Line breaks are removed in text output

Question

I have a very long configuration file I am pulling from various pieces of equipment, and need it exactly as the command output gives me back. Ansible however, appears to be stripping the line breaks when I go to write the output to a file.

    - name: Pull the running-config...
      cisco.ios.ios_command:
        commands: show running-config brief
      register: running_output
...
...
    - name: Copy running_config data to file...
      ansible.builtin.copy:
        content: "{{  running_output.stdout_lines  }}"
        dest: "/etc/ansible/backups/{{  inventory_hostname  }}/running_config.txt"

When I debug the output, I do see the line breaks removed in stdout. But I also see a different output, (stdout_lines) as the configuration should be and not replaced with a ton of "\n"s.

Is there a way to ensure that line breaks exist in the output I send to file? Or ensure that the character that is replacing them is noted and formatted correctly?

Answer 1

Short answer: Use stdout instead of stdout_lines.

Details: Given the below file for testing

shell> cat /tmp/config.txt
line1
line2
line3

Read it and register the variable running_output

    - command: cat /tmp/config.txt
      register: running_output

gives

  running_output:
    ansible_facts:
      discovered_interpreter_python: /usr/bin/python3
    changed: true
    cmd:
    - cat
    - /tmp/config.txt
    delta: '0:00:00.007317'
    end: '2023-11-02 02:15:50.172897'
    failed: false
    msg: ''
    rc: 0
    start: '2023-11-02 02:15:50.165580'
    stderr: ''
    stderr_lines: []
    stdout: |-
      line1
      line2
      line3
    stdout_lines:
    - line1
    - line2
    - line3

If you use the list running_output.stdout_lines

    - copy:
        dest: /tmp/running_config.txt
        content: "{{ running_output.stdout_lines }}"

You'll get the list

shell> cat /tmp/running_config.txt 
["line1", "line2", "line"]

Use running_output.stdout instead

    - copy:
        dest: /tmp/running_config.txt
        content: "{{ running_output.stdout }}"

You'll get

shell> cat /tmp/running_config.txt 
line1
line2
line3