CODEWITHSUNDEEP
ubuntuansiblecentos
lovecode
lovecode

Reputation: 33

How to add lines after pattern by ansible playbook

I have file name test 

[tag1]
[tag2]

I want to add lines after [tag1] in test I find this solution

  - name: Add content
    lineinfile:
      path: test
      insertafter: '[tag1]'
      line: "{{ item }}"
    with_items:
      - '# This is line 1'
      - '# This is line 2'
      - '# This is line 3'

But it add those line at the end of file not after [tag1] And If I run playbook twice it added it 2 times I want to check if those lines are not exist after [tag1] add them and if exist do nothing.

What should I do? Why it added lines at the end of file?

Upvotes: 1

Views: 1380

Answers (1)

Vladimir Botka
Vladimir Botka

Reputation: 68134

lineinfile is not consistent. See lineinfile is not idempotent #58923.

This is caused by a bug in the logic around firstmatch. This bug is present in devel all the way back to Ansible 2.5 ...

In the task below

- lineinfile:
    path: test
    insertafter: '[tag1]'
    firstmatch: yes
    line: "{{ item }}"
  loop:
    - '# This is line 1'

the parameter firstmatch: yes helps to put the line before [tag2]

$ cat test
[tag1]
# This is line 1
[tag2]

, but when the play is repeated the same parameter causes the line to be added repeatedly. (Feel free to try.)

Use ini_file instead. The task below

- ini_file:
    path: test
    section: "{{ item.section }}"
    option: "{{ item.option }}"
    allow_no_value: yes
  loop:
    - section: 'tag1'
      option: '# This is line 1'
    - section: 'tag1'
      option: '# This is line 2'

gives the idempotent result.

$ cat test
[tag1]
# This is line 2
# This is line 1
[tag2]

Upvotes: 2

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