# Inlinefile module keep adding a line when it does exists

**URL:** <https://forum.ansible.com/t/inlinefile-module-keep-adding-a-line-when-it-does-exists/29838>\
**Category:** Ansible Project\
**Created:** [March 7, 2019, 9:29am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/inlinefile-module-keep-adding-a-line-when-it-does-exists/29838 "2019-03-07T09:29:29Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Jean\_Carlo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/77aa72/32.png) [@Jean\_Carlo](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Jean_Carlo)\
**Post date:** [March 7, 2019, 9:29am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/inlinefile-module-keep-adding-a-line-when-it-does-exists/29838/1 "2019-03-07T09:29:29Z")

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Hello  
I want to change the configuration of vim, in order to do set mouse=r.

At the beginning this line is commented by default. Using inlinefile module, I check by regexp the line commented and I replace it with the new line like this:

- name: Uncommenting mouse=a in /etc/vim/vimrc  
lineinfile:  
path: /etc/vim/vimrc  
regexp: ‘^"set mouse=a’  
line: ‘set mouse=r’

First runs is okay, but the second run ansible append another line to the file like this:

TASK [cassandra\_preinstall : Uncommenting mouse=a in /etc/vim/vimrc] \*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*  
— before: /etc/vim/vimrc (content)  
+++ after: /etc/vim/vimrc (content)  
@@ -56,3 +56,4 @@  
if filereadable(“/etc/vim/vimrc.local”)  
source /etc/vim/vimrc.local  
endif

+set mouse=r

It is like lineinfile does not care about the regexp result that should be empty.

What I am missing ?

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Emmanuel\_Livingstone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Emmanuel\_Livingstone](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Emmanuel_Livingstone)\
**Post date:** [March 10, 2019, 3:02am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/inlinefile-module-keep-adding-a-line-when-it-does-exists/29838/2 "2019-03-10T03:02:45Z")

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Here is the documentation for lineinmodule regexp section

> The regular expression to look for in every line of the file.  
> For `state=present`, the pattern to replace if found. Only the last line found will be replaced.  
> For `state=absent`, the pattern of the line(s) to remove.  
> If the regular expression is not matched, the line will be added to the file in keeping with`insertbefore` or `insertafter` settings.  
> **When modifying a line the regexp should typically match both the initial state of the line as well as its state after replacement by `line` to ensure idempotence.**  
> Uses Python regular expressions. See [http://docs.python.org/2/library/re.html](http://docs.python.org/2/library/re.html).

Since you are modifying the line, the regexp should match the initial state, i.e. **"set mouse=a** and the final state, i.e., **set mouse=r**  
So the task that you should use is as follows

- name: Uncommenting mouse=a in /etc/vim/vimrc  
lineinfile:  
path: /etc/vim/vimrc  
**regexp: ‘^"?set mouse=[ar]’**  
line: ‘set mouse=r’

This is my first response in ansible group. Be gentle.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Jean\_Carlo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/77aa72/32.png) [@Jean\_Carlo](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Jean_Carlo)\
**Post date:** [March 12, 2019, 1:03pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/inlinefile-module-keep-adding-a-line-when-it-does-exists/29838/3 "2019-03-12T13:03:00Z")

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Hello Emmanuel

Thank you very much that works.