How to loop through similar vars files in an Ansible playbook - ansible

Question

I need to create a single ansible playbook that will loop through multiple vars files in a single directory and use each configuration individually in a rest API POST.
Ideally, with the following vars files...
/my/vars/dir
- my_pen.yml
pen:
color: "blue"
- her_pen.yml
pen:
color: "red"
- his_pen.yml
pen:
color: "green"
...my playbook would execute a POST for each pen. Unfortunately, all files contain a configuration for the same object type so an include_vars task would only retain the configuration for "his_pen".
I've been able to get a list of all files in the directory using find:
- name: "find config files"
find:
paths: /path/to/config/files
patterns: '*.yml'
register: config_files
I have a task that can do the POST:
- name: Do post
uri:
url: "{{ rest_api_endpoint }}"
method: POST
user: "{{ username }}"
password: "{{ password }}"
body: "{{ pen }}"
body_format: json
return_content: yes
status_code: 200
register: post_result
Now I just need to fuse the two. Is this possible? I can't change the file structure, so I have to use what's in place.
Thoughts?

Answer 1

Let's create the list of pens first and then loop the list. The play below
- set_fact:
pens: "{{ pens|default([]) + [ lookup('file', item)|from_yaml ] }}"
loop: "{{ lookup('fileglob', 'vars/*.yml', wantlist=True) }}"
- debug:
msg: "{{ item }}"
loop: "{{ pens }}"
gives (abridged):
ok: [localhost] => (item={'pen': {'color': u'blue'}}) => {
"msg": {
"pen": {
"color": "blue"
}
}
}
ok: [localhost] => (item={'pen': {'color': u'green'}}) => {
"msg": {
"pen": {
"color": "green"
}
}
}
ok: [localhost] => (item={'pen': {'color': u'red'}}) => {
"msg": {
"pen": {
"color": "red"
}
}
}