# Retrieve a value from a dictionary in stderr

**URL:** <https://forum.ansible.com/t/retrieve-a-value-from-a-dictionary-in-stderr/34784>\
**Category:** Ansible Project\
**Created:** [March 15, 2021, 10:13am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/retrieve-a-value-from-a-dictionary-in-stderr/34784 "2021-03-15T10:13:45Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Glenn\_Robinson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/87869e/32.png) [@Glenn\_Robinson](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Glenn_Robinson)\
**Post date:** [March 15, 2021, 10:13am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/retrieve-a-value-from-a-dictionary-in-stderr/34784/1 "2021-03-15T10:13:45Z")

</div>

I’m using a module which returns some information in the module’s register stderr variable when the module encounters an issue.

Using - debug: var=sql\_delete.stderr returns:

ok: [ibmi01] =\> {  
“sql\_delete.stderr”: {  
“ccsid”: “1146”,  
“curuser”: “GROBINSO”,  
“dftccsid”: “1146”,  
“error”: “\*\*\* error DELETE FROM ANSIBLIB.QCUSTCDT WHERE CDTLMT \< 9999.00”,  
“jobipc”: “\*na”,  
“jobipcskey”: “FFFFFFFF”,  
“jobname”: “QSQSRVR”,  
“jobnbr”: “002988”,  
“jobuser”: “QUSER”,  
“paseccsid”: “0”,  
“syslibl”: “QSYS QSYS2 QHLPSYS QUSRSYS”,  
“usrlibl”: “QGPL QTEMP”,  
“version”: “XML Toolkit 1.9.2”,  
“xmlhint”: “02000:100:Row not found for DELETE.”,  
“xmlhint1”: “02000:100:Row not found for DELETE.”  
}  
}

I want to retrieve the value in the xmlhint item.

When i try and access that value by using:

sql\_delete.stderr.xmlhint

I get a variable not found error.

I’ve tried from\_json, dict2items and dict2list but can’t seem to reference the xmlhint, or any other key values, within stderr.

How do I reference the xmlhint value in sql\_delete.stderr?

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<div class="post-metadata">

**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:** [March 15, 2021, 10:55am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/retrieve-a-value-from-a-dictionary-in-stderr/34784/2 "2021-03-15T10:55:59Z")

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What type is the attribute \*stderr\*? Try

&nbsp;&nbsp;- debug:  
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;msg: "{{ sql\_delete.stderr|type\_debug }}"

If the type is string convert it to dictionary first, e.g

&nbsp;&nbsp;- debug:  
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;msg: "{{ \_stderr.xmlhint }}"  
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;vars:  
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;\_stderr: "{{ sql\_delete.stderr|from\_yaml }}"

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Glenn\_Robinson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/87869e/32.png) [@Glenn\_Robinson](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Glenn_Robinson)\
**Post date:** [March 15, 2021, 11:08am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/retrieve-a-value-from-a-dictionary-in-stderr/34784/3 "2021-03-15T11:08:59Z")

</div>

Attribute type returns:

“msg”: “AnsibleUnsafeText”

- debug:  
msg: “{{ sql\_delete }}”

returns:

ok: [ibmi01] =\> {  
“msg”: {  
“changed”: false,  
“delta”: “0:00:00.325885”,  
“end”: “2021-03-14 23:05:33.098261”,  
“failed”: true,  
“msg”: “non-zero return code:255”,  
“rc”: 255,  
“sql”: “DELETE FROM ANSIBLIB.QCUSTCDT WHERE CDTLMT \< 9999.00”,  
“start”: “2021-03-14 23:05:32.772376”,  
**“stderr”: “{‘error’: ‘\*\*\* error DELETE FROM ANSIBLIB.QCUSTCDT WHERE CDTLMT \< 9999.00’, ‘version’: ‘XML Toolkit 1.9.2’, ‘xmlhint’: ‘02000:100:Row not found for DELETE.’, ‘xmlhint1’: ‘02000:100:Row not found for DELETE.’, ‘jobipc’: ‘\*na’, ‘jobipcskey’: ‘FFFFFFFF’, ‘jobname’: ‘QSQSRVR’, ‘jobuser’: ‘QUSER’, ‘jobnbr’: ‘007433’, ‘curuser’: ‘GROBINSO’, ‘ccsid’: ‘1146’, ‘dftccsid’: ‘1146’, ‘paseccsid’: ‘0’, ‘syslibl’: ‘QSYS QSYS2 QHLPSYS QUSRSYS’, ‘usrlibl’: ‘QGPL QTEMP’}”,**  
“stderr\_lines”: [  
“{‘error’: ‘\*\*\* error DELETE FROM ANSIBLIB.QCUSTCDT WHERE CDTLMT \< 9999.00’, ‘version’: ‘XML Toolkit 1.9.2’, ‘xmlhint’: ‘02000:100:Row not found for DELETE.’, ‘xmlhint1’: ‘02000:100:Row not found for DELETE.’, ‘jobipc’: ‘\*na’, ‘jobipcskey’: ‘FFFFFFFF’, ‘jobname’: ‘QSQSRVR’, ‘jobuser’: ‘QUSER’, ‘jobnbr’: ‘007433’, ‘curuser’: ‘GROBINSO’, ‘ccsid’: ‘1146’, ‘dftccsid’: ‘1146’, ‘paseccsid’: ‘0’, ‘syslibl’: ‘QSYS QSYS2 QHLPSYS QUSRSYS’, ‘usrlibl’: ‘QGPL QTEMP’}”  
],  
“stdout”: “”,  
“stdout\_lines”:   
}  
}