# tabs are always shown as \\t

**URL:** <https://forum.ansible.com/t/tabs-are-always-shown-as-t/28191>\
**Category:** Ansible Project\
**Created:** [July 30, 2018, 12:28pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/tabs-are-always-shown-as-t/28191 "2018-07-30T12:28:57Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![starflighter.one](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ed8c4c/32.png) [@starflighter.one](https://forum.ansible.com/u/starflighter.one)\
**Post date:** [July 30, 2018, 12:28pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/tabs-are-always-shown-as-t/28191/1 "2018-07-30T12:28:57Z")

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Hi,

I use ansible 2.6.0.  
Every time in debug or variables tabs are shown as \t.

For example:

on commandline:  
`echo -e "this is \t a test"`

Result:

`this is a test`

Ansible:

`  
command: echo -e “this is \t a test”

`

Result:

`this is \t a test`

How can I get Ansible to print it like on the commandline?

thanks,  
starflighter

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Kai\_Stian\_Olstad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e19adc/32.png) [@Kai\_Stian\_Olstad](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Kai_Stian_Olstad)\
**Post date:** [July 30, 2018, 3:48pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/tabs-are-always-shown-as-t/28191/2 "2018-07-30T15:48:19Z")

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You would need to create your own callback plugin or test if someone on this list give you a output you like  
[https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/2.6/plugins/callback.html#plugin-list](https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/2.6/plugins/callback.html#plugin-list)

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![starflighter.one](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ed8c4c/32.png) [@starflighter.one](https://forum.ansible.com/u/starflighter.one)\
**Post date:** [July 31, 2018, 6:02am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/tabs-are-always-shown-as-t/28191/3 "2018-07-31T06:02:05Z")

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OK, but do you know why newline (\n) works and tab (\t) not?

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Kai\_Stian\_Olstad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e19adc/32.png) [@Kai\_Stian\_Olstad](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Kai_Stian_Olstad)\
**Post date:** [July 31, 2018, 9:08am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/tabs-are-always-shown-as-t/28191/4 "2018-07-31T09:08:42Z")

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No, but I can speculate.

Ansible is not a reporting tool, it's a configuration management tool.  
In configuration Ansible do the right thing.

In this code the file /tmp/text will contain a tab not literal \t.

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- command: echo -e "this is \t a test"  
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;register: r

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- copy:  
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;content: '{{ r.stdout }}'  
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;dest: /tmp/text