ansible display file content to stdout

Question

I'm using ansible 2.9.3 and I'm having trouble trying to display the content of a file from the target machine, this is my playbook :

 - name: Display content of resolv.conf hosts: jenkins tasks: - name: Display resolv.conf contents command: cat resolv.conf chdir=/etc register: command_output - name: Print to console debug: msg = "{{command_output.stdout}}" 

And my task Print to console returns:

TASK [Print to console] ************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************ ok: [jenkins] => { "msg": "Hello world!" } 

I wanted to have the content of the file to stdout, what am I missing ? Thx

Answer 1

Putting the msg on a separate line than debug like this and use a : instead of an = :

- name: Display content of resolv.conf hosts: localhost tasks: - name: Display resolv.conf contents command: cat resolv.conf chdir=/etc register: command_output - name: Print to console debug: msg: "{{command_output.stdout}}" 

This was my output:

TASK [Display resolv.conf contents] ****************************************************************************************************************************** changed: [127.0.0.1]

TASK [Print to console] ****************************************************************************************************************************************** ok: [127.0.0.1] => { "msg": "#\n# macOS Notice\n#\n# This file is not consulted for DNS hostname resolution, address\n# resolution, or the DNS query routing mechanism used by most\n# processes on this system.\n#\n# To view the DNS configuration used by this system, use:\n# scutil --dns\n#\n# SEE ALSO\n# dns-sd(1), scutil(8)\n#\n# This file is automatically generated.\n#\ndomain attlocal.net\nnameserver 192.168.1.254\nnameserver 8.8.8.8\nnameserver 8.8.4.4" }

Answer 2

You can use ansible.builtin.file lookup plugin to print content of the file, e.g.

- ansible.builtin.debug: var: lookup('ansible.builtin.file', '/etc/resolv.conf') 

However by default, lookup plugins are always executes on the controller (localhost) (GH-78845), so you've to copy the file first (e.g. using copy module first).

See docs: https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/latest/collections/ansible/builtin/file_lookup.html.

Answer 3

A: Remove the spaces around the equal sign "="

debug: msg="{{command_output.stdout}}" 

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Note: Today I found out that somebody downvoted this answer. Please, find the below update that proves this simple answer is correct.

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Update

Given the file for testing

shell> cat /tmp/ansible/resolv.conf nameserver 127.0.0.53 options edns0 trust-ad search example.com 

read the file and display stdout

 - command: cmd: cat resolv.conf chdir: /tmp/ansible register: out - debug: var: out.stdout 

gives

 out.stdout: |- nameserver 127.0.0.53 options edns0 trust-ad search example.com 

You can use the parameter msg

 - debug: msg: "{{ out.stdout }}" 

gives the same result

 msg: |- nameserver 127.0.0.53 options edns0 trust-ad search example.com 

You can provide the module debug with the parameter in an INI format. The task below gives the same result

 - debug: msg="{{ out.stdout }}" 

However, if you put spaces around the equal sign " = "

 - debug: msg = "{{ out.stdout }}" 

the task will fail (in Ansible 2.16)

fatal: [localhost]: FAILED! => msg: |- invalid or malformed argument: 'msg = "nameserver 127.0.0.53 options edns0 trust-ad search example.com"' 

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Example of a complete playbook for testing

- hosts: localhost tasks: - command: cmd: cat resolv.conf chdir: /tmp/ansible register: out - debug: var: out.stdout - debug: msg: "{{ out.stdout }}" - debug: msg="{{ out.stdout }}" - debug: msg = "{{ out.stdout }}"