variables passed to modules getting escaped

[Philippe Kueck]

Hi,


I'm writing some modules/libraries for ansible (2.1.0.0) and was
wondering why variables are getting escaped and whether or not this is
an intended behaviour.

Let's have a simple example:

# testmodule
> #!/bin/sh
> cp -f $1 /tmp/testmodule
> echo '{"changed": false, "msg": "OK"}'


# playbook
> ---
> - hosts: localhost
> gather_facts: no
> tasks:
> - name: "variable testing"
> testmodule:
> a_foo: '/a/regular/expression(/.*)?'
> a_bar: 'a string with "special" chars'
> a_baz: 'a simple string'
> a_yatta: 'word'
> b_foo: "/a/regular/expression(/.*)?"
> b_bar: "a string with 'special' chars"
> b_baz: "a simple string"
> b_yatta: "word"


expected file content:

either
> a_foo="/a/regular/expression(/.*)?"
> a_bar="a string with \"special\" chars"
> a_baz="a simple string"
> a_yatta="word"
> b_foo="/a/regular/expression(/.*)?"
> b_bar="a string with 'special' chars"
> b_baz="a simple string"
> b_yatta="word"

or
> a_foo='/a/regular/expression(/.*)?'
> a_bar='a string with "special" chars'
> a_baz='a simple string'
> a_yatta='word'
> b_foo='/a/regular/expression(/.*)?'
> b_bar='a string with '\''special'\'' chars'
> b_baz='a simple string'
> b_yatta='word'


actual file content:
> a_foo="'/a/regular/expression(/.*)?'"
> a_bar="'a string with "special" chars'"
> a_baz="'a simple string'"
> a_yatta="word"
> b_foo="'/a/regular/expression(/.*)?'"
> b_bar="'a string with '"'"'special'"'"' chars'"
> b_baz="'a simple string'"
> b_yatta="word"


which results in:
> $ source /tmp/testmodule

> $ echo $a_foo
> '/a/regular/expression(/.*)?' # <- extra single quotes

> $ echo $a_bar
> 'a string with special chars' # <- extra single quotes and
# the double quotes are lost

> $ echo $a_baz
> 'a simple string' # <- extra single quotes

> $ echo $a_yatta
> word # <- correct

> $ echo $b_foo
> '/a/regular/expression(/.*)?' # <- extra single quotes

> $ echo $b_bar
> 'a string with '"special"' chars' # <- extra single quotes

> $ echo $b_baz
> 'a simple string' # <- extra single quotes

> $ echo $b_yatta
> word # <- correct

this forces me to unescape the variables before using actually them,
either with eval:
$ eval echo $a_foo
> /a/regular/expression(/.*)?

or, because eval doesn't work with $b_bar, with substitution
> $ echo ${b_bar//\'/}
> a string with "special" chars


Any thoughts? Am I missing something?

Kind regards

Philippe