ansible output mail with line break

Question

I've got a awk output

   - name: read files
   shell: awk -F "|" 'FNR==NR {lines[$1]=$2; next} $9 in lines {print lines[$9], "on", $2}' file1 file2
   register: resultawk

   - debug:
        msg: "{{ resultawk.stdout.split('\n') }}"

this prints the output nicely with the line breaks

TASK [debug] ****************************************************************************************
ok: [localhost] => {
    "msg": [
        "field2file1 on field2file2",
        "field2file1 on field2file2"
    ]
}

now, when i try sending the same message over mail

 - name: send mail
   mail:
      subject: Report for {{ ansible_hostname }}
      body:
         msg: "{{ resultawk.stdout.split('\n') }}"
      to:
      - John Doe <xyz@xyz.com>

i get the following message

TASK [send mail] *********************************************************************
[WARNING]: The value {'msg': ['field2file1 on field2file2', 'field2file1 on field2file2']}" (type string).
If this does not look like what you expect, quote the entire value to ensure it does not change.
ok: [localhost]

is there anyway to send the result over mail with the proper line breaks?

See [Jinja2](https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/latest/user_guide/playbooks_templating.html). — Vladimir Botka, May 25 '20 at 20:21
Can we see the output of debug with `msg: "{{ resultawk.stdout }}"`? — Jack, May 25 '20 at 20:25
TASK [debug] *********************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************** ok: [localhost] => { "msg": "field2file1 on field2file2'\n'field2file1 on field2file2" } that's why I added the split('\n') — javierccs, May 25 '20 at 21:09
If you don't do the `.split('\n')`, what happens in the email? — Jack, May 25 '20 at 22:09
I find it odd that you have single quotes around the `\n` in your last comment, but they do not appear in the elements after the `.split('\n')`. Anyway, I cannot reproduce your AWK, but when I use `set_fact: body="field2file1 on field2file2\nfield2file1 on field2file2"`, and have `body: "{{ body }}"` in the `email` task, everything looks fine on the receiving end. I get two lines. — Jack, May 25 '20 at 22:28
Try putting the quotes BEFORE `msg:` : `body: "msg: {{ resultawk.stdout.split('\n') }}"` — Jack, May 26 '20 at 01:12

Vladimir Botka · Answer 1 · 2020-05-25T21:33:57.007

1

The warning actually says what needs to be done

"quote the entire value to ensure it does not change"

Try this


 - name: send mail
   mail:
     subject: "Report for {{ ansible_hostname }}"
     body: |
       '{% for line in resultawk.stdout_lines %}
        {{ line }}
        {% endfor %}'
     to: John Doe <xyz@xyz.com>

edited May 25 '20 at 21:33

answered May 25 '20 at 20:26

Vladimir Botka

58,131
4
32
63

pretty much the same result [WARNING]: The value ['field2file1 on field2file2', 'field2file1 on field2file2']}" (type string). If this does not look like what you expect, quote the entire value to ensure it does not change. – javierccs May 25 '20 at 21:15
I've updated the answer and tested it. This one should work. – Vladimir Botka May 25 '20 at 21:34

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered May 25 '20 at 21:42

0

had a look at the jinja2 docs (thanks Vladimir) and found this

body: "{{ resultawk.stdout.split('\n'',')| to_yaml }}"

which defines the mail in an acceptable yaml format

['field2file1 on field2file2 
   field2file1 on field2file2']

answered May 25 '20 at 21:42

javierccs

1
1
3

ansible output mail with line break

2 Answers2