ansible/ansible · error · TypeError

'{0!r}' is not a string and conversion is not allowed

Error message

'{0!r}' is not a string and conversion is not allowed

What it means

Error "'{0!r}' is not a string and conversion is not allowed" thrown in ansible/ansible.

Source

Thrown at lib/ansible/module_utils/common/validation.py:350

    :arg value: Value to validate or convert to a string
    :arg allow_conversion: Whether to convert the string and return it or raise
        a TypeError

    :returns: Original value if it is a string, the value converted to a string
        if allow_conversion=True, or raises a TypeError if allow_conversion=False.
    """
    if isinstance(value, str):
        return value

    if value is None:
        return ''  # approximate pre-2.19 templating None->empty str equivalency here for backward compatibility

    if allow_conversion:
        return to_native(value, errors='surrogate_or_strict')

    msg = "'{0!r}' is not a string and conversion is not allowed".format(value)
    raise TypeError(to_native(msg))


def _check_type_str_no_conversion(value) -> str:
    return check_type_str(value, allow_conversion=False)


def check_type_list(value):
    """Verify that the value is a list or convert to a list

    A comma separated string will be split into a list. Raises a :class:`TypeError`
    if unable to convert to a list.

    :arg value: Value to validate or convert to a list

    :returns: Original value if it is already a list, single item list if a
        float, int, or string without commas, or a multi-item list if a
        comma-delimited string.
    """

View on GitHub (pinned to 9cf16a4aca)

Solutions

1. Pass a string value, or enable conversion if the caller supports it.
2. Quote the value in the playbook to force string type.

When it happens

Trigger: Thrown at lib/ansible/module_utils/common/validation.py:350 when the library encounters an invalid state.

Common situations: See trigger scenarios.

AI-assisted analysis of ansible/ansible@9cf16a4aca (2026-08-15). Data as JSON: /api/errors/f0ef139037420241. Report an issue: GitHub.