# YML Error when using shell module **URL:** \ **Category:** Ansible Project\ **Created:** [February 7, 2021, 3:43am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/yml-error-when-using-shell-module/34583 "2021-02-07T03:43:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![CaptainBrewing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/76d3ee/32.png) [@CaptainBrewing](https://forum.ansible.com/u/CaptainBrewing)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2021, 3:43am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/yml-error-when-using-shell-module/34583/1 "2021-02-07T03:43:07Z")
Hello, I am using the shell module to run a command inside a docker container and it is giving me a yaml error. The command is stupid silly complicated 😉 Is there a way to get Ansible to just send it as is and ignore \ escape out the characters that may be freaking out Yaml? Here is an example of a basic command that does work. **shell** : docker exec -it 9d5e563a6e9e bash -c “cd /var/log ; ls; cat bootstrap.log” However this command gives me a yaml eror **shell** : docker exec -it 9d5e563a6e9e bash -c “echo ‘rs.initiate({\_id: "mongors1conf",configsvr: true, members: [{ \_id : 0, host : "mongocfg1" },{ \_id : 1, host : "mongocfg2" }, { \_id : 2, host : "mongocfg3" }]})’ | mongo” Here is a snippet of the error _ERROR! Syntax Error while loading YAML._ _mapping values are not allowed in this context_ _shell: docker exec -it 9d5e563a6e9e bash -c "echo 'rs.initiate({\_id: \"mongors1conf\",configsvr: true, members: [{ \_id : 0, host : \"mongocfg1\" },{ \_id : 1, host : \"mongocfg2\" }, { \_id : 2, host : \"mongocfg3\" }]})' | mongo"_ _\*\*^ here\*\*_ This command works just fine at the bash shell of the docker host. I have tried the ansible shell and the Ansible command module I know this command looks complicated but please keep in mind I am only asking how to format this to work in Ansible. I am not asking you to understand docker exec Mongodb commands 😉 Thanks for your help ---
**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:** [February 7, 2021, 6:38am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/yml-error-when-using-shell-module/34583/2 "2021-02-07T06:38:36Z")
> Hello, I am using the shell module to run a command inside a docker container and it is giving me a yaml error. The command is stupid silly complicated 😉 Is there a way to get Ansible to just send it as is and ignore \ escape out the characters that may be freaking out Yaml? > > Here is an example of a basic command that does work. > > **shell** : docker exec -it 9d5e563a6e9e bash -c “cd /var/log ; ls; cat bootstrap.log” > > However this command gives me a yaml eror > > **shell** : docker exec -it 9d5e563a6e9e bash -c “echo ‘rs.initiate({\_id: "mongors1conf",configsvr: true, members: [{ \_id : 0, host : "mongocfg1" },{ \_id : 1, host : "mongocfg2" }, { \_id : 2, host : "mongocfg3" }]})’ | mongo” > > Here is a snippet of the error > _ERROR! Syntax Error while loading YAML._ > > _mapping values are not allowed in this context_ > > _shell: docker exec -it 9d5e563a6e9e bash -c "echo 'rs.initiate({\_id: \"mongors1conf\",configsvr: true, members: [{ \_id : 0, host : \"mongocfg1\" },{ \_id : 1, host : \"mongocfg2\" }, { \_id : 2, host : \"mongocfg3\" }]})' | mongo"_ _\*\*^ here\*\*_ > > This command works just fine at the bash shell of the docker host. I have tried the ansible shell and the Ansible command module Did you try one of the dedicated docker modules? [https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/latest/collections/community/general/docker\_container\_module.html](https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/latest/collections/community/general/docker_container_module.html) ---
**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:** [February 7, 2021, 8:08am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/yml-error-when-using-shell-module/34583/3 "2021-02-07T08:08:30Z")
FWIW, test the run-string first. For example     - set\_fact:         my\_init: '{\_id: \"mongors1conf\",                     configsvr: true,                     members: [{\_id: 0, host: \"mongocfg1\"},                               {\_id: 1, host: \"mongocfg2\"},                               {\_id: 2, host: \"mongocfg3\"}]}'     - shell: "echo 'echo \"rs.initiate({{ my\_init }})\"|mongo'"       register: result     - debug:         var: result.stdout should give   result.stdout: 'echo "rs.initiate({\_id: \"mongors1conf\",   configsvr: true, members: [{\_id: 0, host: \"mongocfg1\"}, {\_id: 1,   host: \"mongocfg2\"}, {\_id: 2, host: \"mongocfg3\"}]})"|mongo' Send it to mongo if it looks like what you want. But, mongo should accept JSON. It'd be simpler to create a dictionary in YAML and use the Ansible filter \*to\_json\* to convert the data. In addition to this filter use Jinja filter \*tojson\* to escape the quotes and strip the leading and cloding quote. For example     - set\_fact:         my\_init: "{{ (my\_init\_yaml|to\_json|tojson)[1:-1] }}"       vars:         my\_init\_yaml:           \_id: mongors1conf           configsvr: true           members:             - \_id: 0               host: mongocfg1             - \_id: 1               host: mongocfg2             - \_id: 2               host: mongocfg3     - shell: "echo 'echo \"rs.initiate({{ my\_init }})\"|mongo'"       register: result     - debug:         var: result.stdout should give valid escaped JSON   result.stdout: 'echo "rs.initiate({\"\_id\": \"mongors1conf\",   \"configsvr\": true, \"members\": [{\"\_id\": 0, \"host\":   \"mongocfg1\"}, {\"\_id\": 1, \"host\": \"mongocfg2\"}, {\"\_id\": 2,   \"host\": \"mongocfg3\"}]})"|mongo' Ref: No quotes in MongoDB JSON [https://stackoverflow.com/questions/35100836/no-quotes-in-mongodb-json](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/35100836/no-quotes-in-mongodb-json) ---
**Author:** ![CaptainBrewing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/76d3ee/32.png) [@CaptainBrewing](https://forum.ansible.com/u/CaptainBrewing)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2021, 11:40pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/yml-error-when-using-shell-module/34583/4 "2021-02-10T23:40:12Z")
Yeah I did look at the Docker Module. Unfortunately, it does not have any modules for what I am doing Vladimir, very thankful for your well thought out and detailed answer! This gives me enough information to explore the json option