Ansible – How to Use Variable to Construct Dictionary Key

ansiblevariables

I am trying to update a dict in a hostvar, and the name of the key is constructed using a variable (node). For example, if 'node' is 1 then I want to update hostvars['fakehost']['mydict']['localaddress1']. Here's my code:

- name: Read IPv4 of first interface
    add_host:
      name: "fakehost"
      telium: "{{ hostvars['fakehost']['mydict'] | combine ({ 'localaddress{{ node }}' : ansible_all_ipv4_addresses[0] }) }}"

I can't figure out how to construct localaddress{{node}} with ansible complaining about the syntax.

Best Answer

Don't nest moustaches ({{ }}). Once you're inside an expression, you're already in a Jinja context and should not use additional delimiters when accessing a variable.

      telium: "{{ hostvars['fakehost']['mydict'] | combine ({ 'localaddress' ~ node: ansible_all_ipv4_addresses[0] }) }}

Related Solutions

Ansible iterate a dictionary with lists

First off, you might want to consider using the file module, rather than shell. It's less failure prone, and ostensibly idempotent. However, that might give you some issues with mixing directories, files, and file globs. YMMV.

As for the heart of the question, I would set up your variables like so:

users:
  - username: bar
    directories:
      - path: /data
        permissions: rX
      - path: /js
        permissions: rX
  - username: foo
    directories:
      - path: /
        permissions: rwX

The play would then look like this:

- name: Change mod/own
  shell: chown {{ item.0.username }} {{ item.1.path }};chmod u+{{ item.1.permissions }} {{ item.1.path }
  with_subelements:
    - users
    - directories

Use a dictionary variable to supply all task parameters

With Ansible 2.2 you can still use args parameter to achieve that.
But it is deprecated for a while already and will display a warning for you.
Some details about deprecation.

Example:

- hosts: localhost
  gather_facts: no
  vars:
    args_list:
      - content: hello world
        dest: /tmp/test1.txt
        mode: 0666
      - content: test test test
        dest: /tmp/test2.txt
        mode: 0444
  tasks:
    - copy:
      args: "{{ item }}"
      with_items: "{{ args_list }}"

Best Answer

Related Solutions

Ansible iterate a dictionary with lists

Use a dictionary variable to supply all task parameters

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