Receiving Error when I read file line by line in ansible - ansible

Question

The goal is to read the input file for a string that matches the regex expression then to match the expression to my config file.. when there is a match ansible is to replace the existing line in the config file with the matching line in the delta file.
I was able to perform this task but noticed that ansible would read one line and essentially be done. I added the .splitlines() option to my code so that it would read line by line and perform the same action but i received the following error:
- name: Search for multiple reg expressions and replace in config file
vars:
# pull data from config file
input: "{{ lookup('file', '{{ record }}').splitlines() }}"
delta: "{{ input | regex_search('^.*[a-zA-Z]+.*_.*[a-zA-Z]+.*?', multiline=True )}}"
delta1: "{{ input | regex_search('^.*[a-zA-Z]+.*_.*[a-zA-Z]+.*', multiline=True)}}"
record: "/etc/ansible/roles/file_config/files/records/records.config.{{ inventory_hostname }}"
lineinfile:
path: /dir/dir/WCRUcachedir/records.config
# Line to search/Match against
regexp: "{{item.From}}"
# Line to replace with
line: "{{item.To}}"
state: present
backup: yes
with_items:
- { From: '{{delta}}', To: '{{delta1}}' }
This happened to be my end result
"msg": "An unhandled exception occurred while templating '{{ input | regex_search('^.*[a-zA-Z]+.*_.*[a-zA-Z]+.*', multiline=True )}}'. Error was a <class 'ansible.errors.AnsibleError'>, original message: Unexpected templating type error occurred on ({{ input | regex_search('^.*[a-zA-Z]+.*_.*[a-zA-Z]+.*', multiline=True )}}): expected string or buffer"
}
these are what i believe my conflicting lines are
input: "{{ lookup('file', '{{ record }}').splitlines() }}"
AND
delta1: "{{ input | regex_search('^.[a-zA-Z]+._.[a-zA-Z]+.', multiline=True)}}"

Answer 1

OK, you do have another problem.
In the vars section, when you're setting delta and delta1, regex_search is expecting a string, but your passing a list (which splitlines() created). But you need it to work on one line at a time.
So, rather that input, use item, which will be set in the loop:
vars:
input: "{{ lookup('file', '{{ record }}').splitlines() }}"
delta: "{{ item | regex_search('^.*[a-zA-Z]+.*_.*[a-zA-Z]+.*?')}}"
delta1: "{{ item | regex_search('^.*[a-zA-Z]+.*_.*[a-zA-Z]+.*')}}"
Obviously, you don't need the multiline=True any more.
Now, the loop will look like this:
lineinfile:
path: /etc/opt/CCURcache/records.config
regexp: "{{ delta }}"
line: "{{ delta1 }}"
state: present
backup: yes
loop: "{{ input }}"
when: delta != ""

Answer 2

Yes, you only have one item to loop over. That item has two elements, From and To.
From is {{ input | regex_search('^.*[a-zA-Z]+.*_.*[a-zA-Z]+.*?', multiline=True )}}
To is {{ input | regex_search('^.*[a-zA-Z]+.*_.*[a-zA-Z]+.*', multiline=True)}}
All you did in the vars section was define strings, which will get executed later, when the regex and line are used in the module.
Now, assuming you need to put these together, you need to zip them:
lineinfile:
path: /etc/opt/CCURcache/records.config
regexp: "{{item.0}}"
line: "{{item.1}}"
state: present
backup: yes
loop: "{{ delta|zip(delta1)|list }}"
Here's a simple example:
---
- hosts: localhost
connection: local
gather_facts: no
vars:
list1:
- key_1
- key_2
- key_n
list2:
- value_1
- value_2
- value_n
tasks:
- name: Loop over lists
debug:
msg: "key is {{ item.0 }}; value is {{ item.1 }}"
loop: "{{ list1|zip(list2)|list }}"
And the results:
PLAY [localhost] *******************************************************************************
TASK [Loop over lists] *************************************************************************
ok: [localhost] => (item=['key_1', 'value_1']) => {
"msg": "key is key_1; value is value_1"
}
ok: [localhost] => (item=['key_2', 'value_2']) => {
"msg": "key is key_2; value is value_2"
}
ok: [localhost] => (item=['key_n', 'value_n']) => {
"msg": "key is key_n; value is value_n"
}
PLAY RECAP *************************************************************************************
localhost : ok=1 changed=0 unreachable=0 failed=0 skipped=0 rescued=0 ignored=0
Good luck!