CODEWITHSUNDEEP
ansible
anechkayf
anechkayf

Reputation: 567

Ansible: setting a variable to a string

I have the followinf Ansible code:

- name: "Set variable"
  set_fact:
    my_var: "{{ ((all_vars | from_yaml).metadata.annotations['var'] | default(undefined)) | from_json }}"

If 'var' is not present/declared I would like to set it to string "undefined".

I've tried using single and double quotes like this default("undefined") and it didn't help.

It fails with:

The task includes an option with an undefined variable. The error was: Unable to look up a name or access an attribute in template string ({{ ((all_vars | from_yaml).metadata.annotations['var'] | default(undefined)) | from_json }}).

What am I doing wrong?

Upvotes: 0

Views: 1473

Answers (1)

itsmedannyc
itsmedannyc

Reputation: 171

The issue is that undefined is being interpreted as a variable, since it is not quoted. To set it to the string "undefined", you need to quote it:

- name: "Set variable"
  set_fact:
    my_var: "{{ ((all_vars | from_yaml).metadata.annotations['var'] | default('undefined')) }}"

The default() filter requires the value to be a quoted string, number, boolean, etc. By passing undefined without quotes, Ansible thinks it is a variable name rather than a literal string.

Quoting it as 'undefined' makes it a string literal, which will then be used as the default value if 'var' is not present.

With all of that being said:

  • default(undefined) - tries to use a variable called undefined
  • default("undefined") - sets the default to the string "undefined"

Upvotes: 0

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