# How can I match \`\\s\` or \`\\t\` in a \`search\` test? **URL:** \ **Category:** Ansible Project\ **Created:** [June 20, 2022, 9:36am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/how-can-i-match-s-or-t-in-a-search-test/36755 "2022-06-20T09:36:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Nick\_Kakouros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/d26b3c/32.png) [@Nick\_Kakouros](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Nick_Kakouros)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2022, 9:36am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/how-can-i-match-s-or-t-in-a-search-test/36755/1 "2022-06-20T09:36:37Z")
Here is an example: - hosts: localhost gather\_facts: false vars: q: - ‘abc’ - 123 tasks: - debug: msg: \>- {{ q is search(‘abc\t’) }} This returns false. I have tried different variations of the regex, but nothing worked. Is this possible to do? ---
**Author:** ![dnmvisser](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/8e8cbc/32.png) [@dnmvisser](https://forum.ansible.com/u/dnmvisser)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2022, 11:52am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/how-can-i-match-s-or-t-in-a-search-test/36755/2 "2022-06-20T11:52:31Z")
Escape the tab with another single quote, like this:              {{ q is search('abc\\t') }} Dick ---
**Author:** ![dnmvisser](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/8e8cbc/32.png) [@dnmvisser](https://forum.ansible.com/u/dnmvisser)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2022, 11:53am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/how-can-i-match-s-or-t-in-a-search-test/36755/3 "2022-06-20T11:53:36Z")
On 2022-06-20 (Mon) 13:52, Dick Visser w > Escape the tab with another single quote, like this: I meant with another backslash obviously ---
**Author:** ![vbotka](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/ansible/user_avatar/forum.ansible.com/vbotka/32/359_2.png) [@vbotka](https://forum.ansible.com/u/vbotka)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2022, 7:22pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/how-can-i-match-s-or-t-in-a-search-test/36755/4 "2022-06-20T19:22:15Z")
>     q: >       - 'abc\' >       - 123 > >     - debug: >         msg: \>- >           {{ q is search('abc\t') }} There are more aspects to this question: \* It's necessary to understand the difference between 'Double-Quoted   Style' and 'Single-Quoted Style'. See [https://yaml.org/spec/1.2.2/#731-double-quoted-style](https://yaml.org/spec/1.2.2/#731-double-quoted-style) [https://yaml.org/spec/1.2.2/#732-single-quoted-style](https://yaml.org/spec/1.2.2/#732-single-quoted-style) In 'Single-Quoted Style' only "'" has to be escaped. As a result, the string 'abc\t' doesn't include TAB. It's a sequence of characters: a, b, c, \, t. Test it. The task below     - copy:         dest: /tmp/test.txt         content: |           {{ ql.0 }}           {{ ql.1 }}       vars:         ql:           - 'abc\tx'           - 123 gives   \> cat /tmp/test.txt   abc\tx   123 The string will include TAB if you use 'Double-Quoted Style'     - copy:         dest: /tmp/test.txt         content: |           {{ ql.0 }}           {{ ql.1 }}       vars:         ql:           - "abc\tx"           - 123 gives   \> cat /tmp/test.txt   abc x   123 \* The \*search\* test doesn't work with lists. It works with strings.   See [https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/latest/user\_guide/playbooks\_tests.html#testing-strings](https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/latest/user_guide/playbooks_tests.html#testing-strings) Use it to test a single item of a list. For example,     - debug:         msg: "{{ ql.0 is search(regex) }}"       vars:         regex: 'abc\tx'         ql:           - "abc\tx"           - 123 gives   msg: true Also the task below, with single-quoted \*item\* and escaped backslash in \*regex\*, gives the same result     - debug:         msg: "{{ ql.0 is search(regex) }}"       vars:         regex: 'abc\\tx'         ql:           - 'abc\tx'           - 123 \* Instead, you can "Test if a list contains a value". See [https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/latest/user\_guide/playbooks\_tests.html#testing-if-a-list-contains-a-value](https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/latest/user_guide/playbooks_tests.html#testing-if-a-list-contains-a-value) For example, both tasks below returns \*True\*     - debug:         msg: "{{ item in ql }}"       vars:         item: 'abc\tx'         ql:           - 'abc\tx'           - 123     - debug:         msg: "{{ item in ql }}"       vars:         item: "abc\tx"         ql:           - "abc\tx"           - 123 \* If you want to use \*regex\* to test an item in a list use \*select\*.   For example,     - debug:         msg: "{{ ql|select('search', regex) }}"       vars:         regex: 'abc\\tx'         ql:           - 'abc\tx'           - 123 gives   msg:     - abc\tx , or use it in a condition. For example,     - debug:         msg: "Regex {{ regex }} is present in the list."       when: ql|select('search', regex)|length \> 0       vars:         regex: 'abc\\tx'         ql:           - 'abc\tx'           - 123 gives   msg: Regex abc\\tx is present in the list. ---
**Author:** ![Nick\_Kakouros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/d26b3c/32.png) [@Nick\_Kakouros](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Nick_Kakouros)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2022, 8:58pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/how-can-i-match-s-or-t-in-a-search-test/36755/5 "2022-06-20T20:58:42Z")
Thank you for your replies. The search test does work with lists and this is where the issue lies. Your examples helped me clear this up. The search, regex, etc tests will convert the object to a string. In python code, this means that the list will be turned into a string with str(list\_here). This will escape tab characters in the list items, so that a list [“a”, “b\t”] will get converted to the string, ‘[“a”, “b\t”]’. To match this correctly with the search test, I need to search for …b\t… in single quotes. ---
**Author:** ![Nick\_Kakouros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/d26b3c/32.png) [@Nick\_Kakouros](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Nick_Kakouros)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2022, 9:09pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/how-can-i-match-s-or-t-in-a-search-test/36755/6 "2022-06-20T21:09:15Z")
There is also the case that the search test appears in an assert: - assert: that: - q is search(‘abc\t’) The tab character needs to be double escaped here because (I think) the assert clause is interpreted as a double quoted string. ---
**Author:** ![Nick\_Kakouros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/d26b3c/32.png) [@Nick\_Kakouros](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Nick_Kakouros)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2022, 9:10pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/how-can-i-match-s-or-t-in-a-search-test/36755/7 "2022-06-20T21:10:35Z")
Correction: - assert: that: - q is search(‘abc\t’ | regex\_escape) using regex\_escape to avoid escaping manually the backslashes (‘abc\\t’) ---
**Author:** ![vbotka](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/ansible/user_avatar/forum.ansible.com/vbotka/32/359_2.png) [@vbotka](https://forum.ansible.com/u/vbotka)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2022, 3:53am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/how-can-i-match-s-or-t-in-a-search-test/36755/8 "2022-06-21T03:53:43Z")
I see. You're right. It's worth to test the escaping. The simplest case is when the items are double-quoted and \*regex\* is variable     - debug:         msg: "{{ \_list is search(regex) }}"       vars:         \_list: ["a", "b\t"]         regex: 'b\\t' Additional escaping, because of the outside double-quotes, is needed when \*regex\* is value     - debug:         msg: "{{ \_list is search('b\\\\t') }}"       vars:         \_list: ["a", "b\t"] Additional escaping is also needed when the items are single-quoted and \*regex\* is variable. This time because of '\\' is needed after evaluation     - debug:         msg: "{{ \_list is search(regex) }}"       vars:         \_list: ['a', 'b\t']         regex: 'b\\\\t' Finally, one more additional escaping is needed when you put the \*regex\* as a value     - debug:         msg: "{{ \_list is search('b\\\\\\\\t') }}"       vars:         \_list: ['a', 'b\t'] All tasks above return True. ---
**Author:** ![dnmvisser](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/8e8cbc/32.png) [@dnmvisser](https://forum.ansible.com/u/dnmvisser)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2022, 4:40am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/how-can-i-match-s-or-t-in-a-search-test/36755/9 "2022-06-21T04:40:54Z")
This overview is worthy of its own paragraph in the ansible docs!