Replace string in file using matchpattern spec

[bngameni]

Greetings,

I encountered a minor issue with matchpatterns. Specifically, I'm attempting to replace every string that starts with "^something" with other text. However, it appears that the "^" character is being treated as a regular character rather than indicating the start of a line.

Here's a snippet of what I'm trying to achieve:

sample_change:
    name: Update string
    kind: file
    scmid: gitlab
    sourceid: sample
    spec:
      file: "main.yml"
      matchpattern: "^something_"
      replacepattern: "others_"

Regrettably, I'm receiving an error message stating:

no line matched in file \"main.yml\" for pattern \"^something_\

Oddly enough, when I use the sed command in the command line, I get the desired results:

sed -i.bcp -e "s|^something_|others|g" main.yml

I'd like to note that the "^" character is recognized by Go's regexp library (re2). Have I overlooked something? I've been troubleshooting this issue since yesterday.

[dduportal]

Could you try with the following and compare result?

sample_change:
    name: Update string
    kind: file
    scmid: gitlab
    sourceid: sample
    spec:
      file: "main.yml"
      matchpattern: |-
        ^something_
      replacepattern: "others_"

which indicates a literal multiline with no newline at the end (https://yaml-multiline.info/) in YAML. The goal is to remove the YAML parser from the equation

[bngameni]

Re:

Hello,

I trust you received my previous message.
Were you able to replicate the scenario and carry out debugging using the information I supplied?

[olblak]

Hello @bngameni I missed your previous example, I'll have a look

[olblak]

Hi I think initially misunderstood the problem, I thought you wanted to preserver the character "^" while you want to use a valid regex which shouldn't need character escape

I tested using :

targets:
  default:
    kind: file
    disablesourceinput: true
    spec:
      file: /tmp/data.yaml
      matchpattern: '^apache2_'
      replacepattern: "apache_"

  role_src_change:
    name: Update role src 
    kind: file
    disablesourceinput: true
    spec:
      file: "/tmp/data.yaml"
      matchpattern: 'git@git.example.com:sample/projects/ansible/apache.git'
      # example of replacement
      replacepattern: 'https://github.com/geerlingguy/ansible-role-apache.git'

on

apache2_
myapache2_

git@git.example.com:sample/projects/ansible/apache.git

And it produced

TARGETS
========

role_src_change
---------------
"/tmp/data.yaml" updated with content "https://github.com/geerlingguy/ansible-role-apache.git"

--- /tmp/data.yaml
+++ /tmp/data.yaml
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
apache2_
myapache2_

-git@git.example.com:sample/projects/ansible/apache.git
+https://github.com/geerlingguy/ansible-role-apache.git

⚠ - 1 file(s) updated with "https://github.com/geerlingguy/ansible-role-apache.git":
	* /tmp/data.yaml

default
-------
"/tmp/data.yaml" updated with content "apache_"

--- /tmp/data.yaml
+++ /tmp/data.yaml
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-apache2_
+apache_
myapache2_

https://github.com/geerlingguy/ansible-role-apache.git

⚠ - 1 file(s) updated with "apache_":
	* /tmp/data.yaml

=============================

REPORTS:

Considering the "pouet" in your comment, you seem a french speaker from the other side of the border, so feel free to drop me an email on me@olblak.com so we can schedule a quick look call.

[bngameni]

Hello @olblak,

  role_variables_change:
    name: Update role variables
    kind: file
    scmid: gitlab
    sourceid: role_vars
    spec:
      files:
        - "inventory/group_vars/apache/main.yml"
      matchpattern: "(?m)^apache2_"
      replacepattern: "apache_"
    

We applied the (?m) pattern to achieve multiline matching, and it effectively resolved the issue.

We realized that the "^apache2" pattern was only attempting to match the first line, which caused errors on our end.

After carefully studying the golang expression, we identified the correct regular expression to use.

[olblak]

Thanks for opening the issue.
I managed to reproduced and resolve by escaping the "^" such as

targets:
  sample_change:
      name: Update string
      kind: file
      spec:
        file: "/tmp/main.yaml"
        matchpattern: \^something_
        replacepattern: "others_"

I don't understand why because as far as I know "^" is not a special character interpreted by YAML or Go templates

[bngameni]

On my end, I'm encountering the same error, even after escaping the "^"..
You can find the information here: link to the discussion.

[olblak]

Also based on your example, the way you use the sourceid will not work,. probably better to use something like

ources:
  sample:
      name: Get information
      kind: shell
      spec:
        command: "echo 1.2.3"

targets:
  sample_change:
      name: Update string
      kind: file
      disablesourceinput: true
      spec:
        file: "/tmp/main.yaml"
        matchpattern: \^something_
        replacepattern: 'others_{{ source "sample" }}'

Where you use the dynamic function {{ source "sample" }}

[olblak]

In this case I don't know if the problem is a bug or by design :-D but there is definitely room for improvement.
The problem may be similar to https://github.com/orgs/updatecli/discussions/1243