There is also the case that the search test appears in an assert:
- assert:
that:
- q is search('abc\\t')
The tab character needs to be double escaped here because (I think)
the assert clause is interpreted as a double quoted string.
On Monday, June 20, 2022 at 10:58:42 PM UTC+2 [email protected] wrote:
> Thank you for your replies. The search test does work with lists and this
> is where the
> issue lies. Your examples helped me clear this up. The search, regex, etc
> tests will
> convert the object to a string. In python code, this means that the list
> will be turned
> into a string with str(list_here). This will escape tab characters in the
> list items, so
> that a list ["a", "b\t"] will get converted to the string, '["a",
> "b\\t"]'. To match this correctly
> with the search test, I need to search for ...b\\t... in single quotes.
> On Monday, June 20, 2022 at 9:22:37 PM UTC+2 [email protected] wrote:
>
>> On Mon, 20 Jun 2022 02:36:37 -0700 (PDT)
>> "[email protected]" <[email protected]> wrote:
>>
>> > q:
>> > - 'abc<tab character here>'
>> > - 123
>> >
>> > - debug:
>> > msg: >-
>> > {{ q is search('abc\t') }}
>>
>> There are more aspects to this question:
>>
>> * It's necessary to understand the difference between 'Double-Quoted
>> Style' and 'Single-Quoted Style'. See
>> https://yaml.org/spec/1.2.2/#731-double-quoted-style
>> https://yaml.org/spec/1.2.2/#732-single-quoted-style
>>
>> In 'Single-Quoted Style' only "'" has to be escaped. As a result, the
>> string 'abc\t' doesn't include TAB. It's a sequence of characters: a,
>> b, c, \, t. Test it. The task below
>>
>> - copy:
>> dest: /tmp/test.txt
>> content: |
>> {{ ql.0 }}
>> {{ ql.1 }}
>> vars:
>> ql:
>> - 'abc\tx'
>> - 123
>>
>> gives
>>
>> shell> cat /tmp/test.txt
>> abc\tx
>> 123
>>
>> The string will include TAB if you use 'Double-Quoted Style'
>>
>> - copy:
>> dest: /tmp/test.txt
>> content: |
>> {{ ql.0 }}
>> {{ ql.1 }}
>> vars:
>> ql:
>> - "abc\tx"
>> - 123
>>
>> gives
>>
>> shell> cat /tmp/test.txt
>> abc x
>> 123
>>
>> * The *search* test doesn't work with lists. It works with strings.
>> See
>>
>> https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/latest/user_guide/playbooks_tests.html#testing-strings
>>
>> Use it to test a single item of a list. For example,
>>
>> - debug:
>> msg: "{{ ql.0 is search(regex) }}"
>> vars:
>> regex: 'abc\tx'
>> ql:
>> - "abc\tx"
>> - 123
>>
>> gives
>>
>> msg: true
>>
>> Also the task below, with single-quoted *item* and escaped backslash
>> in *regex*, gives the same result
>>
>> - debug:
>> msg: "{{ ql.0 is search(regex) }}"
>> vars:
>> regex: 'abc\\tx'
>> ql:
>> - 'abc\tx'
>> - 123
>>
>> * Instead, you can "Test if a list contains a value". See
>>
>> https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/latest/user_guide/playbooks_tests.html#testing-if-a-list-contains-a-value
>>
>> For example, both tasks below returns *True*
>>
>> - debug:
>> msg: "{{ item in ql }}"
>> vars:
>> item: 'abc\tx'
>> ql:
>> - 'abc\tx'
>> - 123
>>
>> - debug:
>> msg: "{{ item in ql }}"
>> vars:
>> item: "abc\tx"
>> ql:
>> - "abc\tx"
>> - 123
>>
>> * If you want to use *regex* to test an item in a list use *select*.
>> For example,
>>
>> - debug:
>> msg: "{{ ql|select('search', regex) }}"
>> vars:
>> regex: 'abc\\tx'
>> ql:
>> - 'abc\tx'
>> - 123
>>
>> gives
>>
>> msg:
>> - abc\tx
>>
>> , or use it in a condition. For example,
>>
>> - debug:
>> msg: "Regex {{ regex }} is present in the list."
>> when: ql|select('search', regex)|length > 0
>> vars:
>> regex: 'abc\\tx'
>> ql:
>> - 'abc\tx'
>> - 123
>>
>> gives
>>
>> msg: Regex abc\\tx is present in the list.
>>
>> --
>> Vladimir Botka
>>
>
--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups
"Ansible Project" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email
to [email protected].
To view this discussion on the web visit
https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/ansible-project/a3a32db7-0250-4a54-9589-a7a3b99fb870n%40googlegroups.com.
