# lineinfile quoting

**URL:** <https://forum.ansible.com/t/lineinfile-quoting/38577>\
**Category:** Ansible Project\
**Created:** [November 10, 2023, 1:33pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/lineinfile-quoting/38577 "2023-11-10T13:33:19Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 8\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Dimitri\_Yioulos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b5ac83/32.png) [@Dimitri\_Yioulos](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Dimitri_Yioulos)\
**Post date:** [November 10, 2023, 1:33pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/lineinfile-quoting/38577/1 "2023-11-10T13:33:19Z")

</div>

Good day, all.

I want to add the following line to a file:

\_some-name TXT “aZJACEhonRJiOCL1ZtkKMKnx7U4m5jbSswyClGb6wGk”

I would think I’d use the following:

lineinfile: dest=/somedir/somefile insertafter=EOF line="\_acme-challenge TXT “aZJACEhonRJiOCL1ZtkKMKnx7U4m5jbSswyClGb6wGk”

However, the quoted string at the end is screwing my up. How do I make this work? Would ansible.builtin.blockinfile be better? If so, how would I set that up?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![utoddl](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/ansible/user_avatar/forum.ansible.com/utoddl/32/249_2.png) [@utoddl](https://forum.ansible.com/u/utoddl)\
**Post date:** [November 10, 2023, 4:25pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/lineinfile-quoting/38577/2 "2023-11-10T16:25:33Z")

</div>

Single-quoted strings can contain double-quotes. So instead of

```auto
line="something ending with a "double-quoted string""

```

do this:

```auto
line='something ending with a "double-quoted string"'

```

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Dimitri\_Yioulos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b5ac83/32.png) [@Dimitri\_Yioulos](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Dimitri_Yioulos)\
**Post date:** [November 10, 2023, 5:18pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/lineinfile-quoting/38577/3 "2023-11-10T17:18:23Z")

</div>

Thanks, Todd. I already tried that, and it fails:

[WARNING]: Invalid characters were found in group names but not replaced, use -vvvv to see  
details  
[WARNING]: Found both group and host with same name: uoj  
ERROR! We were unable to read either as JSON nor YAML, these are the errors we got from each:  
JSON: Expecting value: line 1 column 1 (char 0)

Syntax Error while loading YAML.  
mapping values are not allowed in this context

The error appears to be in ‘/etc/ansible/playbooks/updatedns.yml’: line 8, column 16, but may  
be elsewhere in the file depending on the exact syntax problem.

The offending line appears to be:

- name: Add to file  
lineinfile: dest=/somedir/somefile insertafter=EOF line=‘\_some-name TXT “aZJACEhonRJiOCL1ZtkKMKnx7U 4m5j bSswyClGb6wGk”’  
^ here

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![utoddl](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/ansible/user_avatar/forum.ansible.com/utoddl/32/249_2.png) [@utoddl](https://forum.ansible.com/u/utoddl)\
**Post date:** [November 10, 2023, 6:11pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/lineinfile-quoting/38577/4 "2023-11-10T18:11:27Z")

</div>

“lineinfile” should line up with “name” above. The “lineinfile:” is the mapping that it’s complaining cannot be indented more than “name:”. Such indentation creates a new context. Thus the message, “mapping values are not allowed in this context”.

Is there a reason to use the “key=value” format instead of:

```auto
    - name: Add to file
      ansible.builtin.lineinfile:
        dest: /somedir/somefile
        insertafter: EOF
        line: '_some-name TXT "aZJACEhonRJiOCL1ZtkKMKnx7U 4m5j bSswyClGb6wGk"'

```

It isn’t wrong. It just looks weird when you’re used to the other style.

Cheers,

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Dimitri\_Yioulos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b5ac83/32.png) [@Dimitri\_Yioulos](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Dimitri_Yioulos)\
**Post date:** [November 13, 2023, 3:49pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/lineinfile-quoting/38577/5 "2023-11-13T15:49:06Z")

</div>

Thanks, Todd! with your hints, I was able to get the results I want.

Hopefully, I’m staying on-topic (and not being a pita) when I ask for further assistance with this playbook, and lineinfile. Here’s the playbook, thus far:

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Dimitri\_Yioulos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b5ac83/32.png) [@Dimitri\_Yioulos](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Dimitri_Yioulos)\
**Post date:** [November 13, 2023, 9:23pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/lineinfile-quoting/38577/6 "2023-11-13T21:23:57Z")

</div>

Ah, silly me. As is my wont, I overthought this. This works to do what I want:

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![utoddl](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/ansible/user_avatar/forum.ansible.com/utoddl/32/249_2.png) [@utoddl](https://forum.ansible.com/u/utoddl)\
**Post date:** [November 14, 2023, 2:25am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/lineinfile-quoting/38577/7 "2023-11-14T02:25:21Z")

</div>

This will update the serial number like you want on the zone files that get changed. It’s not pretty, but it works.

In fact, it’s particularly ugly, using a Perl script to loop over your zone\_files and print json to stdout that gets read back in.

I’ve got to admit it: it was fun to play with Perl again. So, thanks for that!

```auto
    - name: Add TXT entry to zone file
      lineinfile:
        dest: "{{ item }}"
        insertafter: EOF
        line: '_some-name TXT "aZBBBBhonRJiOCL1ZtkKMKnx7U2k3wbSswyClGb6wGk"'
      with_items: "{{ zone_files }}"
      register: add_txt
 
    - name: Show add_txt
      ansible.builtin.debug:
        var: add_txt

    - name: Generate updated serial numbers for zone_files
      ansible.builtin.command: >-
        perl -n -e 'BEGIN {print "{";$sep="";}
                    if (m/\b(\d{8})(\d{2}).*serial/i) {
                      if ($1 eq "{{ today }}") {
                        printf("%s\"%s\": \"%s%02d\"", $sep, $ARGV, "{{ today }}", $2+1);
                      } else {
                        printf("%s\"%s\": \"%s%02d\"", $sep, $ARGV, "{{ today }}", "01");
                      }
                      $sep=",\n";
                    }
                    END{print"}"}' {{ zone_files | map('quote') | join(' ') }}
      vars:
        today: "{{ lookup('pipe', 'date +%Y%m%d') }}"
      register: new_serial

    - name: Make new_serial easily accessible
      ansible.builtin.set_fact:
        new_serials : "{{ new_serial.stdout | from_json() }}"
        
    - name: Update serial number
      lineinfile:
        backrefs: true
        dest: "{{ item }}"
        regexp: '^(\s+)(\d{8})(\d{2})(\s+; Serial Number.*)'
        line: '\g<1>{{ new_serials[item] }}\g<4>'
      loop: "{{ add_txt.results | selectattr('changed', 'true') | map(attribute='item') }}"

```

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Dimitri\_Yioulos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b5ac83/32.png) [@Dimitri\_Yioulos](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Dimitri_Yioulos)\
**Post date:** [November 14, 2023, 9:34pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/lineinfile-quoting/38577/8 "2023-11-14T21:34:14Z")

</div>

Todd, the above works great; thanks!