Ansible troubleshooting — Error 203: No Tabs

How to Solve the Ansible Error 203: no-tabs No Tabs

Introduction

Ansible, a versatile automation tool, empowers users to manage configurations, deploy software, and automate tasks with ease and efficiency. However, to maintain consistency and readability in your Ansible playbooks, it’s essential to adhere to best practices. In this article, we will explore Ansible Error 203, “no-tabs,” which draws attention to the use of tab characters (\t) in playbooks. We’ll delve into why using tabs can lead to unexpected display or formatting issues and how opting for spaces over tabs is the key to ensuring clean and reliable Ansible code.

The Problem: Tab Characters in Playbooks

Ansible Error 203, “no-tabs,” is designed to prevent the use of tab characters (\t) in playbooks. Tab characters can lead to unexpected formatting and display issues. Spaces are the recommended choice for maintaining consistent formatting and readability.

Problematic Code Example:

---
- name: Example playbook
  hosts: all
  tasks:
    - name: Trigger the rule with a debug message
      ansible.builtin.debug:
        msg: "Using the \t character can cause formatting issues." # <- Includes the tab character.