Help Using an .stdout as a VAR Used in a WHEN Condition

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1

Hello. New to this wonderful Ansible thing. I am a database guy. I have an Oracle process that spits out a file that looks like this (but the value could be different at each run):

[oracle@lnx0016 scripts]$ more /tmp/impact.txt -12268.06

Then, within the same playbook, Ansible playbook parses it, and if the value is a negative (less than 0), it is supposed to kick off a whole another block.

  • name: opatch_direct | Export the Post-change Impact Score for for {{ db_name }} shell: ‘cat /tmp/impact.txt’ register: impact_score_literal - name: opatch_direct | GO / NOGO decision for {{ oracle_home }} and {{ db_name }} block: … when: “‘-’ not in impact_score_literal.stdout”

I also tried a less than zero condition, but ignores it.
I think there are two problems:

  1. The number " -12268.06" has a heading empty space
  2. The data type may be wrong? May be I should use something other than “cat”?

Here is the error

TASK [opatch_direct | Stop database ORCLCDB before rolling back 35740258 for /opt/oracle/product/21c/dbhome_1] ************************************************************************************************************************ task path: /home/oracle/ansible/playbooks/opatch_direct.yml:185 fatal: [lnx006]: FAILED! => msg: |- The conditional check ‘’-’ not in impact_score_literal.stdout’ failed. The error was: error while evaluating conditional (‘-’ not in impact_score_literal.stdout): ‘dict object’ has no attribute ‘stdout’ The error appears to be in ‘/home/oracle/ansible/playbooks/opatch_direct.yml’: line 185, column 11, but may be elsewhere in the file depending on the exact syntax problem. The offending line appears to be: - name: opatch_direct | Stop database {{db_name}} before rolling back {{ patch_id }} for {{ oracle_home }} ^ 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 }}” PLAY RECAP **************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************** lnx006 : ok=17 changed=12 unreachable=0 failed=1 skipped=1 rescued=0 ignored=0

Here is the value of the .stdout for the condition check:

changed: [lnx006] => changed=true cmd: cat /tmp/impact.txt delta: ‘0:00:00.004104’ end: ‘2023-12-26 15:38:15.595984’ invocation: module_args: _raw_params: cat /tmp/impact.txt _uses_shell: true argv: null chdir: null creates: null executable: null removes: null stdin: null stdin_add_newline: true strip_empty_ends: true warn: true rc: 0 start: ‘2023-12-26 15:38:15.591880’ stderr: ‘’ stderr_lines: stdout: ’ -12268.06’ stdout_lines:

What I find interesting is that the condition works ONLY with an == sign, not <>. That value , if it matches the /tmp/impact.txt contents, works, meaning Ansible keeps rolling, follows the condition as it should. But that is not what I need. I need it to kick off the block only if the number is negative.

Please help
Thanks
Symian

2 
**$ cat symianarmy01.yml**
---
# symianarmy01.yml
- name: Reading number from a file
  hosts: localhost
  gather_facts: false
  vars:
    <b>fname: /tmp/impact.txt
    content: '  -12268.06'</b>
  tasks:
    - name: Create our temporary file
      ansible.builtin.copy:
        content: '{{ content }}'
        dest: '{{ fname }}'

    - name: Read integer from /tmp/impact.txt
      ansible.builtin.shell: |
        **read impact < "{{ fname }}"**
        **echo "$impact"**
      args:
        executable: /bin/bash
      register: **impact**

    - name: **Is impact less than zero**
      ansible.builtin.debug:
        msg: 'Test: **{{ impact.stdout_lines | first | float < 0 }}**'

**$ ansible-playbook -v symianarmy01.yml**
Using /etc/ansible/ansible.cfg as config file

PLAY [Reading number from a file] ***************************

TASK [Create our temporary file] *****************************
ok: [localhost] => changed=false 
  checksum: c5aea891bcfc6021ef0c26a053039b72aef67c30
  dest: /tmp/impact.txt
  gid: 12428
  group: utoddl
  mode: '0664'
  owner: utoddl
  path: /tmp/impact.txt
  secontext: unconfined_u:object_r:user_tmp_t:s0
  size: 11
  state: file
  uid: 12428

TASK [Read integer from /tmp/impact.txt] *********************
changed: [localhost] => changed=true 
  cmd: |-
    read impact < "/tmp/impact.txt"
    echo "$impact"
  delta: '0:00:00.002843'
  end: '2024-01-09 21:59:56.534851'
  msg: ''
  rc: 0
  start: '2024-01-09 21:59:56.532008'
  stderr: ''
  stderr_lines: <omitted>
  stdout: '-12268.06'
  stdout_lines: <omitted>

TASK [**Is impact less than zero**] *****************************
ok: [localhost] => 
  msg: 'Test: **True**'

PLAY RECAP **************************************************
localhost                  : ok=3    changed=1    unreachable=0    failed=0    skipped=0    rescued=0    ignored=0