# How to split action into multiline? **URL:** \ **Category:** Ansible Project\ **Created:** [August 7, 2013, 5:07pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/how-to-split-action-into-multiline/13270 "2013-08-07T17:07:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![howachen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/54ee81/32.png) [@howachen](https://forum.ansible.com/u/howachen)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2013, 5:07pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/how-to-split-action-into-multiline/13270/1 "2013-08-07T17:07:24Z")
How to split action into multiline? e.g. ---
**Author:** ![Michael\_DeHaan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c4cdca/32.png) [@Michael\_DeHaan](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Michael_DeHaan)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2013, 6:12pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/how-to-split-action-into-multiline/13270/2 "2013-08-07T18:12:23Z")
Your indentation is off. Several options. # (1) complex arguments by passing a hash to the module   - name: Update the Apache config     copy:         src: httpd.conf         dest: /etc/httpd/httpd.conf # (2) or equivalently   - name: Update the Apache config     action:         module: copy         src: httpd.conf         dest: /etc/httpd/httpd.conf # (3) YAML line continuations   - name: Update the Apache config     copy: \>         src=httpd.conf         dest=/etc/httpd/httpd.conf # )4\_ YAML line continuations   - name: Update the Apache config     action: copy \>         src=httpd.conf         dest=/etc/httpd/httpd.conf I generally prefer option 1 or 3. ---
**Author:** ![Andy1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a8b319/32.png) [@Andy1](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Andy1)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2013, 8:01pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/how-to-split-action-into-multiline/13270/3 "2013-08-07T20:01:05Z")
I usually prefer 1 too, since the others get messy quickly and it creates better diff in git. But it makes problems with modules which don’t have a named argument. For instance: - name: Create SSH keypair files command: \> ssh-keygen -f id\_rsa -N ‘’ creates=id\_rsa work but I cannot do: - name: Create SSH keypair files command: command: ssh-keygen -f id\_rsa -N ‘’ creates: id\_rsa Is there a way? I also tried to “0:” instead of “command:” but that didn’t work either. ---
**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:** [August 7, 2013, 8:48pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/how-to-split-action-into-multiline/13270/4 "2013-08-07T20:48:42Z")
This? - name: Create SSH keypair files command: command: ssh-keygen -f id\_rsa -N ‘’ creates: id\_rsa No, that won’t work. The command module doesn’t do key=value arguments. ---
**Author:** ![C\_Morgan\_Hamill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ebca7d/32.png) [@C\_Morgan\_Hamill](https://forum.ansible.com/u/C_Morgan_Hamill)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2013, 4:19pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/how-to-split-action-into-multiline/13270/5 "2013-08-08T16:19:52Z")
I've had no problems with the following, also:     - name: Update the Apache config       copy: src=httpd.conf             dest=/etc/httpd/httpd.conf PyYAML, at least, seems to assign all of "src=httpd.conf dest=/etc/httpd/httpd.conf" as the value of the "copy" key. yamllint.com also seems to have no issues with this. Anything no good about this that I'm missing? ---
**Author:** ![John\_Jarvis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e47774/32.png) [@John\_Jarvis](https://forum.ansible.com/u/John_Jarvis)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2013, 4:34pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/how-to-split-action-into-multiline/13270/6 "2013-08-11T16:34:27Z")
> # (3) YAML line continuations > - name: Update the Apache config >    copy: \> >        src=httpd.conf >        dest=/etc/httpd/httpd.conf (3) Also seems to work without the "\>", for example:     copy:         src=httpd.conf         dest=/etc/httpd/httpd.conf Formatting long lines is something we run into frequently with a lot of people working on the same playbooks, would a section on line continuation in the best practices section of the docs make sense? I wouldn't mind taking a stab at it if it's something the community would find useful. -John ---
**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:** [August 11, 2013, 6:57pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/how-to-split-action-into-multiline/13270/7 "2013-08-11T18:57:44Z")
That would be great! Probably should go here: [http://www.ansibleworks.com/docs/YAMLSyntax.html](http://www.ansibleworks.com/docs/YAMLSyntax.html) ---
**Author:** ![Adam\_Baxter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/439d5e/32.png) [@Adam\_Baxter](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Adam_Baxter)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2013, 11:32pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/how-to-split-action-into-multiline/13270/8 "2013-11-23T23:32:42Z")
I just ran into the multiple line issue and found this thread via search. > Probably should go here: > > [http://www.ansibleworks.com/docs/YAMLSyntax.html](http://www.google.com/url?q=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ansibleworks.com%2Fdocs%2FYAMLSyntax.html&sa=D&sntz=1&usg=AFQjCNFcwMF6F7nx0p8Uef7RFLp5CNEjNw) Info about multiple lines doesn’t seem to be there, however it’s mentioned in [http://www.ansibleworks.com/docs/playbooks.html#tasks-list](http://www.ansibleworks.com/docs/playbooks.html#tasks-list) This thread seems to be the most complete source of documentation on the topic 🙂 Is it worth raising a GitHub issue for “incomplete” documentation or is the split-on-space method the preferred way of breaking long lines? Thanks, Adam Baxter ---
**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 25, 2013, 6:44pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/how-to-split-action-into-multiline/13270/9 "2013-11-25T18:44:22Z")
You can file github tickets on the docs, sure. Since the documentation is open source, an even better thing to do (if you are so inclined) is to patch the docs: [https://github.com/ansible/ansible/tree/devel/docsite/rst](https://github.com/ansible/ansible/tree/devel/docsite/rst) I think covering this in multiple places can’t hurt.