# Stripping YAML dashes from output **URL:** \ **Category:** Ansible Project\ **Created:** [November 12, 2020, 2:49pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/stripping-yaml-dashes-from-output/34187 "2020-11-12T14:49:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![harry\_devine](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/ansible/user_avatar/forum.ansible.com/harry_devine/32/5293_2.png) [@harry\_devine](https://forum.ansible.com/u/harry_devine)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2020, 2:49pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/stripping-yaml-dashes-from-output/34187/1 "2020-11-12T14:49:07Z")
I have a playbook where I am traversing our FreeIPA server and pulling out each user’s email address. I’m then putting that data into a text file using the template module: - name: Set User Email fact set\_fact: user\_list: “{{ user\_find.json.result | json\_query(‘result.mail’) | list | to\_nice\_yaml }}” - name: Prepare report template: src: /root/emails.txt.j2 dest: /root/emails.txt delegate\_to: localhost run\_once: true The j2 template: User Emails: Date generated: {{ now(false, ‘%m/%d/%Y %I:%M:%S’) }} {{ user\_list }} This returns the following in the text file: User Emails: Date generated: 11/12/2020 09:40:26 - - [user1@example.com](mailto:user1@example.com) - - [user2@example.com](mailto:user2@example.com) How can I strip out the preceding dashes? Thanks, Harry ---
**Author:** ![racke](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/ansible/user_avatar/forum.ansible.com/racke/32/4767_2.png) [@racke](https://forum.ansible.com/u/racke)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2020, 2:52pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/stripping-yaml-dashes-from-output/34187/2 "2020-11-12T14:52:54Z")
> I have a playbook where I am traversing our FreeIPA server and pulling out each user's email address. I'm then putting > that data into a text file using the template module: > > - name: Set User Email fact > set\_fact: > user\_list: "{{ user\_find.json.result | json\_query('result.mail') | list | to\_nice\_yaml }}" > > - name: Prepare report > template: > src: /root/emails.txt.j2 > dest: /root/emails.txt > delegate\_to: localhost > run\_once: true > > The j2 template: > > User Emails: > > Date generated: {{ now(false, '%m/%d/%Y %I:%M:%S') }} > {{ user\_list }} > > This returns the following in the text file: > > User Emails: > > Date generated: 11/12/2020 09:40:26 > - - user1@example.com > - - user2@example.com > > How can I strip out the preceding dashes? Please post a sample of the JSON in user\_find.json.result. Regards          Racke ---
**Author:** ![harry\_devine](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/ansible/user_avatar/forum.ansible.com/harry_devine/32/5293_2.png) [@harry\_devine](https://forum.ansible.com/u/harry_devine)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2020, 12:53pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/stripping-yaml-dashes-from-output/34187/3 "2020-11-13T12:53:10Z")
Here’s a subset of user\_find.json.result: TASK [Print user\_find] \*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\* ok: [localhost] =\> { “msg”: { “count”: 1826, “result”: [ { “dn”: “uid=harry.devine,cn=users,cn=example,dc=com”, “gidnumber”: [ “99999” ], “givenname”: [ “Harry” ], “homedirectory”: [ “/home/harry.devine” ], “krbcanonicalname”: [ “[harry.devine@EXAMPLE.COM](mailto:harry.devine@EXAMPLE.COM)” ], “krbprincipalname”: [ “[harry.devine@EXAMPLE.COM](mailto:harry.devine@EXAMPLE.COM)” ], “loginshell”: [ “/bin/bash” ], “mail”: [ “[harry.devine@example.com](mailto:harry.devine@example.com)” ], “nsaccountlock”: false, “sn”: [ “Devine” ], “telephonenumber”: [ “(609) 867-5309” ], “uid”: [ “harry.devine” ], “uidnumber”: [ “1000” ] }, } ], “summary”: “1826 users matched”, “truncated”: false } Thanks, Harry ---
**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:** [November 13, 2020, 1:49pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/stripping-yaml-dashes-from-output/34187/4 "2020-11-13T13:49:05Z")
that appears to be mutilated, can you post a longer piece so the iteration structure is intact ? ---
**Author:** ![harry\_devine](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/ansible/user_avatar/forum.ansible.com/harry_devine/32/5293_2.png) [@harry\_devine](https://forum.ansible.com/u/harry_devine)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2020, 1:53pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/stripping-yaml-dashes-from-output/34187/5 "2020-11-13T13:53:17Z")
There are over 1800 users. That’s alot of data for me to redact. How much longer of a sample would you like to see? Harry ---
**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:** [November 13, 2020, 1:56pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/stripping-yaml-dashes-from-output/34187/6 "2020-11-13T13:56:17Z")
At least something that is valid json with at least two iterations should be welcome. ---
**Author:** ![harry\_devine](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/ansible/user_avatar/forum.ansible.com/harry_devine/32/5293_2.png) [@harry\_devine](https://forum.ansible.com/u/harry_devine)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2020, 3:48pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/stripping-yaml-dashes-from-output/34187/7 "2020-11-13T15:48:27Z")
Hope this works and helps: TASK [Print user\_find] \*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\* ok: [localhost] =\> { “msg”: { “cache\_control”: “no-cache, private”, “changed”: false, “connection”: “close”, “content\_security\_policy”: “frame-ancestors ‘none’”, “content\_type”: “application/json; charset=utf-8”, “cookies”: {}, “cookies\_string”: “”, “date”: “Fri, 13 Nov 2020 15:41:31 GMT”, “elapsed”: 2, “failed”: false, “json”: { “error”: null, “id”: null, “principal”: “[admin@EXAMPLE.COM](mailto:admin@EXAMPLE.COM)”, “result”: { “count”: 1822, “result”: [ { “dn”: “uid=user1,cn=users,cn=accounts,dc=example,dc=com”, “gidnumber”: [ “10000” ], “givenname”: [ “User1” ], “homedirectory”: [ “/home/user1” ], “krbcanonicalname”: [ “[user1@EXAMPLE.COM](mailto:user1@EXAMPLE.COM)” ], “krbprincipalname”: [ “[user1@EXAMPLE.COM](mailto:user1@EXAMPLE.COM)” ], “loginshell”: [ “/bin/bash” ], “mail”: [ “[user1@example.com](mailto:user1@example.com)” ], “nsaccountlock”: false, “sn”: [ “User” ], “telephonenumber”: [ “(555) 555-5555” ], “uid”: [ “user1” ], “uidnumber”: [ “1111” ] }, { “dn”: “uid=user2,cn=users,cn=accounts,dc=example,dc=com”, “gidnumber”: [ “10000” ], “givenname”: [ “User2” ], “homedirectory”: [ “/home/user2” ], “krbcanonicalname”: [ “[user2@EXAMPLE.COM](mailto:user2@EXAMPLE.COM)” ], “krbprincipalname”: [ “[user2@EXAMPLE.COM](mailto:user2@EXAMPLE.COM)” ], “loginshell”: [ “/bin/bash” ], “mail”: [ “[user2@example.com](mailto:user2@example.com)” ], “nsaccountlock”: false, “sn”: [ “User” ], “telephonenumber”: [ “(555)555-5556” ], “uid”: [ “user2” ], “uidnumber”: [ “2222” ] }, } ], “summary”: “1822 users matched”, “truncated”: false }, “version”: “4.6.8” }, “msg”: “OK (unknown bytes)”, “redirected”: false, “server”: “Apache/2.4.6 (Red Hat Enterprise Linux) mod\_auth\_gssapi/1.5.1 mod\_nss/1.0.14 NSS/3.28.4 mod\_wsgi/3.4 Python/2.7.5”, “status”: 200, “transfer\_encoding”: “chunked”, “url”: “[https://auth.example.com/ipa/session/json](https://auth.example.com/ipa/session/json)”, “vary”: “Accept-Encoding”, “x\_frame\_options”: “DENY” } } Thanks, Harry ---
**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:** [November 13, 2020, 4:12pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/stripping-yaml-dashes-from-output/34187/8 "2020-11-13T16:12:51Z")
Try adding a pipe expression to the query, and leave out the 'list|to\_nice\_yaml': set\_fact:   user\_list: "{{ user\_find.json.result | json\_query('result.mail') }}" Dick ---
**Author:** ![harry\_devine](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/ansible/user_avatar/forum.ansible.com/harry_devine/32/5293_2.png) [@harry\_devine](https://forum.ansible.com/u/harry_devine)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2020, 4:27pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/stripping-yaml-dashes-from-output/34187/9 "2020-11-13T16:27:46Z")
So now I’m getting this: User Emails: Date generated: 11/13/2020 11:23:32 [u’user1@example.com’, u’user2@example.com’] Harry ---
**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:** [November 13, 2020, 5:14pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/stripping-yaml-dashes-from-output/34187/10 "2020-11-13T17:14:37Z")
This is a simple list, which is what you wanted. ---
**Author:** ![harry\_devine](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/ansible/user_avatar/forum.ansible.com/harry_devine/32/5293_2.png) [@harry\_devine](https://forum.ansible.com/u/harry_devine)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2020, 5:28pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/stripping-yaml-dashes-from-output/34187/11 "2020-11-13T17:28:55Z")
So how do I get rid of the u? What I ultimately wanted was JUST the email addresses. Harry ---
**Author:** ![racke](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/ansible/user_avatar/forum.ansible.com/racke/32/4767_2.png) [@racke](https://forum.ansible.com/u/racke)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2020, 5:44pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/stripping-yaml-dashes-from-output/34187/12 "2020-11-13T17:44:02Z")
> So how do I get rid of the u? What I ultimately wanted was JUST the email addresses. > > Harry Join the list members into a string: | join('\n') Regards          Racke ---
**Author:** ![harry\_devine](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/ansible/user_avatar/forum.ansible.com/harry_devine/32/5293_2.png) [@harry\_devine](https://forum.ansible.com/u/harry_devine)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2020, 5:50pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/stripping-yaml-dashes-from-output/34187/13 "2020-11-13T17:50:52Z")
Perfect! Exactly what I needed. Ultimately I’d like to figure out how to add a semicolon after each entry, then separate them into batches of 500 emails each, but I can worry about that later. This works for now. Thanks Harry ---
**Author:** ![dan\_linder](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/ansible/user_avatar/forum.ansible.com/dan_linder/32/3833_2.png) [@dan\_linder](https://forum.ansible.com/u/dan_linder)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2020, 11:05pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/stripping-yaml-dashes-from-output/34187/14 "2020-11-13T23:05:25Z")
> Ultimately I’d like to figure out how to add a semicolon after each entry, This should do that; join with a semicolon not a newline: | join('; ') > then separate them into batches of 500 emails each Since you have the list already, you could use a `for` loop with an `if` test to insert a new-line to get the batches: This should work assuming your full list of addresses is in `list_of_addresses`: {% for email\_item in list\_of\_addresses %}{{ email\_item }}{% if loop.index is divisibleby 500 %}{{ ‘\n’ -}}{% else %};{% endif %}{% endfor %} (note, all on one line) All you need to do is replace the `list_of_addresses` with your YAML list of addresses and you should get your list broken into 500 element lines. You can check your Jinja syntax by using this site: [https://cryptic-cliffs-32040.herokuapp.com/](https://cryptic-cliffs-32040.herokuapp.com/) ---
**Author:** ![racke](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/ansible/user_avatar/forum.ansible.com/racke/32/4767_2.png) [@racke](https://forum.ansible.com/u/racke)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2020, 8:02am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/stripping-yaml-dashes-from-output/34187/15 "2020-11-14T08:02:01Z")
> > Ultimately I'd like to figure out how to add a semicolon after each entry, > > This should do that; join with a semicolon not a newline: | join('; ') > > > then separate them into batches of 500 emails each > > Since you have the list already, you could use a `for` loop with an `if` test to insert a new-line to get the batches: > > This should work assuming your full list of addresses is in `list_of_addresses`: > {% for email\_item in list\_of\_addresses %}{{ email\_item }}{% if loop.index is divisibleby 500 %}{{ '\n' -}}{% else %};{% > endif %}{% endfor %} > (note, all on one line) > > All you need to do is replace the `list_of_addresses` with your YAML list of addresses and you should get your list > broken into 500 element lines. That is indeed a nice piece of Jinja. Thanks, Dan! Regards         Racke ---
**Author:** ![harry\_devine](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/ansible/user_avatar/forum.ansible.com/harry_devine/32/5293_2.png) [@harry\_devine](https://forum.ansible.com/u/harry_devine)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2020, 5:56pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/stripping-yaml-dashes-from-output/34187/16 "2020-11-16T17:56:10Z")
Worked exactly as I wanted/needed! Great tip! I thank everyone for their help on this! Thanks, Harry