Modify delete a line using ansible - ansible

I want to remove only 'fsck.mode=auto' from the following line using ansible.
foo bar foo.bar=hold fsck.mode=auto foo foo bar foo
The hosts, root user and other privileges are set up else where in the project.
I prefer to use lineinfile if possible over replace. I don't want to delete the whole line but rather only remove whats in the regexp with ''.
- name: remove fsck
lineinfile:
dest: /etc/grub2.cfg
regexp: 'fsck.mode=auto'
line: ''

- name: Replacing the square brackets and single quotes on new VM IP address in hosts
hosts: 127.0.0.1
connection: local
become: true
tasks:
- name: Replacing the brackets from the end of the new ip with whitespace
replace:
path: /etc/ansible/hosts
regexp: \'\]
replace: ''
The above works for me to replace "']" with ''
edit: Just noticed you don't want to use 'replace' my bad. I believe you can use 'state=present' to replace using lineinfile
https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/2.4/lineinfile_module.html Take note of the 'backrefs' option

I think you are interested in backrefs. The code below does what you need. You can also play with white spaces if you want
- name: Change match only
lineinfile:
path: /whatever/file.txt
regexp: '^(. *)fsck.mode=auto (. *)$'
line: '\1\2'
backrefs: yes
Without those spaces between . and * (formatting piece of s>>t)

Related

Adding asterisk (*) to configuration file with Ansible lineinfile module

I am trying to write a playbook to add log forwarder lines to syslog.conf on AIX.
The tasks looks like this:
- set_fact:
log_servers:
- "auth.info\t#10.10.10.100"
- "*.info\t#log.example.com"
- lineinfile:
path: /etc/syslog.conf
regexp: '^{{item}}'
line: '{{item}}'
loop: "{{log_servers}}"
The first line is inserted with no issues, but I get a Python exception when the second line is encountered because of the leading asterisk.
An asterisk can be anywhere else in the line, but not at the start of the line. And escaping with a backslash (\*.info\t#log.example.com) causes a JSON parsing error, and a double backslash (\\*.info\t#log.example.com) just inserts a backslash at the front of the line.
Any advice on how to get around this?
Your issue is coming from the fact that you are trying to use the same string for a regex (where you need to escape the star) and for the line to add (where you don't need to escape the star).
There is a way to resolve this, though, it is to use the builtin regex_escape filter.
And so, your two task should become:
- set_fact:
log_servers:
- "auth.info\t#10.10.10.100"
- "*.info\t#log.example.com"
- lineinfile:
path: /etc/syslog.conf
regexp: '^{{ item | regex_escape() }}'
line: '{{ item }}'
loop: "{{ log_servers }}"

Line break with lineinfile in ansible

The only way that I find to respect regex line break \n is concatenating everything in one line with double quote.
---
- name: Custom prompt output
lineinfile:
path: ~/.zshrc
line: "\n# Custom Prompt\nlocal user=\"%{$fg[yellow]%}%n%{$fg[white]%}#%{$fg[green]%}%m%{$reset_color%}\"\nPROMPT=\"${user} ${PROMPT}\""
state: present
The result is correctly as I expected, but is so ugly. Have a way to better this?
An option would be to use blockinfile
- name: Custom prompt output
blockinfile:
path: ~/.zshrc
create: yes
block: |
# Custom Prompt
local user="%{$fg[yellow]%}%n%{$fg[white]%}#%{$fg[green]%}%m%{$reset_color%}"
PROMPT="${user} ${PROMPT}"

Replacing a word in a file with Ansible

I was trying to replace one string in a file. For example:
$PASSWORD="oldpassword"
with:
$PASSWORD="newpassword"
Here is the Ansible task which should do this:
- name: change password with lineinfile
lineinfile:
dest: test.txt
regexp: '^$PASSWORD='
line: '^$PASSWORD="newpassword"'
state: present
backrefs: yes
Unfortunately I can't find the reason why it isn't working. I cannot replace it with the new string.
I was also trying without backrefs and the string was added instead of replaced.
Please advise.
Thank you.
From Regular expression operations:
$: Matches the end of the string or just before the newline at the end of
the string
So, escape $ with backslash.
- lineinfile:
dest: /tmp/test.txt
regexp: '^\$PASSWORD='
line: '$PASSWORD="newpassword"'
state: present
Also you don't need to use the backrefs parameter with your example, because your regular expression doesn't have backreferences.

How to uncomment line with Ansible replace module?

It's very common for vanilla configurations files to have settings commented out in default configuration files. For example
#HEAP_SIZE=2g
How do I remove the comment character, "#" in this case, with the Ansible replace module?
- name: Uncomment out HEAP_SIZE
replace:
dest: //etc/some_path/app.conf
replace="what to put here to remove #???"
regex="#HEAP_SIZE=2g"
Resulting in
HEAP_SIZE=2g
You can use lineinfile for your task:
- name: Uncomment parameters
lineinfile:
dest: app.conf
regexp: (?i)^\s*#\s*({{ item }}.*)
line: \1
backrefs: yes
with_items:
- heap_size
- aNoThEr_setting
Simply:
replace: "HEAP_SIZE=2g"
You'd also want to make sure it's from the beginning of the line.
Generally for this use case lineinfile module fits better.

Ansible lineinfile - modify a line

I'm new to Ansible and trying to modify a line in /etc/default/grub to enable auditing.
I need to add audit=1 within the quotes somewhere on a line that looks like:
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX="crashkernel=auto rd.lvm.lv=centos/root rd.lvm.lv=centos/swap biosdevname=0 net.ifnames=0 rhgb quiet net.ifnames=0"
So far I've managed to delete the line and am only left with
net.ifnames=0, audit=1
when I use something like
lineinfile:
state: present
dest: /etc/default/grub
backrefs: yes
regexp: "net.ifnames=0"
line: "\1 audit=1"
Can this be done?
You may try this:
- lineinfile:
state: present
dest: /etc/default/grub
backrefs: yes
regexp: '^(GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX=(?!.* audit)\"[^\"]+)(\".*)'
line: '\1 audit=1\2'
This will add audit=1 (with a leading space) just before closing double quote. It will not match without double quotes.
And it tries to be idempotent: doesn't match lines that already have audit (with a leading space) after GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX=.
I'd recommend to use sites like regex101 to test your regular expressions first (there's also a substitution mode there).
When you're satisfied with the result, proceed with the Ansible task.
I wanted to make sure the parameter is also set to the correct value, so I used this replace invocation:
replace:
path: /etc/default/grub
regexp: '^(GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX=(?:(?![" ]{{ option | regex_escape }}=).)*"?)\s*(?:{{ option | regex_escape }}=\S+\s*)?(.*")$'
replace: '\1 {{ option }}={{ value }}\2'
vars:
option: audit
value: 1
This works if the option wasn't present previously, if it was but had the wrong option (only changes the value then) and if the whole string was empty (but adds a space before the option then). Also, it uses regex_escape to correctly work with option names that contain dots and the likes, and you only have to specify them once.

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