Ansible parse stdout_lines to verify values of a particular item

Question

I am using ansible to write some tests. I have to parse through the output of a command (stdout_lines) and verify the information corresponding to a particular name. The stdout_lines looks like the following.

The output is obtained from a cli command executed in bash.

"stdout_lines": [
        "----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------",
        "|       Name               |      Count   |  Score | State|",
        "----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------",
        "| Jake                     |             5| 10     |   CA |",
        "| Mike                     |             3| 15     |   AR |",
        "----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------",
        "|Total Scores: 2                                          |",
        "----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------"
    ]

I would like to parse over the stdout_lines and find out the information related to, say for example 'Jake', and then verify if the the corresponding values are correct.

If in Python, I would Split the string into a list, find list-element that has Jake at [0] index and verify the other elements in it. I tried looking up but couldnot stumble upon anything that could help me. Can anyone throw some light on how to do this. Appreciate your help.

Thanks in advance,

Answer 1

here is a working example to get you started. i simulated your stdout_lines with the test_var.

• we parse the test_var to get lines with 6 columns, when split with |.
• we parse the list of rows from above task and try to find rows with 2nd column = Jake.
• assuming its only 1 result (if you may have more rows, additional tasks are needed), get the 3 attributes in 3 variables and finally
• print results

playbook:

---
- hosts: localhost
  gather_facts: false
  vars:
    search_name: Jake
    test_var: 
        - "----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------"
        - "|       Name               |      Count   |  Score | State|"
        - "----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------"
        - "| Jake                     |             5| 10     |   CA |"
        - "| Mike                     |             3| 15     |   AR |"
        - "| Jane                     |             3| 15     |   AR |"
        - "----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------"
        - "|Total Scores: 2                                          |"
        - "----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------"

  tasks:
  - name: pick up the lines we are interested in.
    set_fact:
      important_lines: "{{ important_lines|default([]) +  [item] }}"
    when: item.split('|') | length == 6
    with_items:
    - "{{ test_var }}"

  - name: find the line with the name we are looking for in 2nd column
    set_fact:
      target_line: "{{ item }}"
    when: item|trim is search(search_name)
    with_items:
    - "{{ important_lines }}"

  - name: get the 3 attributes from the target line
    set_fact:
      attribute_count: "{{ target_line.split('|')[2]|trim }}"
      attribute_score: "{{ target_line.split('|')[3]|trim }}"
      attribute_state: "{{ target_line.split('|')[4]|trim }}"

  - name: print results
    debug:
      msg: "name: {{ search_name }}, count: {{ attribute_count }}, score: {{ attribute_score }}, state: {{ attribute_state }}"

result:

[http_offline@greenhat-29 tests]$ ansible-playbook test.yml 

PLAY [localhost] *******************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************

TASK [pick up the lines we are interested in.] *************************************************************************************************************************************************************************
skipping: [localhost] => (item=----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------) 
ok: [localhost] => (item=|       Name               |      Count   |  Score | State|)
skipping: [localhost] => (item=----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------) 
ok: [localhost] => (item=| Jake                     |             5| 10     |   CA |)
ok: [localhost] => (item=| Mike                     |             3| 15     |   AR |)
ok: [localhost] => (item=| Jane                     |             3| 15     |   AR |)
skipping: [localhost] => (item=----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------) 
skipping: [localhost] => (item=|Total Scores: 2                                          |) 
skipping: [localhost] => (item=----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------) 

TASK [find the line with the name we are looking for in 2nd column] ****************************************************************************************************************************************************
skipping: [localhost] => (item=|       Name               |      Count   |  Score | State|) 
ok: [localhost] => (item=| Jake                     |             5| 10     |   CA |)
skipping: [localhost] => (item=| Mike                     |             3| 15     |   AR |) 
skipping: [localhost] => (item=| Jane                     |             3| 15     |   AR |) 

TASK [get the 3 attributes from the target line] ***********************************************************************************************************************************************************************
ok: [localhost]

TASK [print results] ***************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************
ok: [localhost] => {
    "msg": "name: Jake, count: 5, score: 10, state: CA"
}

PLAY RECAP *************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************
localhost                  : ok=4    changed=0    unreachable=0    failed=0   

[http_offline@greenhat-29 tests]$ 

hope it helps