# Inserting multiple lines in a file after specific line

**URL:** <https://forum.ansible.com/t/inserting-multiple-lines-in-a-file-after-specific-line/12666>\
**Category:** Ansible Project\
**Created:** [April 11, 2013, 4:38pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/inserting-multiple-lines-in-a-file-after-specific-line/12666 "2013-04-11T16:38:38Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Ivan\_Lezhnjov\_IV](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/cdc98d/32.png) [@Ivan\_Lezhnjov\_IV](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Ivan_Lezhnjov_IV)\
**Post date:** [April 11, 2013, 4:38pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/inserting-multiple-lines-in-a-file-after-specific-line/12666/1 "2013-04-11T16:38:38Z")

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Hey everyone,

so I want to insert multiple lines into a file after a specific line to create a blacklist. I use lineinfile module and it kinda works but it really doesn’t

This is a snippet of the file where I try to insert new lines:

// List of packages to not update  
Unattended-Upgrade::Package-Blacklist {  
// “vim”;  
// “libc6”;  
// “libc6-dev”;  
// “libc6-i686”;  
};

When I run this action, it works as I expect it:

- lineinfile: dest=/etc/apt/apt.conf.d/50unattended-upgrades regexp=‘postgresql’ insertafter=“Unattended-Upgrade::Package-Blacklist” line=’ postgresql-9.3’

it makes the snippet look like this:

// List of packages to not update  
Unattended-Upgrade::Package-Blacklist {  
postgresql-9.3

// “vim”;  
// “libc6”;  
// “libc6-dev”;  
// “libc6-i686”;  
};

However, when I have two lineinfile actions following each other, like so:

- lineinfile: dest=/etc/apt/apt.conf.d/50unattended-upgrades regexp=‘postgresql’ insertafter=“Unattended-Upgrade::Package-Blacklist” line=’ postgresql-9.3’

- lineinfile: dest=/etc/apt/apt.conf.d/50unattended-upgrades regexp=‘postgresql’ insertafter=“Unattended-Upgrade::Package-Blacklist” line=’ postgresql-9.2’

what happens is that the last action overwrites the same line over and over and the snippet thus looks like this:

// List of packages to not update  
Unattended-Upgrade::Package-Blacklist {  
postgresql-9.2

// “vim”;  
// “libc6”;  
// “libc6-dev”;  
// “libc6-i686”;  
};

I would expect to have

// List of packages to not update  
Unattended-Upgrade::Package-Blacklist {  
postgresql-9.2

postgresql-9.3

// “vim”;  
// “libc6”;  
// “libc6-dev”;  
// “libc6-i686”;  
};

I admit that I don’t get the logic behind lineinfile actions at all. It’s beyond me why regexp=‘’ has to always match line=‘’, and if they don’t actions fails.

So, I’d like to add multiple lines like that, any ideas how I can do this with lineinfile? I know I can have templates, but I’d rather just insert lines in this particular case.

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**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:** [April 11, 2013, 4:45pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/inserting-multiple-lines-in-a-file-after-specific-line/12666/2 "2013-04-11T16:45:32Z")

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Regexp must match the line because regexp is the thing that decides if the line needs to be inserted or not.

Suppose you wanted to do “insert x=2” if there is no line in the file that contains “x=” already, etc

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Ivan\_Lezhnjov\_IV](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/cdc98d/32.png) [@Ivan\_Lezhnjov\_IV](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Ivan_Lezhnjov_IV)\
**Post date:** [April 11, 2013, 4:53pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/inserting-multiple-lines-in-a-file-after-specific-line/12666/3 "2013-04-11T16:53:47Z")

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Well, in

- lineinfile: dest=/etc/apt/apt.conf.d/50unattended-upgrades regexp=‘postgresql’ insertafter=“Unattended-Upgrade::Package-Blacklist” line=’ postgresql-9.3’

I match against regexp=‘postgresql’ and that line does NOT exist nowhere in the file. So, what does that mean in regards to regexp making decisions? That if a pattern doesn’t exist, the line=‘’ can be inserted? And when pattern does exist, then what? Do nothing?

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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:** [April 11, 2013, 5:01pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/inserting-multiple-lines-in-a-file-after-specific-line/12666/4 "2013-04-11T17:01:29Z")

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yes

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Ivan\_Lezhnjov\_IV](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/cdc98d/32.png) [@Ivan\_Lezhnjov\_IV](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Ivan_Lezhnjov_IV)\
**Post date:** [April 11, 2013, 5:25pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/inserting-multiple-lines-in-a-file-after-specific-line/12666/5 "2013-04-11T17:25:57Z")

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Thanks to asg on #ansible@irc.freenode.net we’ve managed to come up with this

- lineinfile: dest=/etc/apt/apt.conf.d/50unattended-upgrades regexp=‘$item’ insertafter=“Unattended-Upgrade::Package-Blacklist” line=‘$item’  
with\_items:
- ’ postgresql-9.2’
- ’ postgresql-9.3’

this inserts multiple lines as I expected.