Is there a way to map an array of objects in Ansible Playbook to a different array of objects? Let's say we have a source array being:
arr:
- value: a
- value: b
- value: c
And what we want is to get a different array based on objects in the first array, let's say:
arr2:
- const: 1
var: a
- const: 1
var: b
- const: 1
var: c
This would be doable by an element template of:
const: 1
var: {{ value }}
Is there a way to apply such a template to every element in an array? I haven't found an appropriate map filter, as lookup('template', ...) cannot be used inside map.
Based on your answer (I must say it opened my eyes and I can't find words that tell the infinite gratitude I feel) I worked out what I think is a slightly more elegant solution.
I try to avoid the set_facts module because the result will have a rather high precedence. I prefer to stick to role defaults and host and group inventory variables.
Also, I am more used to jinja2 templating than Ansible filters.
- hosts: localhost
gather_facts: no
vars:
arr:
- value: a
- value: b
- value: c
arr2: "{{ lookup('template', 'template.yaml.j2') | from_yaml }}"
tasks:
- debug:
var: "arr2"
And the very template.yaml.j2 file will contain the iteration:
{% for item in arr %}
- const: 1
var: {{ item.value }}
{% endfor %}
This opens the door for really crazy variable manipulation while keeping the playbook pretty simple.
Hope it helps somebody as much as it helped me!
As Konstantin Suvorov mentioned in the comment it can be done using recursive array building. This is how I did it:
#role test
---
- hosts: localhost
gather_facts: no
vars:
arr:
- value: a
- value: b
- value: c
tasks:
- set_fact:
arr2: "{{ (arr2 | default([])) + [ lookup('template', 'template.yaml.j2') | from_yaml ] }}"
with_items: "{{ arr }}"
- debug:
msg: "{{ arr2 }}"
#template.yaml.j2
const: 1
var: {{ item.value }}
Related
I have vars where I put something like this:
vars/main.yml
hello_port: 80
world_port: 81
in my ansbile file I load the vars with
vars_files:
- ./vars/main.yml
This is how I initialize m_name:
- name: set_fact
set_fact:
m_name:
- 'hello'
- 'world'
and after that I have task with iterate using with_items:
- debug:
msg: "{{ (item + '_port') }}"
with_items: "{{ m_name }}"
But I've got as output
hello_port
world_port
not their values.
OK I find that if I use debug var it is working. But If I want to put this expression "{{ (item + '_port') }}" for an example in shell task it does not evaluate it. Is there a way to evaluate the dynamically created variables name - to get the value?
https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/2.5/plugins/lookup/vars.html
- name: Show value of 'variablename'
debug: msg="{{ lookup('vars', 'variabl' + myvar)}}"
vars:
variablename: hello
myvar: ename
{{ hostvars[inventory_hostname][item + '_port'] }}
http://docs.ansible.com/ansible/latest/faq.html#how-do-i-access-a-variable-name-programmatically
I think you are searching for:
{{ vars[item ~ '_port'] }}
I guess best way is to use varnames_lookup
- name: List variables that start with qz_
debug: msg="{{ lookup('varnames', '^qz_.+')}}"
https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/latest/collections/ansible/builtin/varnames_lookup.html
Trying to create a dictionary per item and merge them
---
- name: TestingLab
hosts: localhost
gather_facts: False
tasks:
- name: Hello Vars
set_fact:
two_nums:
- 1
- 2
- name: create empty dict
set_fact:
ids: {}
- name: Merge all
vars:
single_entry: "{ '{{ item }}': {{ item }} }"
set_fact:
ids: "{{ ids | combine(single_entry) }}"
with_items: "{{ two_nums }}"
- name: Print Result
debug:
msg: "{{ ids }}"
I thought I followed the right guidelines but I seem to be getting only the last item afterwards:
ok: [localhost] => {
"msg": {
"2": 2
} }
I tried replacing the single_entry with the expression in vars but it does not run.
Is there a different syntax to get this done?
EDIT: version info
ansible-playbook 2.5.1
python version = 2.7.17 [GCC 7.5.0]
Try the filters dict and zip. The zip is available since 2.3, e.g.
- set_fact:
d2: "{{ dict(two_nums|zip(two_nums)) }}"
- debug:
var: d2
- debug:
var: d2|type_debug
gives
d2:
1: 1
2: 2
d2|type_debug: dict
If this does not work try Jinja and the filter from_yaml, e.g.
- hosts: localhost
vars:
two_nums:
- 1
- 2
l1: |-
{% for i in two_nums %}
{{ i }}: {{ i }}
{% endfor %}
tasks:
- set_fact:
d1: "{{ l1|from_yaml }}"
- debug:
var: d1
- debug:
var: d1|type_debug
gives the same result
d1:
1: 1
2: 2
d1|type_debug: dict
If you need the keys to be strings quote it, e.g.
l1: |-
{% for i in two_nums %}
"{{ i }}": {{ i }}
{% endfor %}
gives
d1:
'1': 1
'2': 2
In the first case, map the list's items to string, e.g.
- set_fact:
d2: "{{ dict(two_nums|map('string')|zip(two_nums)) }}"
gives the same result
d2:
'1': 1
'2': 2
I can't reproduce the behavior you're describing. Running your
playbook verbatim, I get as output:
TASK [Print Result] **************************************************************************************************************************************************************************
ok: [localhost] => {
"msg": {
"1": 1,
"2": 2
}
}
I'm using Ansible core 2.11.2, but I've also tested your playbook with Ansible 2.9.20 and I get the same output.
I would probably drop the set_fact task, and also change how you're
setting single_entry:
- name: TestingLab
hosts: localhost
gather_facts: False
tasks:
- name: Hello Vars
set_fact:
two_nums:
- 1
- 2
- name: Merge all
vars:
ids: {}
single_entry: "{{ {item: item} }}"
set_fact:
ids: "{{ ids | combine(single_entry) }}"
with_items: "{{ two_nums }}"
- name: Print Result
debug:
msg: "{{ ids }}"
In this version, the template expression is returning a dictionary,
and only requires a single set of Jinja template markers. I'm curious
if this version behaves any differently for you.
I'm trying to get a variable which will contain comma separated items from with_itmes loop as follow:
- hosts: localhost
connection: local
gather_facts: no
tasks:
- name: set_fact
set_fact:
foo: "{{ foo }}{{ item }},"
with_items:
- "one"
- "two"
- "three"
vars:
foo: ""
- name: Print the var
debug:
var: foo
It works as expected but what I'm getting at the end is trailing comma.
Is there any way to remove it?
There is a join filter that we can use with lists to concatenate list elements with a given character.
If we are passing the list directly to with_items or loop then we can use loop_control to "extend" some more loop information to get ansible_loop.allitems. Then this can be joined with the join filter.
Example:
- set_fact:
foo: "{{ ansible_loop.allitems|join(',') }}"
loop:
- one
- two
- three
loop_control:
extended: true
Otherwise a more straightforward way is to define a variable with list and use join filter on elements of that variable.
Example:
- set_fact:
foo: "{{ mylist|join(',') }}"
vars:
mylist:
- one
- two
- three
No clue if this is correct way to do but it does the job:
- name: Print the var
debug:
msg: "LIST: {{ foo | regex_replace(',$','') }}"
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 want to add keys to a dictionary when using set_fact with with_items. This is a small POC which will help me complete some other work. I have tried to generalize the POC so as to remove all the irrelevant details from it.
When I execute following code it is shows a dictionary with only one key that corresponds to the last item of the with_items. It seems that it is re-creating a new dictionary or may be overriding an existing dictionary for every item in the with_items. I want a single dictionary with all the keys.
Code:
---
- hosts: localhost
connection: local
vars:
some_value: 12345
dict: {}
tasks:
- set_fact: {
dict: "{
{{ item }}: {{ some_value }}
}"
}
with_items:
- 1
- 2
- 3
- debug: msg="{{ dict }}"
This can also be done without resorting to plugins, tested in Ansible 2.2.
---
- hosts: localhost
connection: local
vars:
some_value: 12345
dict: {}
tasks:
- set_fact:
dict: "{{ dict | combine( { item: some_value } ) }}"
with_items:
- 1
- 2
- 3
- debug: msg="{{ dict }}"
Alternatively, this can be written without the complex one-liner with an include file.
tasks:
- include: append_dict.yml
with_items: [1, 2, 3]
append_dict.yml:
- name: "Append dict: define helper variable"
set_fact:
_append_dict: "{ '{{ item }}': {{ some_value }} }"
- name: "Append dict: execute append"
set_fact:
dict: "{{ dict | combine( _append_dict ) }}"
Output:
TASK [debug]
*******************************************************************
ok: [localhost] => {
"msg": {
"1": "12345",
"2": "12345",
"3": "12345"
}
}
Single quotes ' around {{ some_value }} are needed to store string values explicitly.
This syntax can also be used to append from a dict elementwise using with_dict by referring to item.key and item.value.
Manipulations like adding pre- and postfixes or hashes can be performed in the same step, for example
set_fact:
dict: "{{ dict | combine( { item.key + key_postfix: item.value + '_' + item.value | hash('md5') } ) }}"
Use a filter plugin.
First, make a new file in your ansible base dir called filter_plugins/makedict.py.
Now create a new function called "makedict" (or whatever you want) that takes a value and a list and returns a new dictionary where the keys are the elements of the list and the value is always the same.
class FilterModule(object):
def filters(self):
return { 'makedict': lambda _val, _list: { k: _val for k in _list } }
Now you can use the new filter in the playbook to achieve your desired result:
- hosts: 127.0.0.1
connection: local
vars:
my_value: 12345
my_keys: [1, 2, 3]
tasks:
- set_fact: my_dict="{{ my_value | makedict(my_keys) }}"
- debug: msg="{{ item.key }}={{ item.value }}"
with_dict: "{{my_dict}}"
You can customize the location of the filter plugin using the filter_plugins option in ansible.cfg.
this does not seems to work any more on ansible 2.5
---
- hosts: localhost
connection: local
vars:
some_value: 12345
dict: {}
tasks:
- set_fact:
dict: "{{ dict | combine( { item: some_value } ) }}"
with_items:
- 1
- 2
- 3
- debug: msg="{{ dict }}"
returns only last value {"dict":{"3": "some value"}}
I suggest you could do this :
- set_fact:
__dict: |
{% for item in [1,2,3] %}
{{item}}: "value"
{% endfor %}
- set_fact:
final_dict: "{{__dict|from_yaml}}"
- debug:
var: final_dict
Another solution could be this one, tested in Ansible 2.9.6.
This solutions adds the extra benefit that you do not have to declare _dict beforehand in vars section. This is achieved by the | default({}) pipe which ensures that the loop will not fail in the first iteration when _dict is empty.
In addition, the renaming of dict to _dict is necessary since the dict is a special keyword reserved for <class 'dict'>. Referenced (unfortunately only at devel branch yet) here.
---
- hosts: localhost
connection: local
vars:
some_value: 12345
tasks:
- set_fact:
_dict: "{{ _dict | default({}) | combine( { item: some_value } ) }}"
with_items:
- 1
- 2
- 3
- debug: msg="{{ _dict }}"