Neatly print Ansible debug output on multiple lines

Question

I have a file that I want to print as debug msg line.

cat  result.txt
## BEGIN :##  Role Name: Deployment Checks
## REASON:- ERROR: Deployment Checks output from command FATAL: TEST FAILED.
## END :##  Role Name: Deployment Checks ##

## BEGIN :##  Role Name: Describe the instance
## REASON:- ERROR: Describe the instance   FATAL: TEST FAILED.
## END :##  Role Name: Describe the instance ##

I m using the below code to print them on the console

- name: Read result
  shell: "cat  result.txt | grep 'REASON:-'"
  register: result

- name: print checks fail.
  debug:
    msg:
      - "Check Failed!"
      -  "{{ result.stdout_lines }}"

Which prints below output in an ugly format as single line

TASK [ print checks fail.] **************************************************
fatal: [10.203.116.90]: FAILED! => {"changed": false, "msg": ["Check Failed!", ["REASON:- ERROR: Deployment Checks output from command", "REASON:- ERROR: Describe the instance  "]]}

How can I print every reason as a single line? So that output is more readable. Something like below

TASK [ print checks fail.] **************************************************
    fatal: [10.203.116.90]: FAILED! => {"changed": false, "msg":
["Check Failed!", 
["REASON:- ERROR: Deployment Checks output from command",
"REASON:- ERROR: Describe the instance  "]]}

score 3 · Answer 1 · answered Jun 02 '22 at 16:22

Without a change change of callback, you could do:

- debug:
    msg: "{{ ['Check Failed!'] + result.stdout_lines }}"

Which will render in


TASK [debug] *******************************************************************
ok: [localhost] => {
    "msg": [
        "Check Failed!",
        "## REASON:- ERROR: Deployment Checks output from command FATAL: TEST FAILED.",
        "## REASON:- ERROR: Describe the instance   FATAL: TEST FAILED."
    ]
}

But as pointed by @U880D's answer, the YAML callback is way more convenient to format output properly.

For example, with the YAML output, you could do:

- debug:
    msg: |-
      Check Failed!
      {{ result.stdout }}

Which will render in

TASK [debug] *******************************************************************
ok: [localhost] => 
  msg: |-
    Check Failed!
    ## REASON:- ERROR: Deployment Checks output from command FATAL: TEST FAILED.
    ## REASON:- ERROR: Describe the instance   FATAL: TEST FAILED.

U880D · Answer 2 · 2022-06-02T15:45:19.803

You may have a look into Callback plugins and configure it in ansible.cfg in example with stdout_callback: yaml.

By using this

---
- hosts: localhost
  become: false
  gather_facts: false

  tasks:

  - name: Read result
    shell:
      cmd: "grep 'REASON:-' result.txt"
    register: result

  - name: Show result
    debug:
      msg: "{{ result.stdout_lines }}"

the result would be

TASK [Show result] ***************************************************************
ok: [localhost] =>
  msg:
  - '## REASON:- ERROR: Deployment Checks output from command FATAL: TEST FAILED.'
  - '## REASON:- ERROR: Describe the instance   FATAL: TEST FAILED.'

as required.

According your example it seems that you have currently configured stdout_callback: json, and according Ansible Issue #76556 it can't be specified in the playbook level.

Further Q&A

Ansible stdout formatting

Ansible Documentation

Index of all Callback Plugins

Neatly print Ansible debug output on multiple lines

2 Answers2