How to convert a iterate loop list into a string to use in Linux - linux

Question

I have Ansible role that I want to iterate over.
The goal is to create new user accounts from a list. The playbook calls the role and sends the list to iterate.
The OS (Linux Debian 8.8) sees the all of var unicode "[u'user']"
Some other tests performed show new users:
['test']
[u'test']
All I really want is to have the var to be a string so I make a new user and add the needed keys and other files. I can also join the var into paths for key and other files.
I have searched for an easy way to "| to_string", (not in Ansible)
The Filter "to_yaml" gets rid of the unicode but not "[]" and adds "\n" at the end.
The item for the ssh key copy if for the various id_(type).pub files.
I have read:
Convert Ansible variable from Unicode to ASCII
Code
Playbook:
vars_files:
- /home/admin/common/vars/UserList
gather_facts: False
roles:
- { role: common, "{{ UserList }}" }
UserList file
---
UserList:
- 'test'
...
role/common/main.yml
---
- name: Add user to server
user:
name: "{{ UserList }}"
shell: /bin/bash
- name: make direcotry
file:
path: "/home/{{ UserList }}/.ssh"
state: directory
- name: Copy ssh public key to user/.ssh/_key_.pub
copy:
src: "/home/{{ UserList }}/.ssh/{{ item }}"
dest: "/home/{{ UserList }}/.ssh/{{ item }}"
mode: 600
force: no
with_items:
- id_rsa.pub
- id_dsa.pub
- id_ecdsa.pub
...
A different form, but still errored as below.
roles:
- role: common
with_items:
- "{{ UserList }}"
Error
(item=id_rsa.pub) => {"failed": true, "invocation": {"module_args": {"dest": "/home/[u'test']/.ssh/id_rsa.pub", "force": false, "mode": 600, "src": "/home/[u'test']/.ssh/id_rsa.pub"}, "module_name": "copy"}, "item": "id_rsa.pub", "msg": "could not find src=/home/[u'test']/.ssh/id_rsa.pub"}

Answer 1

Workaround
I found a workarount for my issue. I would be cautious to call it a solution. For this case it will suffice. I need to "loop" with my var with the builtin {{ item }}. Then {{ item }} is used as a string and I can create the PATHs I need. I can also iterate through the a series of items with "with_nested".
- name: create empty file
file:
path: "{{ '/home/' + item + '/.ssh/authorized_keys' }}"
state: touch
with_items:
- "{{ UserList }}"
- name: Copy ssh public key to user/.ssh/_key_.pub
copy:
src: "{{ '/home/' + item[1] + '/.ssh/' + item[0] }}"
dest: "{{ '/home/' + item[1] + '/.ssh/' + item[0] }}"
mode: 600
force: no
with_nested:
- [ 'id_rsa.pub' , 'id_dsa.pub' , 'id_ecdsa.pub' ]
- "{{ UserList }}"