Cannot execute task for each item in a list

[jakubledl]

• Task version: Task version: 3.33.1 (installed via homebrew)
• Operating system: macos 14.2.1
• Experiments enabled: none

Following the documentation sample at https://taskfile.dev/usage/#looping-over-tasks.

Given the following Taskfile.yml:

version: 3

tasks:
  install-bins:
    cmds:
      - for:
          - google.golang.org/protobuf/cmd/protoc-gen-go
          - google.golang.org/grpc/cmd/protoc-gen-go-grpc
        task: install-bin
        # cmd: echo {{.ITEM}}
        vars:
          BIN: {{.ITEM}}

  install-bin:
    internal: true
    cmds:
      - echo {{.BIN}}

running task install-bins gives the following:

task: Failed to parse Taskfile.yml:
yaml: line 6: invalid keys in command
[1]    8230 exit 102   task install-bins

Modyfing the file as follows (not touching line 6 at all):

version: 3

tasks:
  install-bins:
    cmds:
      - for:
          - google.golang.org/protobuf/cmd/protoc-gen-go
          - google.golang.org/grpc/cmd/protoc-gen-go-grpc
        # task: install-bin
        cmd: echo {{.ITEM}}
        vars:
          BIN: {{.ITEM}}

  install-bin:
    internal: true
    cmds:
      - echo {{.BIN}}

gives the expected result:

task: [install-bins] echo google.golang.org/protobuf/cmd/protoc-gen-go
google.golang.org/protobuf/cmd/protoc-gen-go
task: [install-bins] echo google.golang.org/grpc/cmd/protoc-gen-go-grpc
google.golang.org/grpc/cmd/protoc-gen-go-grpc

[pd93]

Hi @jakubledl. Looks like a quotation issue to me. YAML is sensitive to strings when values begin or contain certain characters. In general, it's best to quote them to stop this issue:

version: 3

tasks:
  install-bins:
    cmds:
      - for:
          - google.golang.org/protobuf/cmd/protoc-gen-go
          - google.golang.org/grpc/cmd/protoc-gen-go-grpc
        task: install-bin
        vars:
          BIN: "{{.ITEM}}" # <-- Quoting this value fixes the issue

  install-bin:
    internal: true
    cmds:
      - echo {{.BIN}}

There is some more detailed information on YAML strings and when you should quote them in this StackOverflow post.