insert multiple lines at a particular location within a file

[Vince Skahan]

I'm looking for a reasonable way to insert a block of lines into a certain position within a file hopefully 'without' needing to template the destination file.

I have a config file that I need to insert multiple lines into.

[SectionA]

  ... many lines below here ...

[SectionB]

  ... many more lines below here...

[SectionC]

  ... and so on...

What I'm trying to do is insert a block of lines just above the 'SectionB' line.

[SectionA]

  ... many lines below here ... 

  [[subsectionX]]

     HTML_ROOT = /path/here

  [[subsectionY]]

    HTML_ROOT = /path/here

     [SectionB]

         ... many more lines below here...

     [SectionC]

       ... and so on...

I tried a 'with_items' approach ala:

- name: insert the lines

  lineinfile: dest=/config/file/path line="{{ item }}" insertbefore='[SectionB]'

  with_items:

  - " [[subsectionX]]"

  - "   HTML_ROOT = /path/here"

  - " [[subsectionY]]"

  - "   HTML_ROOT = /path/here"

This struck me as a bit of a kludge, and it failed anyway as ansible only adds the first 'HTML_ROOT =" line into the file, and does not add the second one (being a little too smart for its own good)

Is there a preferred way to do this kind of stuff ?