variable inside regex_search inside a variable :)

[az]

Hello,

after hours of struggle with Ansible I've decided to ask for help smarter people. What I'm trying to do is to remove (lets say just do ls -la for now all files and directories within certain locations which names are not containing any part of certain list of variables. Let me give you an example:

- name: List currently existing letsencrypt certificates
  find:
    paths={{ item.paths }}
    file_type={{ item.file_type }}
  register: haproxy_le_existing
  with_items:
    - { paths: /etc/letsencrypt/live/, file_type: directory}
    - { paths: /etc/haproxy/ssl/le/, file_type: file}




- debug: var='haproxy_le_ssl|map(attribute="domain")|list|join("|")'
- debug: var='haproxy_le_existing.results|sum(attribute='files', start=[])|map(attribute='path')|map('regex_search','^((?!{{haproxy_le_ssl|map(attribute='domain')|list|join('|')}}).)*$')| select('string') | list'




- name: Remove SSLs that are not in the config
  shell: "ls -la {{ item }}"
  with_items: "{{ haproxy_le_existing.results|sum(attribute='files', start=[])|map(attribute='path')|map('regex_search','^((?!{{haproxy_le_ssl|map(attribute='domain')|list|join('|')}}).)*$')| select('string') | list  }}"

variables are here:

haproxy_le_ssl:
  - { domain: let2.example.is}
  - { domain: let3.example.is}
  - { domain: let4.example.is}

Debug works perfectly:

TASK [common/haproxy : List currently existing letsencrypt certificates] *******
ok: [haproxy-test.aws.example] => (item={u'file_type': u'directory', u'paths': u'/etc/letsencrypt/live/'})
ok: [haproxy-test.aws.example] => (item={u'file_type': u'file', u'paths': u'/etc/haproxy/ssl/le/'})


msg: All items completed


msg: All items completed


TASK [common/haproxy : debug] **************************************************
ok: [haproxy-test.aws.example] => {
    "haproxy_le_ssl|map(attribute=\"domain\")|list|join(\"|\")": "let2.example.is|let3.example.is|let4.example.is"
}


TASK [common/haproxy : debug] **************************************************
ok: [haproxy-test.aws.example] => {
    "haproxy_le_existing.results|sum(attribute='files', start=[])|map(attribute='path')|map('regex_search','^((?!let2.example.is|let3.example.is|let4.example.is).)*$')| select('string') | list": [
        "/etc/letsencrypt/live/let1.example.is",
        "/etc/haproxy/ssl/le/dupa.pem"
    ]
}

most probably because it doesn't have "{{ }}", but when it comes to running a task I've got following error:

TASK [common/haproxy : Remove SSLs that are not in the config] *****************
fatal: [haproxy-test.aws.example]: FAILED! => {"failed": true, "msg": "template error while templating string: expected token ',', got 'domain'. String: {{ haproxy_le_existing.results|sum(attribute='files', start=[])|map(attribute='path')|map('regex_search','^((?!{{haproxy_le_ssl|map(attribute='domain')|list|join('|')}}).)*$')| select('string') | list  }}"}

For me creating oneliner like this is more convenient than creating multiple tasks (most probably I could create something using join from multiple tasks, but I'd like to understand what is happening here as using variable inside regex seems to be quite handy and I might use it in the future), even it is not the easiest to read way of doing the job. Please advice what could I do in this situation.

[Dani C]

Hi,

Any chance you managed to work out as i'm exactly in the same point and boy it drives me crazy...

Cheers

[Marian Vasile Caraiman]

I'm working in a similar task and what worked for me was this trick : 

1. create a variable :  

   vars: 

     prefix="192"

    - name: Make the regexp variable

      set_fact: term="^{{prefix}}.*"

2. use the "prepared variable" 

    - name: Get ip4 address  of the server

      set_fact: matches="{{ ansible_all_ipv4_addresses|map('regex_search', (term) )|list|difference(empty)}}"

      failed_when: matches | count > 1