Ansible : Splitting a string based on delimiter

Question

I have the following string in an ansible variable, xyz

xyz = "/u01/dbbackup_nfs/orabackups/odaserver-c/database/857970682/akash_2/db"

I want to split this string such that I stop at orabackups and do a set_fact of the variable abc , such that abc will have the following value.

set_fact:
  abc: "/u01/dbbackup_nfs"

Any suggestions on this would be really helpful

Vladimir Botka · Accepted Answer · 2023-07-10T14:08:00.190

The declaration below

  abc: "/{{ xyz.split('/')[1:3]|join('/') }}"

gives what you want

  abc: /u01/dbbackup_nfs

^{Q: "I needed from the first slash(/), so made it xyz.split('/')[0:3]|join('/')"
A: This depends on whether the path is absolute or relative. You can use a condition if you're not sure
abc: |
{% if xyz[0] == '/' %}
/{{ xyz.split('/')[1:3]|join('/') }}
{% else %}
/{{ xyz.split('/')[0:2]|join('/') }}
{% endif %}

The playbook for testing
- hosts: localhost

vars:

abc: |
{% if xyz[0] == '/' %}
/{{ xyz.split('/')[1:3]|join('/') }}
{% else %}
/{{ xyz.split('/')[0:2]|join('/') }}
{% endif %}

tasks:

- debug:
msg: "{{ xyz.split('/')|to_yaml }}"
vars:
xyz: "u01/dbbackup_nfs/orabackups/odaserver-c/database/857970682/akash_2/db"

- debug:
msg: "{{ xyz.split('/')|to_yaml }}"
vars:
xyz: "/u01/dbbackup_nfs/orabackups/odaserver-c/database/857970682/akash_2/db"

- debug:
var: abc
vars:
xyz: "u01/dbbackup_nfs/orabackups/odaserver-c/database/857970682/akash_2/db"

- debug:
var: abc
vars:
xyz: "/u01/dbbackup_nfs/orabackups/odaserver-c/database/857970682/akash_2/db"

gives
LAY [localhost] ******************************************************************************

TASK [debug] **********************************************************************************
ok: [localhost] =>
msg: |-
[u01, dbbackup_nfs, orabackups, odaserver-c, database, '857970682', akash_2, db]

TASK [debug] **********************************************************************************
ok: [localhost] =>
msg: |-
['', u01, dbbackup_nfs, orabackups, odaserver-c, database, '857970682', akash_2, db]

TASK [debug] **********************************************************************************
ok: [localhost] =>
abc: |-
/u01/dbbackup_nfs

TASK [debug] **********************************************************************************
ok: [localhost] =>
abc: |-
/u01/dbbackup_nfs

PLAY RECAP ************************************************************************************
localhost: ok=4 changed=0 unreachable=0 failed=0 skipped=0 rescued=0 ignored=0}

Thanks Vladir, I needed from the first slash(/), so made it xyz.split('/')[0:3]|join('/') and it works well.. — Akash-BLR, Jul 10 '23 at 11:54
You've said you needed the first **two** elements of the path `/u01/dbbackup_nfs`. Yet `[0:3]` comprises **three** elements. — Vladimir Botka, Jul 10 '23 at 14:10

U880D · Answer 2 · 2023-07-10T12:22:03.143

I want to split this string ...

A minimal example playbook utilizing the split filter in order to show how it works

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

  vars:

    PATH_TO_SPLIT: "/user/folder/files/db"

  tasks:

  - name: Split path
    debug:
      msg: "{{ PATH_TO_SPLIT | split ('/') }}"

  - name: Constructed path
    debug:
      msg: "/{{ PATH_TO_SPLIT.split('/')[1] }}/{{ PATH_TO_SPLIT.split('/')[2] }}"

will result into an output of

TASK [Split path] ******
ok: [localhost] =>
  msg:
  - ''
  - user
  - folder
  - files
  - db

TASK [Constructed path] *******
ok: [localhost] =>
  msg: /user/folder

Further Documenation and Q&A

Ansible : Splitting a string based on delimiter

2 Answers2