Expecting dict; got: shell:Error

Question

I am getting the below error

ERROR: expecting dict; got: shell:"ls /mule/ansiple/mule-enterprise-standalone-3.4.1/*.txt" register:the_file

1. I want to check the folder is exist.

2. if exist I need to specify some path /mule/acc

3. if the path does not exist need to point /mule/bcc

The following is ansible playbook

---
# get name of the .txt file
- stat: path=/mule/ansiple/mule-enterprise-standalone-3.4.1
  register:the_file  
  when: the_file.stat.exists == True
- shell:"ls /mule/ansiple/mule-enterprise-standalone-3.4.1/*.txt"
  register:the_file  
- debug: msg="{{ the_file }}"
- set_fact: app_folder="{{ the_file.stdout | replace('-anchor.txt','') }}"
- debug: msg="{{ app_folder }}"
- debug: msg="{{ the_file.stdout }}"
# delete the .txt file
- name: Delete the anchor.txt file
  file: path="{{ the_file.stdout }}" state=absent
# wait until the app folder disappears
- name: Wait for the folder to disappear
  wait_for: path="{{ app_folder }}" state=absent
# copy the zip file
- name: Copy the zip file
  copy: src="../p" dest="/c"

Answer 1

You almost have the YAML right, but there is one YAML error in your file and that is on the line:

register:the_file

because the line preceding it starts the first element of the toplevel sequence as a mapping through defining a key-value pair based on the colon (':') followed by space, and that cannot be followed by a scalar (or a sequence). If that file was your input, you would have gotten a syntax error by the YAML parser with part of the message looking like:

      register:the_file
      ^
could not find expected ':'

This:

- shell:"ls /mule/ansiple/mule-enterprise-standalone-3.4.1/*.txt"
  register:the_file 

is perfectly fine YAML. It defines the second element of the top-level sequence to be a scalar string:

shell:"ls /mule/ansiple/mule-enterprise-standalone-3.4.1/*.txt" register:the_file

(you can break scalar strings over multiple lines in YAML).

Now ansible doesn't like that and expects that element, and probably all top-level sequence elements, to be mappings. And for a mapping you need to have a key value pair, which is (like with register:the_file) separated/indicated by a colon-space pair of characters in YAML. So ansible (not YAML) probably wants:

shell: ls /mule/ansiple/mule-enterprise-standalone-3.4.1/*.txt
register: the_file

please note that the quotes around the scalar value ls /mule/ansiple/mule-enterprise-standalone-3.4.1/*.txt are unnecessary in YAML.

There might be other things ansible expects from the structure of the file, but I would start with the above change and see if ansible throws further errors on:

# get name of the .txt file
- stat: path=/mule/ansiple/mule-enterprise-standalone-3.4.1
  register: the_file
  when: the_file.stat.exists == True
- shell: ls /mule/ansiple/mule-enterprise-standalone-3.4.1/*.txt
  register: the_file
- debug: msg="{{ the_file }}"
- set_fact: app_folder="{{ the_file.stdout | replace('-anchor.txt','') }}"
- debug: msg="{{ app_folder }}"
- debug: msg="{{ the_file.stdout }}"
# delete the .txt file
- name: Delete the anchor.txt file
  file: path="{{ the_file.stdout }}" state=absent
# wait until the app folder disappears
- name: Wait for the folder to disappear
  wait_for: path="{{ app_folder }}" state=absent
# copy the zip file
- name: Copy the zip file
  copy: src="../analytic-core-services-mule-3.0.0-SNAPSHOT.zip" dest="/mule/ansiple/mule-enterprise-standalone-3.4.1"

Answer 2

You need to learn YAML syntax. After every colon you are required to add a whitespace. The message comes from the YAML parser, telling you it expected a dictionary:

key1: value1
key2: value2

Instead it found no key-value-pair:

key1:value1

Specifically it complains about this line:

- shell:"ls /mule/ansiple/mule-enterprise-standalone-3.4.1/*.txt"

which should be

- shell: "ls /mule/ansiple/mule-enterprise-standalone-3.4.1/*.txt"

But you have the same issue in two more lines which look like:

register:the_file

and should be :

register: the_file

If in doubt an error comes from Ansible tasks or simply from a YAML parsing error, paste your YAML definition into any online YAML parser.

So much for the format. Now to logical problems:

- stat: path=/mule/ansiple/mule-enterprise-standalone-3.4.1
  register: the_file  
  when: the_file.stat.exists == True

Unless you have the_file already registered from a previous task you didn't show, this can't work. when is the condition to decide if the task should be run. You can not execute a task depending on its outcome. It first has to run before the result is available. At the time the condition is evaluated the_file simply won't exist and this should result in an error, complaining that a None object does not have a key stat or something similar.

Then in the next task you again register the result with the same name.

- shell: "ls /mule/ansiple/mule-enterprise-standalone-3.4.1/*.txt"
  register: the_file

This simply will override the previous registered result. Maybe you meant to have the condition from the first task on the second. But even that would not work. A result still will be registered from skipped tasks, simply stating the task was skipped. You either need to store the results in unique vars or check all possible file locations in a single task.

Cleaned up your playbook would look like this:

---
# get name of the .txt file
- stat:
    path: /mule/ansiple/mule-enterprise-standalone-3.4.1
  register: the_file
  when: the_file.stat.exists

- shell: ls /mule/ansiple/mule-enterprise-standalone-3.4.1/*.txt
  register: the_file

- debug:
    msg: "{{ the_file }}"

- set_fact:
    app_folder: "{{ the_file.stdout | replace('-anchor.txt','') }}"

- debug:
    msg: "{{ app_folder }}"

- debug:
    msg: "{{ the_file.stdout }}"

- name: Delete the anchor.txt file
  file:
    path: "{{ the_file.stdout }}"
    state: absent

- name: Wait for the folder to disappear
  wait_for:
    path: "{{ app_folder }}"
    state: absent

- name: Copy the zip file
  copy:
    src: ../analytic-core-services-mule-3.0.0-SNAPSHOT.zip
    dest: /mule/ansiple/mule-enterprise-standalone-3.4.1

...