Loops and includes

[Bence Takács]

What is the difference between the following syntaxes?


=== 1st scenario

outside.yaml:

---
- include: inside.yaml
  vars:
    my_inner_item: "{{ item }}"
  with_items: 
    - A
    - B
    - C
 

inside.yaml:

---
- debug: msg="{{my_inner_item}} with {{ item }} is defined"
  with_items:
    - 1
    - 2
    - 3

=== 2nd scenario

outside.yaml:

---
- include: inside.yaml
  with_items: 
    - A
    - B
    - C

inside.yaml:

---
- set_fact
  my_inner_item={{item}}

- debug: msg="{{my_inner_item}} with {{ item }} is defined"
  with_items:
    - 1
    - 2
    - 3

=== 3rd Scenario:

outside.yaml:

---
- include: inside.yaml my_inner_item={{item}}
  with_items: 
    - A
    - B
    - C

inside.yaml:

---
- debug: msg="{{my_inner_item}} with {{ item }} is defined"
  with_items:
    - 1
    - 2
    - 3

... I do not list the old "loop_control" scenario...


By the way: there is an existing issue connected to this topic:
https://github.com/ansible/ansible/issues/14146

[Bence Takács]

I think I messed up something :-)
This way my examples are more easy to understand:

=== 1st scenario

outside.yaml:

---
- include: inside.yaml
  vars:
    my_outer_item: "{{ item }}"

  with_items: 
    - A
    - B
    - C
 

inside.yaml:

---
- debug: msg="{{my_outer_item}} with {{ item }} is defined"
  with_items:
    - 1
    - 2
    - 3

=== 2nd scenario

outside.yaml:

---
- include: inside.yaml
  with_items: 
    - A
    - B
    - C

inside.yaml:

---
- set_fact
  my_outer_item={{item}}

- debug: msg="{{my_outer_item}} with {{ item }} is defined"
  with_items:
    - 1
    - 2
    - 3

=== 3rd Scenario:

outside.yaml:

---
- include: inside.yaml my_outer_item={{item}}
  with_items: 
    - A
    - B
    - C

inside.yaml:

---
- debug: msg="{{my_outer_item}} with {{ item }} is defined"
  with_items:
    - 1
    - 2
    - 3

Sources:
http://docs.ansible.com/ansible/playbooks_loops.html#loops-and-includes-in-2-0
http://stackoverflow.com/questions/30785281/one-loop-over-multiple-ansible-tasks
https://github.com/ansible/ansible/issues/14146

But it would be good to get some clarification about the differences.

[Bence Takács]

Which one is the recommended way, and why?