# Wildcard or Glob option in Ansible variables **URL:** \ **Category:** Get Help\ **Created:** [November 20, 2024, 2:44am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/wildcard-or-glob-option-in-ansible-variables/11010 "2024-11-20T02:44:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![anoopv89](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5fc32e/32.png) [@anoopv89](https://forum.ansible.com/u/anoopv89)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2024, 2:44am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/wildcard-or-glob-option-in-ansible-variables/11010/1 "2024-11-20T02:44:17Z")
I’m trying to install a set of services on my Linux boxes and have to start the services using Ansible Playbook as well. The issue is that when I install a package the service name of that particular package comes with the version number, so I want to create a play that can start the service regardless of the version that is getting installed on the machine. I have defines the packages and service names in a group\_vars file and used the below option start-services: - service1 - service2 - service\*-3 But this is not working, so can someone please help me with this? Thanks, ---
**Author:** ![chris](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/ansible/user_avatar/forum.ansible.com/chris/32/293_2.png) [@chris](https://forum.ansible.com/u/chris)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2024, 4:54pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/wildcard-or-glob-option-in-ansible-variables/11010/2 "2024-11-22T16:54:39Z")
I think you probably need to write a task to find the name of the service, including the version number and then start them. ---
**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 24, 2024, 7:35pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/wildcard-or-glob-option-in-ansible-variables/11010/3 "2024-11-24T19:35:13Z")
Challenge accepted! 🤪 This turns out to be tricky to do right, but I think this works pretty well. Let’s assume the system uses systemd service units. The `systemctl` command provides a `show` command which takes globs and lists matching systemd _units_ – not just _service_ units. Thus: ``` $ systemctl show '*' --property=Names --all --value --no-pager ``` The “`--all`” flag is necessary to include those units not currently loaded. A couple of extra flags – “`--property=Names --value`” – make it produce output suitable for consumption by scripts rather than humans. But even then there are complications: - Some units have multiple names. For example, on my system “`ModemManager.service`” is also known as “`dbus-org.freedesktop.ModemManager1.service`.” Likewise, “`multi-user.target`” is also called “`runlevel3.target`,” “`runlevel4.target`,” and “`runlevel2.target`.” These names get listed on the same line with a space between them, so that must be dealt with. - Some unit names have backslash-escaped hex codes in their names. `systemctl` conveniently double-quotes such names that would need quoting to be re-used in scripts.For example, - For reasons I don’t understand, `systemctl` likes to include extra (well, _I_ feel they’re extra) blank lines in its output. Those need to be discarded without data loss. With all that said, here’s my attempt at a task to find systemd service names which match a set of glob patterns. Beware: this is set up to take a list of globs, even if that list has only one glob. Interpreting the registered output would require some changes were you to run the task once without “`loop:`.” I’ve tried to make it handle the general case. ```yaml --- # anoopv89_01.yml - name: Systemd units via globs hosts: localhost gather_facts: false tasks: - name: Determine systemd units matching a list of globs register: unit_globs args: executable: /bin/bash loop: - '*' # Matches all units, not just services - '[aeiou]*.service' # Only services starting with a vowel - 'autosi*' # Matches my custom 'autosig.service'. loop_control: loop_var: glob vars: action: none # Only used in a comment below, but still must be defined. # You would also need to 'become' if this were, say, 'start'. ansible.builtin.shell: | unquote() { # This is nuts: we need to remove the quotes (which the 'eval' does). # But we also need to preserve each backslash in the # json going to stdout, so we have to double them here in the yaml. eval "printf \"%s\" ${1//\\/\\\\}" } declare -a primaries=() while read -r primary alternates; do if [-n "$primary"] ; then # Some lines will be blank! # If you wanted to take action on each service, here is where # to do it, sending output to stderr since we are printing JSON # to stdout, like this: # eval "systemctl {{ action }} $primary" >&2 # Note: systemctl quotes $primary if quotes are needed, # so do not quote $primary in the above eval expression. primaries+=( "\"$(unquote "$primary")\"" ) fi done < <( systemctl show '{{ glob }}' --all --property=Names --value ) printf "{\"%s\": [" "{{ glob }}" IFS=$', \t\n'; printf "%s" "${primaries[*]}" printf "]}" - name: Reinterpret registered results stdout as json # This could be a set_fact instead. ansible.builtin.debug: msg: '{{ unit_globs.results | map(attribute="stdout") | map("from_json") }}' ``` On my system, that set of globs produces the following output, slightly edited and annotated for clarity: ```plaintext ok: [localhost] => msg: # It's a list of dicts with the globs as keys and the list of matching # primary unit names as values. (Alternate names are excluded.) - '*': # This glob will match all units - sys-fs-fuse-connections.mount - rpc_pipefs.target - network-pre.target - systemd-ask-password-plymouth.path - sys-devices-virtual-misc-rfkill.device - systemd-user-sessions.service [… skipping ahead a bit …] - sshd.service - sys-subsystem-net-devices-virbr0.device - veritysetup.target - systemd-udevd-kernel.socket - abrt-journal-core.service - system-dbus\x2d:1.3\x2dorg.freedesktop.problems.slice - systemd-sysctl.service - systemd-logind.service [… still skipping …] - bluetooth.service - uresourced.service - sys-devices-pci0000:00-0000:00:1d.4-0000:07:00.0-nvme-nvme0-nvme0n1-nvme0n1p1.device - system.slice [… more skipping …] - httpd.service - system-systemd\x2dzram\x2dsetup.slice - logwatch.timer - gssproxy.service [… there are a lot of systemd units! …] - systemd-network-generator.service - avahi-daemon.socket - systemd-tmpfiles-setup-dev.service - lightdm.service - '[aeiou]*.service': # the glob that matches service names beginning with a vowel. - abrt-xorg.service - abrt-journal-core.service - uresourced.service - initial-setup.service - accounts-daemon.service - earlyoom.service - atd.service - upower.service - alsa-state.service - abrt-oops.service - irqbalance.service - abrtd.service - autosig.service - user-runtime-dir@12428.service - avahi-daemon.service - udisks2.service - auditd.service - user@12428.service - autosi*: # This service rotates my email signature quip. - autosig.service ``` Maybe someone will find this useful. I sure learned a lot. ---
**Author:** ![chris](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/ansible/user_avatar/forum.ansible.com/chris/32/293_2.png) [@chris](https://forum.ansible.com/u/chris)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2024, 8:00pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/wildcard-or-glob-option-in-ansible-variables/11010/4 "2024-11-24T20:00:00Z")
I’d use the [ansible.builtin.service\_facts module](https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/latest/collections/ansible/builtin/service_facts_module.html), to save using `shell`, if possible… ---
**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 24, 2024, 9:35pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/wildcard-or-glob-option-in-ansible-variables/11010/5 "2024-11-24T21:35:33Z")
Good to know about, that module. I’ve never bought into the “avoid the shell” mantra, but I see where it comes from. I’ve been looking around for something in Ansible that exposes `fnmatch()` (i.e. glob pattern matching) outside of a files-in-a-directory context, and I’m kind of surprised it’s not there. I would use a regex instead, but that’s not the original question.