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Loops

Ansible offers the loop, with_<lookup>, and until keywords to execute a task multiple times. Examples of commonly-used loops include changing ownership on several files and/or directories with the file module <file_module>, creating multiple users with the user module <user_module>, and repeating a polling step until a certain result is reached.

Note

* We added loop in Ansible 2.5. It is not yet a full replacement for with_<lookup>, but we recommend it for most use cases. * We have not deprecated the use of with_<lookup> - that syntax will still be valid for the foreseeable future. * We are looking to improve loop syntax - watch this page and the changelog for updates.

Comparing loop and with_*

  • The with_<lookup> keywords rely on lookup_plugins - even items is a lookup.
  • The loop keyword is equivalent to with_list, and is the best choice for simple loops.
  • The loop keyword will not accept a string as input, see query_vs_lookup.
  • Generally speaking, any use of with_* covered in migrating_to_loop can be updated to use loop.
  • Be careful when changing with_items to loop, as with_items performed implicit single-level flattening. You may need to use flatten(1) with loop to match the exact outcome. For example, to get the same output as:
with_items:
  - 1
  - [2,3]
  - 4

you would need:

loop: "{{ [1, [2,3] ,4] | flatten(1) }}"
  • Any with_* statement that requires using lookup within a loop should not be converted to use the loop keyword. For example, instead of doing:
loop: "{{ lookup('fileglob', '*.txt', wantlist=True) }}"

it's cleaner to keep:

with_fileglob: '*.txt'

Standard loops

Iterating over a simple list

Repeated tasks can be written as standard loops over a simple list of strings. You can define the list directly in the task:

- name: Add several users
  ansible.builtin.user:
    name: "{{ item }}"
    state: present
    groups: "wheel"
  loop:
     - testuser1
     - testuser2

You can define the list in a variables file, or in the 'vars' section of your play, then refer to the name of the list in the task:

loop: "{{ somelist }}"

Either of these examples would be the equivalent of:

- name: Add user testuser1
  ansible.builtin.user:
    name: "testuser1"
    state: present
    groups: "wheel"

- name: Add user testuser2
  ansible.builtin.user:
    name: "testuser2"
    state: present
    groups: "wheel"

You can pass a list directly to a parameter for some plugins. Most of the packaging modules, like yum <yum_module> and apt <apt_module>, have this capability. When available, passing the list to a parameter is better than looping over the task. For example:

- name: Optimal yum
  ansible.builtin.yum:
    name: "{{  list_of_packages  }}"
    state: present

- name: Non-optimal yum, slower and may cause issues with interdependencies
  ansible.builtin.yum:
    name: "{{  item  }}"
    state: present
  loop: "{{  list_of_packages  }}"

Check the module documentation <modules_by_category> to see if you can pass a list to any particular module's parameter(s).

Iterating over a list of hashes

If you have a list of hashes, you can reference subkeys in a loop. For example:

- name: Add several users
  ansible.builtin.user:
    name: "{{ item.name }}"
    state: present
    groups: "{{ item.groups }}"
  loop:
    - { name: 'testuser1', groups: 'wheel' }
    - { name: 'testuser2', groups: 'root' }

When combining conditionals <playbooks_conditionals> with a loop, the when: statement is processed separately for each item. See the_when_statement for examples.

Iterating over a dictionary

To loop over a dict, use the dict2items <dict_filter>:

- name: Using dict2items
  ansible.builtin.debug:
    msg: "{{ item.key }} - {{ item.value }}"
  loop: "{{ tag_data | dict2items }}"
  vars:
    tag_data:
      Environment: dev
      Application: payment

Here, we are iterating over tag_data and printing the key and the value from it.

Registering variables with a loop

You can register the output of a loop as a variable. For example:

- name: Register loop output as a variable
  ansible.builtin.shell: "echo {{ item }}"
  loop:
    - "one"
    - "two"
  register: echo

When you use register with a loop, the data structure placed in the variable will contain a results attribute that is a list of all responses from the module. This differs from the data structure returned when using register without a loop:

{
    "changed": true,
    "msg": "All items completed",
    "results": [
        {
            "changed": true,
            "cmd": "echo \"one\" ",
            "delta": "0:00:00.003110",
            "end": "2013-12-19 12:00:05.187153",
            "invocation": {
                "module_args": "echo \"one\"",
                "module_name": "shell"
            },
            "item": "one",
            "rc": 0,
            "start": "2013-12-19 12:00:05.184043",
            "stderr": "",
            "stdout": "one"
        },
        {
            "changed": true,
            "cmd": "echo \"two\" ",
            "delta": "0:00:00.002920",
            "end": "2013-12-19 12:00:05.245502",
            "invocation": {
                "module_args": "echo \"two\"",
                "module_name": "shell"
            },
            "item": "two",
            "rc": 0,
            "start": "2013-12-19 12:00:05.242582",
            "stderr": "",
            "stdout": "two"
        }
    ]
}

Subsequent loops over the registered variable to inspect the results may look like:

- name: Fail if return code is not 0
  ansible.builtin.fail:
    msg: "The command ({{ item.cmd }}) did not have a 0 return code"
  when: item.rc != 0
  loop: "{{ echo.results }}"

During iteration, the result of the current item will be placed in the variable:

- name: Place the result of the current item in the variable
  ansible.builtin.shell: echo "{{ item }}"
  loop:
    - one
    - two
  register: echo
  changed_when: echo.stdout != "one"

Complex loops

Iterating over nested lists

You can use Jinja2 expressions to iterate over complex lists. For example, a loop can combine nested lists:

- name: Give users access to multiple databases
  community.mysql.mysql_user:
    name: "{{ item[0] }}"
    priv: "{{ item[1] }}.*:ALL"
    append_privs: yes
    password: "foo"
  loop: "{{ ['alice', 'bob'] |product(['clientdb', 'employeedb', 'providerdb'])|list }}"

Retrying a task until a condition is met

1.4

You can use the until keyword to retry a task until a certain condition is met. Here's an example:

- name: Retry a task until a certain condition is met
  ansible.builtin.shell: /usr/bin/foo
  register: result
  until: result.stdout.find("all systems go") != -1
  retries: 5
  delay: 10

This task runs up to 5 times with a delay of 10 seconds between each attempt. If the result of any attempt has "all systems go" in its stdout, the task succeeds. The default value for "retries" is 3 and "delay" is 5.

To see the results of individual retries, run the play with -vv.

When you run a task with until and register the result as a variable, the registered variable will include a key called "attempts", which records the number of the retries for the task.

Note

You must set the until parameter if you want a task to retry. If until is not defined, the value for the retries parameter is forced to 1.

Looping over inventory

To loop over your inventory, or just a subset of it, you can use a regular loop with the ansible_play_batch or groups variables:

- name: Show all the hosts in the inventory
  ansible.builtin.debug:
    msg: "{{ item }}"
  loop: "{{ groups['all'] }}"

- name: Show all the hosts in the current play
  ansible.builtin.debug:
    msg: "{{ item }}"
  loop: "{{ ansible_play_batch }}"

There is also a specific lookup plugin inventory_hostnames that can be used like this:

- name: Show all the hosts in the inventory
  ansible.builtin.debug:
    msg: "{{ item }}"
  loop: "{{ query('inventory_hostnames', 'all') }}"

- name: Show all the hosts matching the pattern, ie all but the group www
  ansible.builtin.debug:
    msg: "{{ item }}"
  loop: "{{ query('inventory_hostnames', 'all:!www') }}"

More information on the patterns can be found in intro_patterns.

Ensuring list input for loop: using query rather than lookup

The loop keyword requires a list as input, but the lookup keyword returns a string of comma-separated values by default. Ansible 2.5 introduced a new Jinja2 function named query <query> that always returns a list, offering a simpler interface and more predictable output from lookup plugins when using the loop keyword.

You can force lookup to return a list to loop by using wantlist=True, or you can use query instead.

These examples do the same thing:

loop: "{{ query('inventory_hostnames', 'all') }}"

loop: "{{ lookup('inventory_hostnames', 'all', wantlist=True) }}"

Adding controls to loops

2.1

The loop_control keyword lets you manage your loops in useful ways.

Limiting loop output with label

2.2

When looping over complex data structures, the console output of your task can be enormous. To limit the displayed output, use the label directive with loop_control:

- name: Create servers
  digital_ocean:
    name: "{{ item.name }}"
    state: present
  loop:
    - name: server1
      disks: 3gb
      ram: 15Gb
      network:
        nic01: 100Gb
        nic02: 10Gb
        ...
  loop_control:
    label: "{{ item.name }}"

The output of this task will display just the name field for each item instead of the entire contents of the multi-line {{ item }} variable.

Note

This is for making console output more readable, not protecting sensitive data. If there is sensitive data in loop, set no_log: yes on the task to prevent disclosure.

Pausing within a loop

2.2

To control the time (in seconds) between the execution of each item in a task loop, use the pause directive with loop_control:

# main.yml
- name: Create servers, pause 3s before creating next
  community.digitalocean.digital_ocean:
    name: "{{ item }}"
    state: present
  loop:
    - server1
    - server2
  loop_control:
    pause: 3

Tracking progress through a loop with index_var

2.5

To keep track of where you are in a loop, use the index_var directive with loop_control. This directive specifies a variable name to contain the current loop index:

- name: Count our fruit
  ansible.builtin.debug:
    msg: "{{ item }} with index {{ my_idx }}"
  loop:
    - apple
    - banana
    - pear
  loop_control:
    index_var: my_idx

Note

index_var is 0 indexed.

Defining inner and outer variable names with loop_var

2.1

You can nest two looping tasks using include_tasks. However, by default Ansible sets the loop variable item for each loop. This means the inner, nested loop will overwrite the value of item from the outer loop. You can specify the name of the variable for each loop using loop_var with loop_control:

# main.yml
- include_tasks: inner.yml
  loop:
    - 1
    - 2
    - 3
  loop_control:
    loop_var: outer_item

# inner.yml
- name: Print outer and inner items
  ansible.builtin.debug:
    msg: "outer item={{ outer_item }} inner item={{ item }}"
  loop:
    - a
    - b
    - c

Note

If Ansible detects that the current loop is using a variable which has already been defined, it will raise an error to fail the task.

Extended loop variables

2.8

As of Ansible 2.8 you can get extended loop information using the extended option to loop control. This option will expose the following information.

Variable Description
ansible_loop.allitems The list of all items in the loop
ansible_loop.index The current iteration of the loop. (1 indexed)
ansible_loop.index0 The current iteration of the loop. (0 indexed)
ansible_loop.revindex The number of iterations from the end of the loop (1 indexed)
ansible_loop.revindex0 The number of iterations from the end of the loop (0 indexed)
ansible_loop.first True if first iteration
ansible_loop.last True if last iteration
ansible_loop.length The number of items in the loop
ansible_loop.previtem The item from the previous iteration of the loop. Undefined during the first iteration.
ansible_loop.nextitem The item from the following iteration of the loop. Undefined during the last iteration. 
loop_control:
  extended: yes

Accessing the name of your loop_var

2.8

As of Ansible 2.8 you can get the name of the value provided to loop_control.loop_var using the ansible_loop_var variable

For role authors, writing roles that allow loops, instead of dictating the required loop_var value, you can gather the value via:

"{{ lookup('vars', ansible_loop_var) }}"

Migrating from with_X to loop

about_playbooks

An introduction to playbooks

playbooks_reuse_roles

Playbook organization by roles

playbooks_best_practices

Tips and tricks for playbooks

playbooks_conditionals

Conditional statements in playbooks

playbooks_variables

All about variables

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