fix an iptables rpm bug

- name: ensure selinux contexts under /sbin are correct  
command: /sbin/restorecon -rv /sbin/  
register: selinux  
changed\_when: \>  
selinux.stdout is defined and ‘reset’ in selinux.stdout

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Michael\_DeHaan2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/da6949/32.png) [@Michael\_DeHaan2](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Michael_DeHaan2)\
**Post date:** [November 19, 2013, 10:40pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/format-url-module-output/13938/6 "2013-11-19T22:40:16Z")

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I would agree if stdout is blank it should be returned as an empty string.

If you can reproduce this on 1.3.X/1.4 please file a ticket and we’ll repro on our end and make sure 1.4 or 1.5 gets a fix for it.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![kahlil.hodgson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b9bd4f/32.png) [@kahlil.hodgson](https://forum.ansible.com/u/kahlil.hodgson)\
**Post date:** [November 19, 2013, 10:41pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/format-url-module-output/13938/7 "2013-11-19T22:41:24Z")

</div>

rizo:ansible ansible --version  
ansible 1.4 (devel b7971a426c) last updated 2013/11/18 08:39:30 (GMT +1100)

Will file a ticket.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![David\_Neudorfer1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/46a35a/32.png) [@David\_Neudorfer1](https://forum.ansible.com/u/David_Neudorfer1)\
**Post date:** [November 19, 2013, 11:24pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/format-url-module-output/13938/8 "2013-11-19T23:24:05Z")

</div>

Woo Hoo! Always good to help discover a bug. I’m still struggling with parsing the output. my variable {{ domain\_name\_purchase }} is returned what I called in the url while “return\_content=yes” is returned the error code I want to parse. How do I manipulate the returned content?

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Michael\_DeHaan2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/da6949/32.png) [@Michael\_DeHaan2](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Michael_DeHaan2)\
**Post date:** [November 19, 2013, 11:27pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/format-url-module-output/13938/9 "2013-11-19T23:27:55Z")

</div>

Define manipulate?

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![kahlil.hodgson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b9bd4f/32.png) [@kahlil.hodgson](https://forum.ansible.com/u/kahlil.hodgson)\
**Post date:** [November 19, 2013, 11:28pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/format-url-module-output/13938/10 "2013-11-19T23:28:34Z")

</div>

Hi David,

I’m having trouble reproducing this issue. Have been taking a lot of pain killers over the last week, so this may just be because my brain is mush. What version of ansible are using?

K

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![kahlil.hodgson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b9bd4f/32.png) [@kahlil.hodgson](https://forum.ansible.com/u/kahlil.hodgson)\
**Post date:** [November 19, 2013, 11:35pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/format-url-module-output/13938/11 "2013-11-19T23:35:17Z")

</div>

You might want to have a look at  
[http://jinja.pocoo.org/docs/templates/#builtin-filters](http://jinja.pocoo.org/docs/templates/#builtin-filters)

for some jinja type things that you can do

Also there are some ansible docs on filters somewhere on the website.

The variable is python-ish so I believe some python constructs might work.

K

Kahlil (Kal) Hodgson GPG: C9A02289  
Head of Technology (m) +61 (0) 4 2573 0382  
DealMax Pty Ltd (w) +61 (0) 3 9008 5281

Suite 1415  
401 Docklands Drive  
Docklands VIC 3008 Australia

"All parts should go together without forcing. You must remember that  
the parts you are reassembling were disassembled by you. Therefore,  
if you can't get them together again, there must be a reason. By all  
means, do not use a hammer." -- IBM maintenance manual, 1925

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Michael\_DeHaan2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/da6949/32.png) [@Michael\_DeHaan2](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Michael_DeHaan2)\
**Post date:** [November 19, 2013, 11:38pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/format-url-module-output/13938/12 "2013-11-19T23:38:38Z")

</div>

For purposes of Google history, let us know what you want to do, and we can suggest something.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![David\_Neudorfer1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/46a35a/32.png) [@David\_Neudorfer1](https://forum.ansible.com/u/David_Neudorfer1)\
**Post date:** [November 19, 2013, 11:39pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/format-url-module-output/13938/13 "2013-11-19T23:39:38Z")

</div>

I’m running version 1.4 and I’m looking to detect what error returns

\<ApiResponse Status="ERROR"

and what that error is:

\<Error Number="3028166"\>540:Object exists

or a success

ApiResponse Status="OK"

Thanks for the help guys.

Cheers,

David

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![David\_Neudorfer1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/46a35a/32.png) [@David\_Neudorfer1](https://forum.ansible.com/u/David_Neudorfer1)\
**Post date:** [November 20, 2013, 12:19am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/format-url-module-output/13938/14 "2013-11-20T00:19:03Z")

</div>

Maybe someone can help me understand my python better. domain\_name\_purchase is dict object that as far as I can tell has no attributes or elements. I can echo it but beyond that I’m stuck.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![kahlil.hodgson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b9bd4f/32.png) [@kahlil.hodgson](https://forum.ansible.com/u/kahlil.hodgson)\
**Post date:** [November 20, 2013, 12:26am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/format-url-module-output/13938/15 "2013-11-20T00:26:18Z")

</div>

try

- debug: var=domain\_name\_purchase

should show you all the elements of the dict

K

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![David\_Neudorfer1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/46a35a/32.png) [@David\_Neudorfer1](https://forum.ansible.com/u/David_Neudorfer1)\
**Post date:** [November 20, 2013, 12:31am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/format-url-module-output/13938/16 "2013-11-20T00:31:57Z")

</div>

Kahlil, Thank you! That got me one step closer. I’m using:

- debug: var=domain\_name\_purchase.content

To return the data I need. How do I drill down even further?

I’d like to return “ApiResponse Status” and check if it was ERROR or SUCCESS and what “Error Number” is was

ok: [162.243.95.241] =\> {

“domain\_name\_purchase.content”: “\<?xml version=\"1.0\" encoding=\"utf-8\"?\>\r\n\<ApiResponse Status="ERROR" xmlns="[[http://api.namecheap.com/xml.response\](http://api.namecheap.com/xml.response%5C)]([http://api.namecheap.com/xml.response\](http://api.namecheap.com/xml.response%5C))”\>\r\n \r\n \<Error Number="4014104"\>Possible duplicate create command for unavailable domain. Try again after 11/20/2013 7:29:46 AM UTC\r\n \r\n \r\n namecheap.domains.create\r\n \<CommandResponse Type="namecheap.domains.create"\>\r\n \<DomainCreateResult Domain="[elitereceipt202321412341234.com](http://elitereceipt202321412341234.com)" ChargedAmount="0" DomainID="0" OrderID="0" TransactionID="0" WhoisguardEnable="false" FreePositiveSSL="false" NonRealTimeDomain="false" /\>\r\n \r\n WEB1-SANDBOX1\r\n –5:00\r\n 0.02\r\n",

“item”: “”

}

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![kahlil.hodgson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b9bd4f/32.png) [@kahlil.hodgson](https://forum.ansible.com/u/kahlil.hodgson)\
**Post date:** [November 20, 2013, 12:42am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/format-url-module-output/13938/17 "2013-11-20T00:42:08Z")

</div>

You’ve drilled down as far as you can go in the data structure. What you have got is a string. You will need to do some kind of string munging to get any further. I think you might be able to use the python ‘find’ method on the string, e.g., {{ domain\_name\_purchase.content.find(“Error”) }}, but I’m not sure that’s what you want. Someone on this list who actually knows python might be able to help here and I’d be keen to see how the experts approach it. It would be great if there was a filter (say ‘xml2dict’) that would magically turn an xml string into python/jinja2 data structure.

K

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Michael\_DeHaan2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/da6949/32.png) [@Michael\_DeHaan2](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Michael_DeHaan2)\
**Post date:** [November 20, 2013, 3:46am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/format-url-module-output/13938/18 "2013-11-20T03:46:07Z")

</div>

when: “‘foo’ in variable”

when: “‘foo’ not in variable”

is usually cleaner than find.

find in Python returns -1 if a string is not found, so what Kahlil suggested above needs to add that the comparison to -1.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![kahlil.hodgson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b9bd4f/32.png) [@kahlil.hodgson](https://forum.ansible.com/u/kahlil.hodgson)\
**Post date:** [November 20, 2013, 3:59am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/format-url-module-output/13938/19 "2013-11-20T03:59:36Z")

</div>

I think what David is looking for, and what I was alluding to, was something like a regexp capture. I know how I’d do this in Perl, but have no idea what the magic Python invocation would be. That is, something like: {{ foo\_string.capture(‘Error=“(\d+)”’, 1) }} to give me back the error number, perhaps for later use in a template. Is there such a thing in Python?

K

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![David\_Neudorfer1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/46a35a/32.png) [@David\_Neudorfer1](https://forum.ansible.com/u/David_Neudorfer1)\
**Post date:** [November 20, 2013, 4:01am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/format-url-module-output/13938/20 "2013-11-20T04:01:37Z")

</div>

Kahlil is correct. Thats exactly what I’m looking for. Thank for the help guys.

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