regex_search not filtering stdout_lines stored in a variable · Issue #75296 · ansible/ansible

Summary

I've successfully used regex_search many times to filter stdout_lines from stored variables. Examples:

db2_sh_out_lines: "{{ (db6_update_db_result.stdout_lines | regex_search('db2 -z.+.sql') | regex_replace(\" '\\s+|'\", '')).split(',') }}"

java_inst: "{{ lssap_output.stdout_lines | regex_search('J[0-9][0-9]|$') }}"

This suddenly stopped working for me and now I can only filter stdout with regex_search. First used regex_search like this on Ansible 2.9.14.

Issue Type

Bug Report

Component Name

regex_search

Ansible Version

$ ansible --version
ansible 2.9.23
  config file = /home/saplls/git/IBM_DB2_patching/ansible.cfg
  configured module search path = [u'/home/saplls/.ansible/plugins/modules', u'/usr/share/ansible/plugins/modules']
  ansible python module location = /usr/lib/python2.7/site-packages/ansible
  executable location = /bin/ansible
  python version = 2.7.5 (default, Aug 13 2020, 02:51:10) [GCC 4.8.5 20150623 (Red Hat 4.8.5-39)]

Configuration

$ ansible-config dump --only-changed
ALLOW_WORLD_READABLE_TMPFILES(/home/saplls/git/IBM_DB2_patching/ansible.cfg) = True
ANSIBLE_SSH_ARGS(/home/saplls/git/IBM_DB2_patching/ansible.cfg) = -C -o ControlMaster=auto -o ControlPersist=30m -o ServerAliveInterval=50 -o ServerAliveCountMax=200 -o ConnectTimeout=3 -o ConnectionAttempts=5 -
DEFAULT_BECOME(/home/saplls/git/IBM_DB2_patching/ansible.cfg) = True
DEFAULT_BECOME_ASK_PASS(/home/saplls/git/IBM_DB2_patching/ansible.cfg) = False
DEFAULT_BECOME_METHOD(/home/saplls/git/IBM_DB2_patching/ansible.cfg) = sudo
DEFAULT_BECOME_USER(/home/saplls/git/IBM_DB2_patching/ansible.cfg) = root
DEFAULT_CALLBACK_WHITELIST(/home/saplls/git/IBM_DB2_patching/ansible.cfg) = [u'profile_tasks']
DEFAULT_FORKS(/home/saplls/git/IBM_DB2_patching/ansible.cfg) = 100
DEFAULT_HOST_LIST(/home/saplls/git/IBM_DB2_patching/ansible.cfg) = [u'/home/saplls/git/IBM_DB2_patching/inventory']
DEFAULT_LOG_PATH(/home/saplls/git/IBM_DB2_patching/ansible.cfg) = /home/saplls/git/IBM_DB2_patching/ansible.log
DEFAULT_REMOTE_USER(/home/saplls/git/IBM_DB2_patching/ansible.cfg) = saplls
HOST_KEY_CHECKING(/home/saplls/git/IBM_DB2_patching/ansible.cfg) = False
INTERPRETER_PYTHON(/home/saplls/git/IBM_DB2_patching/ansible.cfg) = auto

OS / Environment

RHEL 7

Steps to Reproduce

- name : filter stdout_lines stored in variable hosts : localhost gather_facts : no tasks : - name : capture ls output command : cmd : ls -l /etc register : ls_output # - name: show ls_output # debug: # msg: "{{ ls_output }}" - name : extract line containing rc3.d set_fact : rc3_line : " {{ ls_output.stdout_lines | regex_search('.+rc3.d.+') }} " - name : show rc3_line value debug : msg : " Line content is: {{ rc3_line }} "

Expected Results

TASK [show rc3_line value] ****************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************
Wednesday 21 July 2021 15:54:20 +0300 (0:00:00.063) 0:00:00.528 ********
ok: [localhost] => {
"msg": "Line content is: lrwxrwxrwx. 1 root root 10 Dec 3 2020 rc3.d -> rc.d/rc3.d"

Actual Results

TASK [extract line containing rc3.d] ******************************************************************************************************************************************************************************
Wednesday 21 July 2021  15:54:53 +0300 (0:00:00.405)       0:00:00.427 ******** 
fatal: [localhost]: FAILED! => {"msg": "Unexpected templating type error occurred on ({{ ls_output.stdout_lines | regex_search('.+rc3.d.+') }}): expected string or buffer"}

Code of Conduct

I agree to follow the Ansible Code of Conduct

Files identified in the description:

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Which version prior to 2.9.23 did it work on?

Using stdout_lines | regex_search actually can be used on Ansible 2.10 and 2.11 since #67823 specifically the following line:

ansible/lib/ansible/plugins/filter/core.py Line 137 8372f34 - name : extract line containing rc3.d set_fact : rc3_line : " {{ ls_output.stdout_lines | regex_search('.+rc3.d.+') }} " - name : show rc3_line value debug : msg : " Line content is: {{ rc3_line }} "

% ansible --version
ansible 2.9.14
  config file = /Users/mkrizek/src/ansible/ansible.cfg
  configured module search path = ['/Users/mkrizek/.ansible/plugins/modules', '/usr/share/ansible/plugins/modules']
  ansible python module location = /Users/mkrizek/src/ansible/lib/ansible
  executable location = /Users/mkrizek/.pyenv/versions/ansible-py394/bin/ansible
  python version = 3.9.4 (default, Apr  7 2021, 08:14:18) [Clang 12.0.0 (clang-1200.0.32.28)]
% ansible-playbook ../ansible-issues/75296.yml
PLAY [filter stdout_lines stored in variable] ****************************************************************************************************************
TASK [capture ls output] *************************************************************************************************************************************
changed: [localhost]
TASK [extract line containing rc3.d] *************************************************************************************************************************
fatal: [localhost]: FAILED! => {"msg": "Unexpected templating type error occurred on ({{ ls_output.stdout_lines | regex_search('.+rc3.d.+') }}): expected string or bytes-like object"}
PLAY RECAP ***************************************************************************************************************************************************
localhost                  : ok=1    changed=1    unreachable=0    failed=1    skipped=0    rescued=0    ignored=0
Edit:

On Python 2 the error is expected string or buffer.