# Is there a better way to search through a list using when and regex\_search **URL:** \ **Category:** Ansible Project\ **Created:** [May 12, 2020, 7:59pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/is-there-a-better-way-to-search-through-a-list-using-when-and-regex-search/32916 "2020-05-12T19:59:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Scott\_Fella](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aeb1de/32.png) [@Scott\_Fella](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Scott_Fella)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2020, 7:59pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/is-there-a-better-way-to-search-through-a-list-using-when-and-regex-search/32916/1 "2020-05-12T19:59:20Z")
Still learning Ansible, but getting somewhat better. I’m trying to use a list that I have in a playbook just for ease of testing. Is there a simple way of writing to a file when one of the items in the list is found in the output? ---
**Author:** ![Dick\_Visser](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d9b06d/32.png) [@Dick\_Visser](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Dick_Visser)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2020, 1:20am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/is-there-a-better-way-to-search-through-a-list-using-when-and-regex-search/32916/2 "2020-05-13T01:20:45Z")
This basically looks like grep? What is your goal. Can you post a real output of ‘show snmpcommunity’? I’m a bit rusty on snmp. ---
**Author:** ![Scott\_Fella](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aeb1de/32.png) [@Scott\_Fella](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Scott_Fella)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2020, 1:35am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/is-there-a-better-way-to-search-through-a-list-using-when-and-regex-search/32916/3 "2020-05-13T01:35:23Z")
I can share that later, not in front of my laptop. What I was looking for is not just with snmp, I just started with snmp since I was working on other playbooks. I was looking to see if I can simplify the “when” to check if the output has the any of the variables defined in the list. What I have is working, but is there a better way? -Scott ---
**Author:** ![Scott\_Fella](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aeb1de/32.png) [@Scott\_Fella](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Scott_Fella)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2020, 2:25pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/is-there-a-better-way-to-search-through-a-list-using-when-and-regex-search/32916/4 "2020-05-13T14:25:46Z")
Here is a sample output when I run a show snmpcommunity. The one with ‘\*’ are hashed and read-only, so I will not be able to match on those, it is the read-only strings i’m worried about. rusred991c55p1 IPSec mode: Disabled / Profile: none SNMP Community Name Client IP Address Client IP Mask Access Mode Status * * * \*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\* 10.200.250.0 255.255.255.0 Read/Write Enable \*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\* 10.100.10.208 10.100.10.208 Read/Write Enable xxxxxxxxxx 0.0.0.0 0.0.0.0 Read Only Enable yyyyyyyyyy 0.0.0.0 0.0.0.0 Read Only Enable zzzzzzzzzz 0.0.0.0 0.0.0.0 Read Only Enable ---
**Author:** ![Dick\_Visser](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d9b06d/32.png) [@Dick\_Visser](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Dick_Visser)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2020, 3:18pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/is-there-a-better-way-to-search-through-a-list-using-when-and-regex-search/32916/5 "2020-05-13T15:18:45Z")
Is there any chance you can have a single var that is a list for those strings? I.e.: snmp\_strings:   - aaaaaaaaa   - bbbbbbbbb   - cccccccccc ---
**Author:** ![Scott\_Fella](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aeb1de/32.png) [@Scott\_Fella](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Scott_Fella)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2020, 5:27pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/is-there-a-better-way-to-search-through-a-list-using-when-and-regex-search/32916/6 "2020-05-13T17:27:14Z")
So you mean define it like the following in a playbook: vars:   snmp\_strings:    - aaaaaaaaa    - bbbbbbbbb    - cccccccccc -Scott ---
**Author:** ![Scott\_Fella](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aeb1de/32.png) [@Scott\_Fella](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Scott_Fella)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2020, 5:44pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/is-there-a-better-way-to-search-through-a-list-using-when-and-regex-search/32916/7 "2020-05-13T17:44:18Z")
Okay, this is what I have now that is working, but can I simplify the when? ---
**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:** [May 13, 2020, 8:26pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/is-there-a-better-way-to-search-through-a-list-using-when-and-regex-search/32916/8 "2020-05-13T20:26:56Z")
> ... can I simplify the when? > (when one of the items in the list is found in the output?) It's possible to create a list of the "search" results and use the test "any". For example the playbook [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) [https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/latest/user\_guide/playbooks\_tests.html#test-if-a-list-contains-a-value](https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/latest/user_guide/playbooks_tests.html#test-if-a-list-contains-a-value)     \> cat pb.yml     - hosts: localhost       vars:         my\_output: "aa bb cc"         my\_list: [aa, bb, xx]       tasks:         - set\_fact:             my\_search: "{{ my\_search|default() +                            [my\_output is search(item)] }}"           loop: "{{ my\_list }}"         - debug:             var: my\_search         - debug:             msg: Write to file           when: my\_search is any gives     "my\_search": [         true,         true,         false     ]     "msg": "Write to file" HTH,   -vlado ---
**Author:** ![Dick\_Visser](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d9b06d/32.png) [@Dick\_Visser](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Dick_Visser)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2020, 10:16pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/is-there-a-better-way-to-search-through-a-list-using-when-and-regex-search/32916/9 "2020-05-13T22:16:23Z")
Add these tasks:     - set\_fact:         matches: "{{ matches|default('') + preOutputSummary.stdout\_lines | regex\_search(item + '\\s+.\*\\n') }}"       loop: "{{ oldSnmp }}"     - copy:         dest: "./{{ ansible\_play\_name }}\_output.txt"         content: "{{ matches }}" This should give this result: xxxxxxxxxx 0.0.0.0 0.0.0.0        Read Only Enable yyyyyyyyyy 0.0.0.0 0.0.0.0        Read Only Enable zzzzzzzzzz 0.0.0.0 0.0.0.0        Read Only Enable ---
**Author:** ![Scott\_Fella](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aeb1de/32.png) [@Scott\_Fella](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Scott_Fella)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2020, 10:16pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/is-there-a-better-way-to-search-through-a-list-using-when-and-regex-search/32916/10 "2020-05-13T22:16:30Z")
Vladimir, I’m a bit confused on how I can use the register: preOutputSummary in the set\_facts search. My output when running the command: show snmpcommunity outputs this: IPSec mode: Disabled / Profile: none SNMP Community Name Client IP Address Client IP Mask Access Mode Status * * * * * * \*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\* 10.200.250.0 255.255.255.0 Read/Write Enable \*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\* 10.100.10.208 10.100.10.208 Read/Write Enable xxxxxxxxxx 0.0.0.0 0.0.0.0 Read Only Enable yyyyyyyyyy 0.0.0.0 0.0.0.0 Read Only Enable zzzzzzzzzz 0.0.0.0 0.0.0.0 Read Only Enable I do understand what you posted in regard to the test, but don’t know how to integrate your feedback to my playbook. -Scott ---
**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:** [May 14, 2020, 7:58am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/is-there-a-better-way-to-search-through-a-list-using-when-and-regex-search/32916/11 "2020-05-14T07:58:22Z")
Searching "preOutputSummary.stdout[0]" doesn't make sense. To clarify the difference between ".stdout" and ".stdout\_lines" of registered output. ".stdout" is a string and ".stdout\_lines" is a list of the lines. As a result ".stdout[0]" is the first character of the output. For example     - hosts: localhost       tasks:         - command: cat /etc/passwd           register: output         - debug:             var: output.stdout\_lines[0]         - debug:             var: output.stdout[0] gives     "output.stdout\_lines[0]": "root:x:0:0:root:/root:/bin/bash"     "output.stdout[0]": "r" In your case 1) use "preOutputSummary.stdout" to search the items from the list "oldSnmp" and 2) use "preOutputSummary.stdout\_lines" to write the file. Try this ---
**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:** [May 14, 2020, 12:50pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/is-there-a-better-way-to-search-through-a-list-using-when-and-regex-search/32916/12 "2020-05-14T12:50:09Z")
This can be simplified further     - name: write output to a file if snmp if found       template:         src: output.txt.j2         dest: "{{ ansible\_play\_name }}\_output.txt"       when: oldSnmp|             select('in', preOutputSummary.stdout)|             list\>             length \> 0 ---
**Author:** ![Scott\_Fella](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aeb1de/32.png) [@Scott\_Fella](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Scott_Fella)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2020, 12:53pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/is-there-a-better-way-to-search-through-a-list-using-when-and-regex-search/32916/13 "2020-05-14T12:53:05Z")
Thanks for the follow up. I will give this a try today and let you know. I’m not familiar with the set\_facts and using templates. -Scott ---
**Author:** ![Scott\_Fella](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aeb1de/32.png) [@Scott\_Fella](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Scott_Fella)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2020, 12:58pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/is-there-a-better-way-to-search-through-a-list-using-when-and-regex-search/32916/14 "2020-05-14T12:58:26Z")
Thanks for this! I will give this a try later also. -Scott ---
**Author:** ![Scott\_Fella](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aeb1de/32.png) [@Scott\_Fella](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Scott_Fella)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2020, 2:22pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/is-there-a-better-way-to-search-through-a-list-using-when-and-regex-search/32916/15 "2020-05-14T14:22:28Z")
I gave it a try and got an error I don’t know how to resolve it. The set\_facts my\_search is over my head:) **search\_snmp.yml** ---
**Author:** ![Scott\_Fella](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aeb1de/32.png) [@Scott\_Fella](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Scott_Fella)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2020, 2:33pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/is-there-a-better-way-to-search-through-a-list-using-when-and-regex-search/32916/16 "2020-05-14T14:33:45Z")
I have tried your example also and got the same error using Vlad’s example also. **search\_snmp.yml** ---
**Author:** ![Scott\_Fella](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aeb1de/32.png) [@Scott\_Fella](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Scott_Fella)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2020, 5:28pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/is-there-a-better-way-to-search-through-a-list-using-when-and-regex-search/32916/17 "2020-05-14T17:28:08Z")
Okay, well from doing some online searching and tinkering, maybe the aireos module does something different. I saw this post stating the following: > you need intermediate `join` here, because for `ios`-family modules `stdout` is a list of strings, and `stdout_lines` is a list of lists (whereas for usual `command` module `stdout` is a string and `stdout_lines` is a list of strings). I have also posted the output using stdout, stdout\_lines with the aireos\_command module, but here is my playbook that seems to work. Curious what I would need to do if using set\_facts. ---
**Author:** ![Scott\_Fella](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aeb1de/32.png) [@Scott\_Fella](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Scott_Fella)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2020, 5:30pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/is-there-a-better-way-to-search-through-a-list-using-when-and-regex-search/32916/18 "2020-05-14T17:30:04Z")
This is where I got the info from: [https://stackoverflow.com/questions/45737295/using-when-conditional-to-match-string-in-output-register-ansible](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/45737295/using-when-conditional-to-match-string-in-output-register-ansible) ---
**Author:** ![Scott\_Fella](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aeb1de/32.png) [@Scott\_Fella](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Scott_Fella)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2020, 5:45pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/is-there-a-better-way-to-search-through-a-list-using-when-and-regex-search/32916/19 "2020-05-14T17:45:06Z")
Okay sorry for all the post… I think I have something I can work with now. Here is my playbook that is working with the set\_fact: ---
**Author:** ![Scott\_Fella](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aeb1de/32.png) [@Scott\_Fella](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Scott_Fella)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2020, 8:16pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/is-there-a-better-way-to-search-through-a-list-using-when-and-regex-search/32916/20 "2020-05-14T20:16:53Z")
Vlad, When trying to use the jinja2 template and running this playbook over multiple hosts, the file gets overwritten. This works for a single device if there is a match. {{ inventory\_hostname }} {% for line in preOutputSummary.stdout\_lines[0] %} {{ line }} {% endfor %} -Scott [Next page](https://forum.ansible.com/t/is-there-a-better-way-to-search-through-a-list-using-when-and-regex-search/32916.md?page=2)