I'm writing a playbook and want to loop a role over a variable that gets its value from the user. however that value might not always be a list of items, it might be a single value and whenever that happens it throws an error.
My Task:
- name: task name
include role:
name: role name
vars:
cluster_name: '{{ item }}'
loop: "{{ list_or_not }}"
loop_control:
loop_var: item
error:
...Invalid data passed to 'loop', it requires a list...
Have you tried the: "| list" filter?
Sorry cannot test at the moment.
You could test if the variable is a string, and if so, transform it into a single-item list. Something like this:
---
- hosts: localhost
gather_facts: false
tasks:
- set_fact:
list_or_not: ["{{ list_or_not }}"]
when: list_or_not is string
- debug:
msg: "{{ item }}"
loop: "{{ list_or_not }}"
Related
I'm trying to get the output of my Ansible script using register module but the loop I'm using is probably causing some issue.
Whats a default way of using register module with loop?
Code:
---
- name:
hosts:
gather_facts:
tasks:
- name: Execute file
ansible.builtin.shell:
environment:
"setting environment"
register: output
loop:
"value"
- debug:
vars: output.std_lines
Whats a default way of using register module with loop?
It is just registering the result.
The only difference will be, that a single task will provide you just with an dictionary result (or output in your example) and registering in a loop will provide with a list result.results (or output.results in your example). To access the .stdout_lines you will need to loop over the result set .results too.
You may have a look into the following example playbook which will show some aspects of Registering variables, Loops, data structures, dicts and lists and type debugging.
---
- hosts: localhost
become: false
gather_facts: false
tasks:
- name: Create STDOUT output (single)
command: 'echo "1"'
register: result
- name: Show full result (single)
debug:
var: result
- name: Show '.stdout' (single)
debug:
msg: "The result in '.stdout': {{ result.stdout }} is of type {{ result.stdout | type_debug }}"
- name: Create STDOUT output (loop)
command: 'echo "{{ item }}"'
register: result
loop: [1, 2, 3]
loop_control:
label: "{{ item }}"
- name: Show full result (loop)
debug:
var: result
- name: Show '.stdout' (loop)
debug:
msg: "The result in '.stdout': {{ item.stdout }} is of type {{ item.stdout | type_debug }}"
loop: "{{ result.results }}"
loop_control:
label: "{{ item.item }}"
By running it and going through the output you can get familiar with the differences in your tasks.
Further Q&A
Register Variables in Loop in an Ansible Playbook
Ansible: loop, register, and stdout
Register variables in loop in Ansible playbook
... and many more here on SO.
Example playbook -
---
- hosts: localhost
vars:
lesson:
name: Physics
students:
- Bob
- Joe
tasks:
- name: Display student names
debug:
msg: '{{ item }}'
loop: "{{ lesson.students }}"
when: item | default("")
The above playbook works well to output the student names.
However, if the input changes (as per below) such that no student names have been defined, then an error occurs. Is there a simple way to have the playbook skip this task if the list is undefined as per the input below? I realize it would work if the input specifies students: [], but as this input is coming from simple users, they're not going to know this. Much Thanks!
vars:
lesson:
name: Physics
students:
Error: fatal: [localhost]: FAILED! =>
msg: 'Invalid data passed to ''loop'', it requires a list, got this instead: . Hint: If you passed a list/dict of just one element, try adding wantlist=True to your lookup invocation or use q/query instead of lookup.
Update - I've tried the below variations but still get the same error -
---
- hosts: localhost
vars:
lesson:
name: Physics
students:
tasks:
- name: Display student names variation 1
debug:
msg: '{{ item }}'
loop: "{{ lesson.students }}"
when: lesson.students is iterable
- name: Display student names variation 2
debug:
msg: '{{ item }}'
loop: "{{ lesson.students }}"
when: lesson.students is not none
- name: Display student names variation 3
debug:
msg: '{{ item }}'
loop: "{{ lesson.students }}"
when: ( item | default("") ) or ( item is not none )
The real problem is that loop requires a list, even if it is an empty list.
If your var is undefined/None/empty string, it exists but is not a list and your when condition will never get evaluated because loop will fire an error before it is ever reached.
You have to default your var to an empty list in such cases, which will lead to a 0 size loop equivalent to skipping the task.
Since your var is defined but None you need to use the second optional parameter to default so that empty/false values are replaced as well
Note: I used the short alias d to default in my below examples
- name: Display student names
debug:
msg: '{{ item }}'
loop: "{{ lesson.students | d([], true) }}"
A good practice here that would have nipped that error in the bud would be to have a coherent data declaration by either:
not declaring the key at all and use a simple default i.e.
# ... #
vars:
lesson:
name: Physics
# ... #
loop: "{{ lesson.students | d([]) }}"
declare an empty list for the key rather than a None value i.e.
# ... #
vars:
lesson:
name: Physics
students: []
# ... #
loop: "{{ lesson.students }}"
My first proposition is the safest in this case anyway and will work in for all the above vars declarations.
There is a difference between an undefined variable, and variable having None value.
When you set variable name, but leave the right hand side empty. The variable is defined, but it is set to NoneType.
So your when: condition should have additional check for NoneType:
- hosts: localhost
vars:
lesson:
name: Physics
students:
tasks:
- name: Display student names
debug:
msg: '{{ item }}'
loop: "{{ lesson.students }}"
when: ( item | default("") ) or ( item is not none )
This will give:
skipping: [localhost] => (item=None)
I'm trying to set a var only when a file exists, here is one of my attempts
---
- hosts: all
tasks:
- stat:
path: '{{ srch_path_new }}/bin/run'
register: result
- vars: srch_path="{{ srch_path_new }}"
when: result.stat.exists
This also didn't work
- vars: srch_path:"{{ srch_path_new }}"
The task you are looking for is called set_fact: and is the mechanism ansible uses to declare arbitrary "host variables", sometimes called "hostvars", or (also confusingly) "facts"
The syntax would be:
- set_fact:
srch_path: "{{ srch_path_new }}"
when: result.stat.exists
Also, while vars: is a legal keyword on a Task, its syntax is the same as set_fact: (or the vars: on the playbook): a yaml dictionary, not a key:value pair as you had. For example:
- debug:
msg: hello, {{ friend }}
vars:
friend: Jane Doe
and be aware that vars: on a task exist only for that task
I am stuck in iterating over the list of a dictionary. Sample vars.yml and the minimal playbook is bellow.
---
- hosts: localhost
connection: local
gather_facts: false
become: false
vars:
csvfile: "{{ lookup('file', 'vars/users.csv') }}"
tasks:
- name: Convert CSV to YAML
template:
src: "./users_csv.j2"
dest: "vars/users.yml"
run_once: true
- name: Include users from users.yml to users variable
include_vars:
file: vars/users.yml
name: users
- debug:
msg: "{{ users.value }}"
with_dict:
- "{{ users }}"
My Jinja2 template produces a list of dictionaries in YAML format as below:
--
users:
- username: Auser1
group: Admin
- username: Auser2
group: Admin
- username: Auser3
group: User
Anyhow, when I am iterating the dictionary, I am not able to get for example a username or group.
Most far I got is getting a fatal error message saying:
fatal: [localhost]: FAILED! => {"msg": "with_dict expects a dict"}
I know how to iterate over the list, but I don't have an idea why it fails here.
The users is not a dictionary, its a list variable of dictionaries.
if you want to parse this variable in a loop, you can use:
- debug:
msg: "username: {{ item.username }}, group: {{ item.group }}"
with_items:
- "{{ users.users }}"
hope it helps
UPDATE
i noticed now that when including the var file, you pass the name: users instruction as well. this cause all the variables of the file to be placed under the users variable. So to refer to the users list which is defined in the variable file, you need to use users.users.
updated the with_items to:
with_items:
- "{{ users.users }}"
I need to be able to set variables using tasks in Ansible. I use set_fact for this, but cannot seem to access the fact I set with this. What is wrong with the code below:
- name: kludge1
set_fact: fake_y = "{{ [] }}"
- name: Loop
debug:
msg: "{{ item }}"
with_items: "{{ fake_y }}"
You have spaces before and after =...
- name: kludge1
set_fact: fake_y="{{ [] }}"
Avoid var= shortcut syntax. Use original YAML syntax instead, it gives less errors:
- name: kludge1
set_fact:
fake_y: "{{ [] }}"