Handling escaped characters when converting json to hcl about json2hcl

[Acconut]

This seems to be a problem in the upstream HCL package we use. So I reported the error there: hashicorp/hcl#268. However, this has already been reported but there was no further activity: hashicorp/hcl#233

[Acconut]

Are these escape characters in the resulting HCL harmful and cause it to be invalid or is it just an aesthetic concern?

[lorengordon]

The resulting HCL is invalid.

[Acconut]

I have debugged this issue a bit and, if it's a bug, it originates in Hashicorp's HCL library (https://github.com/hashicorp/hcl). Since I am not well versed in HCL on my own, could you explain to me when a double quote needs to be escaped in HCL? Only when it's not inside a ${ ... } or never?

[lorengordon]

I'm on holiday this week and can't really test or research further as i don't have a computer. However, I cannot recall needing to escape double quotes at all in any of the HCL templates I've written.

[beatcracker]

I've similar issue with my own automated tool that generates JSON configuration.

Here is the generated configuration:

{
  "resource":[
    {
      "bitbucket_hook":{
        "bamboo":{
          "events":[
            "repo:push",
            "pullrequest:fulfilled"
          ],
          "url":"${format(var.bamboo_url, \"PRJ-KEY\", var.skip_branches ? \"true\" : \"false\")}",
          "description":"Trigger Bamboo build: PRJ-KEY",
          "owner":"${var.owner}",
          "repository":"${bitbucket_repository.PRJ-KEY}"
        }
      }
    }
  ]
}

This configuration is converted to:

"resource" "bitbucket_hook" "bamboo" {
  "events" = ["repo:push", "pullrequest:fulfilled"]
  "url" = "${format(var.bamboo_url, \"PRJ-KEY\", var.skip_branches ? \"true\" : \"false\")}"
  "description" = "Trigger Bamboo build: PRJ-KEY"
  "owner" = "${var.owner}"
  "repository" = "${bitbucket_repository.PRJ-KEY}"
}

As you can see, the arguments for the format function are not de-escaped. It should be this way:

  "url" = "${format(var.bamboo_url, "PRJ-KEY", var.skip_branches ? "true" : "false")}"

[Acconut]

To be honest, I don't know HCL that well. Is "${format(var.bamboo_url, \"PRJ-KEY\", var.skip_branches ? \"true\" : \"false\")}" invalid?

[beatcracker]

Sorry, should've made that clear: yes, it's not a valid HCL.