when: item is defined not working

[javed khan Siddque]

The below task is not working as expected.

i am expecting it will print message for at least 2 times which is defined and skip rest 2.


TASK [Connect to Isilon Device] ****************************************************************************************************
skipping: [localhost]

---

- name: "Loop Iteration List"

hosts: localhost

vars:

nfs_prod_target_id: "Khan"

nfs_prod_source_id: "Siddque"

tasks:

- name: "Connect to Isilon Device"

ansible.builtin.debug:

msg: "{{ item }}"

when: item is defined

loop:

- "{{ nfs_prod_source_id }}"

- "{{ nfs_prod_target_id }}"

- "{{ nfs_dev_source_id }}"

- "{{ nfs_dev_target_id }}"

[Todd Lewis]

I believe the loop: values are evaluated first, before any iterations are performed, in which case any undefined variables in any of the loop: expressions will throw the error you see.

This is probably a desirable behavior in general even though in this case you got caught by surprise.

Here's a work-around that uses a sentinel value — and blatantly abuses "omit" for which I'm sure to be rightly scorned. :)

---
- name: "Loop Iteration List"
  hosts: localhost
  vars:
    nfs_prod_target_id: "Khan"
    nfs_prod_source_id: "Siddque"
  tasks:
    - name: "Connect to Isilon Device"
      ansible.builtin.debug:
        msg: "{{ item }}"

      when: item != omit
      loop:
        - "{{ nfs_prod_source_id | d(omit) }}"
        - "{{ nfs_prod_target_id | d(omit) }}"
        - "{{ nfs_dev_source_id | d(omit) }}"
        - "{{ nfs_dev_target_id | d(omit) }}"

Cheers,
--
Todd

--

[Kosala Atapattu]

Just wonder what's stopping you from doing this:

---

- name: "Loop Iteration List"

hosts: localhost

vars:

my_list:

- nfs_prod_target_id: "Khan"

- nfs_prod_source_id: "Siddque"

tasks:

- name: "Connect to Isilon Device"

ansible.builtin.debug:

msg: "{{ item }}"

loop: "{{ my_list }}"

Kosala

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