Issue with variable value beginning with a pipe

[icmcnamara]

Minimal .gitlab-ci.yml illustrating the issue

job:
  variables:
    JOB_VAR_BEGINNING_WITH_PIPE_01: '|1|job_var_example'
    JOB_VAR_BEGINNING_WITH_PIPE_02: "|2|job_var_example"
    JOB_VAR_BEGINNING_WITH_PIPE_03: >
      |3|job_var_example
    JOB_VAR_BEGINNING_WITH_PIPE_04: |
      |4|job_var_example
  script:
    - |
      echo $JOB_VAR_BEGINNING_WITH_PIPE_01;
      echo $JOB_VAR_BEGINNING_WITH_PIPE_02;
      echo $JOB_VAR_BEGINNING_WITH_PIPE_03;
      echo $JOB_VAR_BEGINNING_WITH_PIPE_04;
      echo $LOCAL_VAR_BEGINNING_WITH_PIPE_01;
      echo $LOCAL_VAR_BEGINNING_WITH_PIPE_02;
      echo $LOCAL_VAR_BEGINNING_WITH_PIPE_03;
      echo $LOCAL_VAR_BEGINNING_WITH_PIPE_04;
      echo $GLOBAL_VAR_BEGINNING_WITH_PIPE_01;
      echo $GLOBAL_VAR_BEGINNING_WITH_PIPE_02;
      echo $GLOBAL_VAR_BEGINNING_WITH_PIPE_03;
      echo $GLOBAL_VAR_BEGINNING_WITH_PIPE_04;
    - echo $(<$GLOBAL_VAR_BEGINNING_WITH_PIPE_04)

.gitlab-ci-local-variables.yml in local directory

LOCAL_VAR_BEGINNING_WITH_PIPE_01: '|1|local_var_example'
LOCAL_VAR_BEGINNING_WITH_PIPE_02: "|2|local_var_example"
LOCAL_VAR_BEGINNING_WITH_PIPE_03: >
  |3|local_var_example
LOCAL_VAR_BEGINNING_WITH_PIPE_04: |
  |4|local_var_example

$HOME/.gitlab-ci-local/variables.yml

global:
  GLOBAL_VAR_BEGINNING_WITH_PIPE_01: '|1|global_var_example'
  GLOBAL_VAR_BEGINNING_WITH_PIPE_02: "|2|global_var_example"
  GLOBAL_VAR_BEGINNING_WITH_PIPE_03: >
    |3|global_var_example
  GLOBAL_VAR_BEGINNING_WITH_PIPE_04: |
    |4|global_var_example

Expected behavior
gitlab-ci-local should run and echo the following:

job $ echo $JOB_VAR_BEGINNING_WITH_PIPE_01; # collapsed multi-line command
job > |1|job_var_example
job > |2|job_var_example
job > |3|job_var_example
job > |4|job_var_example
job > |1|local_var_example
job > |2|local_var_example
job > |3|local_var_example
job > |4|local_var_example
job > |1|global_var_example
job > |2|global_var_example
job > |3|global_var_example
job > |4|global_var_example

Current behavior

GitLab CI Local appears to be interpreting the non-job variables as file paths.

$ gitlab-ci-local
parsing and downloads finished in 629 ms.
json schema validated in 174 ms
job starting shell (test)
job $ echo $JOB_VAR_BEGINNING_WITH_PIPE_01; # collapsed multi-line command
job > |1|job_var_example
job > |2|job_var_example
job > |3|job_var_example
job > |4|job_var_example
job > /tmp/gitlab-ci-local-file-variables-[GITLAB_PROJECT_PATH]-928424/LOCAL_VAR_BEGINNING_WITH_PIPE_01
job > /tmp/gitlab-ci-local-file-variables-[GITLAB_PROJECT_PATH]-928424/LOCAL_VAR_BEGINNING_WITH_PIPE_02
job > /tmp/gitlab-ci-local-file-variables-[GITLAB_PROJECT_PATH]-928424/LOCAL_VAR_BEGINNING_WITH_PIPE_03
job > /tmp/gitlab-ci-local-file-variables-[GITLAB_PROJECT_PATH]-928424/LOCAL_VAR_BEGINNING_WITH_PIPE_04
job > /tmp/gitlab-ci-local-file-variables-[GITLAB_PROJECT_PATH]-928424/GLOBAL_VAR_BEGINNING_WITH_PIPE_01
job > /tmp/gitlab-ci-local-file-variables-[GITLAB_PROJECT_PATH]-928424/GLOBAL_VAR_BEGINNING_WITH_PIPE_02
job > /tmp/gitlab-ci-local-file-variables-[GITLAB_PROJECT_PATH]-928424/GLOBAL_VAR_BEGINNING_WITH_PIPE_03
job > /tmp/gitlab-ci-local-file-variables-[GITLAB_PROJECT_PATH]-928424/GLOBAL_VAR_BEGINNING_WITH_PIPE_04
job finished in 117 ms

Host information
MacBook Pro running Sonoma 14.7.1 (23H222)
gitlab-ci-local 4.56.0

Containerd binary
Docker version 26.0.0, build 2ae903e

Additional context
Inside our GitLab CI workflow we have some know_hosts files being stored as raw text. Attempting to duplicate these variables anywhere but inside a job's variables results in the above. Attempting to read a file from the locations listed results in a file not found message.

Minimal .gitlab-ci.yml showing off file not found

job:
  variables:
    JOB_VAR_BEGINNING_WITH_PIPE_01: '|1|job_var_example'
    JOB_VAR_BEGINNING_WITH_PIPE_02: "|2|job_var_example"
    JOB_VAR_BEGINNING_WITH_PIPE_03: >
      |3|job_var_example
    JOB_VAR_BEGINNING_WITH_PIPE_04: |
      |4|job_var_example
  script:
    - echo $GLOBAL_VAR_BEGINNING_WITH_PIPE_04;
    - echo $(<$GLOBAL_VAR_BEGINNING_WITH_PIPE_04)

$ gitlab-ci-local --cleanup
parsing and downloads finished in 602 ms.
json schema validated in 159 ms
job starting shell (test)
job $ echo $GLOBAL_VAR_BEGINNING_WITH_PIPE_04;
job > /tmp/gitlab-ci-local-file-variables-[PROJECT_DIR]-245031/GLOBAL_VAR_BEGINNING_WITH_PIPE_04
job $ echo $(<$GLOBAL_VAR_BEGINNING_WITH_PIPE_04)
job > warn: GLOBAL_VAR_BEGINNING_WITH_PIPE_04 is pointing to invalid path
job finished in 98 ms

[icmcnamara]

Possibly of interest, passing in via the command line seems to work. A good workaround for me at this point.

$ gitlab-ci-local --variable CLI_VAR_01='|1|cli_var'
parsing and downloads finished in 528 ms.
json schema validated in 176 ms
job starting shell (test)
job $ echo $CLI_VAR_01;
job > |1|cli_var
job finished in 112 ms

[ANGkeith]

Good spot on this bug, quite unlucky of you to encounter it 😅

you can consider this slightly cleaner workaround

# .gitlab-ci-local-variables.yml in local directory
# https://github.com/firecow/gitlab-ci-local?tab=readme-ov-file#env-format
LOCAL_VAR_BEGINNING_WITH_PIPE_01='|1|local_var_example'
LOCAL_VAR_BEGINNING_WITH_PIPE_02="|2|local_var_example"
LOCAL_VAR_BEGINNING_WITH_PIPE_03=|3|local_var_example
LOCAL_VAR_BEGINNING_WITH_PIPE_04=|4|local_var_example