error when running a windows command using 'raw'

[Chris Jackson]

Hi all,

Tearing my hair out trying to resolve this. I am getting the following:-

    "reason": "failed at splitting arguments, either an unbalanced jinja2 block or quotes: C:\\'Program Files'\\IBM\\SQLLIB\\BIN\\db2licm -a\n{{ temp_area }}\\{{ db2_lic_file }}\n\nThe error appears to have been in '/var/lib/awx/projects/_49__ansible_chrisj_testing/playbooks/MQ_Test/Machine_Setup/roles/DB2_Install/tasks/Win32NT_DB2_Install.yml': line 51, column 7, but may\nbe elsewhere in the file depending on the exact syntax problem.\n\nThe offending line appears to be:\n\n\n    - name: Installing the license\n      ^ here\n"

This is the errant piece of yaml:-

 - name: Installing the license
      raw: |
           C:\'Program Files'\IBM\SQLLIB\BIN\db2licm -a
           {{ temp_area }}\{{ db2_lic_file }}

Can anyone help?

Many Thanks

Chris.

[Bob Harold]

My first guess is that the backslash "\" characters are 'escaping' the following character.  Try doubling each of them "\\"

-- 

Bob Harold

 

[Bob Harold]

Probably not that, it seems to have understood the backslash.  It is complaining about the "name:" line, so either there is an invisible character (happens when I cut/paste from a doc or web page), or likely the problem is before that line, so it is not expecting the 'name:' line.  Can you show us the preceding few lines?

-- 

Bob Harold

 

[Jordan Borean]

Not sure why it is complaining here, maybe an invisble control character. Anyway you are best off doing the following;

- name: Installing the license
  raw: '"C:\Program Files\IBM\SQLLIB\BIN\db2licm" -a "{{ temp_area }}\{{ db2_lic_file }}"'

Raw in Windows is not truly raw as it is run in a PowerShell shell so the standard quoting rules apply. Having C:\'Progam Files'\.. wouldn't work as that isn't valid PowerShell. The example above will quote that whole string as well as your -a arg in case it has a space in it. You can also consider using win_command for this if you want to talk advantage of things like become, environment, async and some of the other options it adds.

Thanks

Jordan

[Jordan Borean]

Actually if your example is literal and -a is on a newline then that's probably your issue, it sounds like you wanted '>' not '|' to folder each newline in your string but I still recommend the way above I posted.

[Chris Jackson]

Thankls for the responses so far.

Getting a different error now after applying your suggestion Jordan (so positive)

"stderr_lines": [
        "At line:1 char:43",
        "+ \"C:\\Program Files\\IBM\\SQLLIB\\BIN\\db2licm\" -a \"C:\\Users\\ADMINI~1\\AppDa ...",
        "+                                           ~~",
        "Unexpected token '-a' in expression or statement.",
        "At line:1 char:46",
        "+ ... \\db2licm\" -a \"C:\\Users\\ADMINI~1\\AppData\\Local\\Temp\\db2_11_aese_u.lic\"",
        "+                  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~",
        "Unexpected token '\"C:\\Users\\ADMINI~1\\AppData\\Local\\Temp\\db2_11_aese_u.lic\"' in expression or statement.",
        "+ CategoryInfo          : ParserError: (:) [], ParentContainsErrorRecordException",
        "+ FullyQualifiedErrorId : UnexpectedToken"
    ],
    "_ansible_no_log": false,
    "stdout": "",
    "changed": true,
    "stderr": "At line:1 char:43\r\n+ \"C:\\Program Files\\IBM\\SQLLIB\\BIN\\db2licm\" -a \"C:\\Users\\ADMINI~1\\AppDa ...\r\n+                                           ~~\r\nUnexpected token '-a' in expression or statement.\r\nAt line:1 char:46\r\n+ ... \\db2licm\" -a \"C:\\Users\\ADMINI~1\\AppData\\Local\\Temp\\db2_11_aese_u.lic\"\r\n+                  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~\r\nUnexpected token '\"C:\\Users\\ADMINI~1\\AppData\\Local\\Temp\\db2_11_aese_u.lic\"' in expression or statement.\r\n+ CategoryInfo          : ParserError: (:) [], ParentContainsErrorRecordException\r\n+ FullyQualifiedErrorId : UnexpectedToken\r\n",
    "rc": 1,
    "msg": "non-zero return code",
    "stdout_lines": []

[Chris Jackson]

Sorry, just to add to the previous post, the yaml is now as follows:-

 - name: Installing the license

   raw: '"C:\Program Files\IBM\SQLLIB\BIN\db2licm" -a "{{ temp_area }}\{{ db2_lic_file }}"'

On Thursday, August 15, 2019 at 5:08:28 PM UTC+1, Chris Jackson wrote:

[Jordan Borean]

That’s my bad, when you quote the string and want to execute it you need to add the call operator like:

- raw: ‘&” C:\Program Files\... “‘


The alternative is to use win_command with the setup you have right now.

[Chris Jackson]

Jordan,

Worked like a dream! I changed the module to win_command.

Many thanks for your help!

Regards

Chris