Lineinfile - replacing regex instead of placing text after insertafter

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1

Hi guys,

I have some problems with the lineinfile module. I try to add ‘inserted_text’ after ‘#insertbelow’ when ‘this’ has been found in /etc/ansible/lineinfile/lol. This is my task:

2

That is not how lineinfile work.
It searches for a string, and replace it or add the line.

To do this you would need to combine find module to search for "this" and then run lineinfile on the file.

3

Hi Kai,

Thank you for your reply. But what is the difference then between regexp and insertafter etc? Is regexp always being replaced? Or what is exactly the logic?

4

regexp: and insertafter: is separate features in lineinfile.

When lineinfile find the regexp in regexp: it replaces this line with the string in line:
If it can't find the regexp in regexp: the sting in line: is append to end of file(EOF).

When lineinfile find the regexp in insertafter: it add the string in line: after this line, if it's not already exist.
If it can't find the regexp in insertafter: the string in line: is append to end of file(EOF).

These two feature is not meant to be combine in one task, but used in separate tasks.

5

Very clear, thank you!

6

Hi Kai,

When looking in ansible-doc lineinfile, it does combine both regexp and insertafter in one task:

  • lineinfile:
    path: /etc/httpd/conf/httpd.conf
    regexp: '^Listen ’
    insertafter: '^#Listen ’
    line: 'Listen 8080

Is this an error in the docs or are we (I?) missing something?

7

If you remove the regexp line it will work exactly the same.