ansible lineinfile module to replace a single line with multiple lines

Question

I have a ansible play which works correctly as follows, here i have two From entries which are being changed with TO entries.

But i'm just wondering if there is way where i can replace one line with two lines in a file called ntp.conf in my case.

---
- name: Play to correct the config for NTP clients
  hosts: all
  remote_user: root
  gather_facts: False

  tasks:
  - name: Changing the ntp server configuration on the client
    lineinfile:
      path: /etc/ntp.conf
      ### line to be searched & matched
      regexp: '{{ item.From }}'
      ### line to be in placed
      line: '{{ item.To }}'
      state: present
      backup: yes
      backrefs: yes

    with_items:
    - { From: 'server ros-ntp minpoll 4 maxpoll 10', To: 'server ros-gw.fuzzy.com minpoll 4 maxpoll 10'}
    - { From: 'server ros-ntp-b minpoll 4 maxpoll 10', To: 'server ros-b-gw.fuzzy.com minpoll 4 maxpoll 10'}

    notify: restart_ntp_service

  handlers:
  - name: restart_ntp_service
    service:
      name: ntpd
      state: restarted

Answer 1

You'll need to use blockinfile to add multiple lines to ntp.conf . You can use lineinfile to replace the line you're targeting with a comment, then use the insertafter parameter of blockinfile to add your lines after it.

Here is the blockinfile documentation .

Alternatively you could use two lineinfile tasks and leverage the insertafter property. Something like this:

- name: Set NTP server to use ros-ntp-b
  lineinfile:
      path: /etc/ntp.conf
      regexp: 'server ros-ntp-?b? minpoll 4 maxpoll 10'
      line: 'server ros-ntp-b minpoll 4 maxpoll 10'
      state: present
      backup: no

- name: Add NTP server config for ros-ntp-gw
  lineinfile:
      path: /etc/ntp.conf
      regexp: 'server ros-ntp-rw minpoll 4 maxpoll 10'
      line: 'server ros-ntp-gw minpoll 4 maxpoll 10'
      insertafter: 'server ros-ntp-b minpoll 4 maxpoll 10'
      state: present
      backup: yes

Answer 2

I got the work around as follows with using lineinfile module, still looking for the other way around if someone comes across. Just placing the working answer below for posterity ...

---
- name: Play to correct the config for NTP clients
  hosts: all
  remote_user: root
  gather_facts: False
  tasks:
  - name: Changing the ntp server configuration on the client
    lineinfile:
      path: /etc/ntp.conf
      ### line to be searched & matched
      regexp: 'server ros-ntp minpoll 4 maxpoll 10'
      ### line to be in placed
      line: "server ros-ntp-b minpoll 4 maxpoll 10\nserver ros-ntp-gw minpoll 4 maxpoll 10"
      state: present
      backup: yes
      backrefs: yes
    notify: restart_ntp_service

  handlers:
  - name: restart_ntp_service
    service:
      name: ntpd
      state: restarted

The newline \\n works well with version 2.3 and 2.4 qs well, just to be sure not to use \\\\n <- thi sis from the actual git commit.

  # Replace the newline character with an actual newline. Don't replace # escaped \\\\n, hence sub and not str.replace. line = re.sub(r'\\n', os.linesep, params['line']) # Replace the newline character with an actual newline, but be careful # not to trigger other escape sequences (specifically octal \\ooo) line = re.sub(r'((?<!(?:[^\\\\]\\\\))\\\\n)', os.linesep, params['line'])