Error "found unknown escape character" when rendering states for Windows hosts in VCF Salt
Article ID: 441465
Updated On:
Products
Issue/Introduction
Error seen when running state:
Rendering SLS '<repo:module.state>' failed: found unknown escape character
If the above lists a particular line & character, pay attention to where this is.
Conditional logic may cause this to be encountered only for particular circumstances.
Environment
- VMware Salt / RaaS / Aria Automation Config
Cause
The Windows path separator \ is interpreted by Unix-style software such as Salt, as an escape sequence.
Resolution
If Windows paths are given in the state files, enclose these in single quotes so that escape sequences are not processed.
Incorrect syntax:
This will cause \p, \t and \f to be interpreted as escape characters by Salt:
"C:\path\to\file"
Corrected syntax:
'C:\path\to\file'
It is also possible to double-up backslashes (\\), but this may be more prone to mistakes than single-quoting the whole path.
Additional Information
The YAML specification states that escape sequences are "only interpreted in double-quoted scalars":
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