Question 235658 in Ubuntu Question posted in
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Ubuntu – How can I access a top level variable containing a dot in Ansible?

I am trying to get a when condition to match a string value in a list of strings in Ansible. I’m defining my list variables in the all host inventory group. I call these list variables from many of play, playbooks and roles.

all:
  vars:
    ubuntu_18.04_codenames:
      - 'bionic'
      - 'tara'
      - 'tessa'
      - 'tina'
      - 'tricia'
    ubuntu_20.04_codenames:
      - 'focal'
      - 'ulyana'
      - 'ulyssa'
      - 'uma'
      - 'una'
    ubuntu_22.04_codenames: 
      - 'jammy'
      - 'vera'
      - 'vanessa'
      - 'Victoria'

I define my task’s when condition like this:

- name: "Adding Docker 20.04 APT repository"
  apt_repository:
    repo: deb https://download.docker.com/linux/ubuntu focal stable
  when: 'ansible_lsb.codename in ubuntu_20.04_codenames'

I get the error:

FAILED! => {"msg": "The conditional check ‘ansible_lsb.codename in ubuntu_22.04_codenames’ failed. The error was: template error while templating string: expected token ‘end of statement block’, got ‘integer’. String: {% if ansible_lsb.codename in ubuntu_22.04_codenames %} True {% else %} False {% endif %}. expected token ‘end of statement block’, got ‘integer’

I’m using ansible_lsb.codname with my list variable ubuntu_20.04_codenames. I keep on getting syntax errors, no matter what I try.

Tags:

2

Answers


  1. 0

    Please take note first about Creating valid variable names as your current example would result into

    ERROR! Invalid variable name in vars specified for Play: 'ubuntu_18.04_codenames' is not a valid variable name

    … when condition to match a string value in a list of strings …

    A minimal example playbook using contains test – does the list contain this element

    Checks the supplied element against the input list to see if it exists within it.

    ---
- hosts: localhost
  become: false
  gather_facts: false

  vars:

    ubuntu_18_04_codenames:
      - 'bionic'
      - 'tara'
      - 'tessa'
      - 'tina'
      - 'tricia'
    ubuntu_20_04_codenames:
      - 'focal'
      - 'ulyana'
      - 'ulyssa'
      - 'uma'
      - 'una'
    ubuntu_22_04_codenames:
      - 'jammy'
      - 'vera'
      - 'vanessa'
      - 'victoria'

    codename: focal

  tasks:

  - debug:
      msg: "Yes. Contains ..."
    when: ubuntu_20_04_codenames is contains(codename)

    will result into an output of

    TASK [debug] ***********
ok: [localhost] =>
  msg: Yes. Contains ...

    I keep on getting syntax errors.

    If interested into reproducing the mentioned syntax error message, just change the condition to

        when: ubuntu_20.04_codenames is contains(codename)

    containing an invalid variable name. It will result into

    TASK [debug] ******************************************************************************************************
fatal: [localhost]: FAILED! =>
  msg: |-
    The conditional check '{{ ubuntu_20.04_codenames is contains(codename) }}' failed. The error was: template error while templating string: expected token 'end of print statement', got '_codenames'. String: {{ ubuntu_20.04_codenames is contains(codename) }}
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  2. 0

    Because the . as a meaning in Ansible — namely it helps access an attribute of a dictionary — using it in a top level variable is going to give you a little but of trouble.

    If you where in a subdirectory, i.e.:

    ubuntu:
  18.04_codenames:
    - bionic

    You could just get away using the array notation:

    when: "ansible_lsb.codename in ubuntu['18.04_codenames']"

    But, since you are are the top level of variables, you will have to resort to using the vars lookup:

    when: "ansible_lsb.codename in lookup('vars', 'ubuntu_18.04_codenames')"

    Given the inventory:

    all:
  vars:
    ubuntu_18.04_codenames:
      - bionic

    And the task:

    - debug:
    var: lookup('vars', 'ubuntu_18.04_codenames')
  when: "'bionic' in lookup('vars', 'ubuntu_18.04_codenames')"

    This yields:

    ok: [localhost] => 
  lookup('vars', 'ubuntu_18.04_codenames'):
  - bionic
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