CODEWITHSUNDEEP
jsoncommandansible
Rens Verhage
Rens Verhage

Reputation: 5857

Syntax error on colon in ansible command argument

I'm developing a playbook to maintain a Kubernetes cluster. There is a command I have to execute to add an entry in etcd:

- command: etcdctl mk /kube-centos/network/config "{ \"Network\": \"172.30.0.0/16\", \"SubnetLen\": 24, \"Backend\": { \"Type\": \"vxlan\" } }"

When trying to execute, Ansible gives a syntax error on the first colon:

- command: etcdctl mk /kube-centos/network/config '{ "Network": "172.30.0.0/16", "SubnetLen": 24, "Backend": { "Type": "vxlan" } }'
                                                              ^ here

I can't figure out how to escape these characters. What is the best way to pass a JSON argument to a command like this?

There are actually two ways to fix this:

Answer 1

Surround the entire command in single quotes:

- command: 'etcdctl mk /kube-centos/network/config "{ \"Network\": \"172.30.0.0/16\", \"SubnetLen\": 24, \"Backend\": { \"Type\": \"vxlan\" } }"'

Answer 2 (Preferred)

Surround all colons in double quotes:

- command: etcdctl mk /kube-centos/network/config "{ \"Network\"":" \"172.30.0.0/16\", \"SubnetLen\"":" 24, \"Backend\"":" { \"Type\"":" \"vxlan\" } }"

Upvotes: 2

Views: 2580

Answers (2)

helloV
helloV

Reputation: 52423

Easiest way is to enclose the colon in double quotes. Works always.

- command: etcdctl mk /kube-centos/network/config "{ \"Network\"":" \"172.30.0.0/16\", \"SubnetLen\"":" 24, \"Backend\"":" { \"Type\"":" \"vxlan\" } }"

Upvotes: 1

user2599522
user2599522

Reputation: 3215

check this

you need to quote the whole thing like this:

- command: 'echo "semicolon is: bad"'

cause ansible does not like semicolons much.

Upvotes: 0

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