What is the best way to do case statement in Ansible? - ansible

Question

I am trying to convert my scripts into Ansible for automation. I am stuck in understanding loops or the "with_items" use case.
The original bash script:
for i in apple banana orange; do
case $i in
apple) export var="var.1:apple1,var.2:apple2" ;;
banana) export var="var.1:banana1,var.2:banana2,var.3:banana3" ;;
orange) export var="var.1:orange1" ;;
esac
echo "$i"
What I have tried so far:
VARS file:
fruits:
- name: apple
var: "{{ item }}"
with_items:
- apple1
- apple2
- name: banana
var: "{{ item }}"
with_items:
- banana1
- banana2
- banana3
- name: orange
var: "{{ item }}"
with_items:
- orange1
TASKS file:
- include_vars: vars.yml
- debug:
msg: "{{ fruits }}"
- name: output in shell using echo
shell: |
echo "{{ fruits.name }}" ;
echo "{{ fruits.var }}"
loop: "{{ fruits }}"
Outputs:
The output from include_vars task:
{
"ansible_included_var_files": [
"/etc/ansible/roles/openssl/tasks/vars.yml"
],
"ansible_facts": {
"fruits": [
{
"var": "{{ item }}",
"name": "apple",
"with_items": [
"apple1",
"apple2"
]
},
{
"var": "{{ item }}",
"name": "banana",
"with_items": [
"banana1",
"banana2",
"banana3"
]
},
{
"var": "{{ item }}",
"name": "orange",
"with_items": [
"orange1"
]
}
]
},
"_ansible_no_log": false,
"changed": false
}
Debug
debug task failed
{
"msg": "The task includes an option with an undefined variable. The error was: 'item' is undefined\n\nThe error appears to be in '/etc/ansible/roles/openssl/tasks/main.yml': line 262, column 3, but may\nbe elsewhere in the file depending on the exact syntax problem.\n\nThe offending line appears to be:\n\n\n- debug:\n ^ here\n",
"_ansible_no_log": false
}
I know that Yaml are space sensitive and formatting is important. I am a novice at writing playbooks and any pointers would be helpful.

Answer 1

With the dictionary
fruits:
apple:
- apple1
- apple2
banana:
- banana1
- banana2
- banana3
orange:
- orange1
the loop
- hosts: localhost
tasks:
- include_vars:
vars.yml
- debug:
msg: "{{ item.key }} {{ item.value }}"
loop: "{{ fruits|dict2items }}"
gives (abridged)
"msg": "orange [u'orange1']"
"msg": "apple [u'apple1', u'apple2']"
"msg": "banana [u'banana1', u'banana2', u'banana3']"
It's possible to reference the items in the dictionary. For example
- debug:
var: fruits.banana
- debug:
var: fruits.apple.1
gives
"fruits.banana": [
"banana1",
"banana2",
"banana3"
]
"fruits.apple.1": "apple2"