# Accessing a dictionary item using a variable

**URL:** <https://forum.ansible.com/t/accessing-a-dictionary-item-using-a-variable/31818>\
**Category:** Ansible Project\
**Created:** [December 13, 2019, 3:29pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/accessing-a-dictionary-item-using-a-variable/31818 "2019-12-13T15:29:35Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Spiro\_Mitsialis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c57346/32.png) [@Spiro\_Mitsialis](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Spiro_Mitsialis)\
**Post date:** [December 13, 2019, 3:29pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/accessing-a-dictionary-item-using-a-variable/31818/1 "2019-12-13T15:29:35Z")

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I would like to access data in a dictionary by referencing a variable. I have the following dict:

`  
“vlan\_list”: {  
“1”: {  
“id”: “1”,  
“name”: “Management”,  
“status”: “active”  
},  
“2”: {  
“id”: “2”,  
“name”: “VLAN 2”,  
“status”: “active”  
},  
“3”: {  
“id”: “3”,  
“name”: “VLAN 3”,  
“status”: “active”  
}  
}

`

I also have a variable:

`vlan: 2`

I’d like to do:

- debug:  
var: vlan\_list[vlan]

This does not work? How can I user the variable “vlan” to get what is the info for VLAN 2 in the dict vlan\_list?

Thanks

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![sivel](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/ansible/user_avatar/forum.ansible.com/sivel/32/1198_2.png) [@sivel](https://forum.ansible.com/u/sivel)\
**Post date:** [December 13, 2019, 3:32pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/accessing-a-dictionary-item-using-a-variable/31818/2 "2019-12-13T15:32:48Z")

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Your `vlan_list` is keyed with strings, not integers. So you would either need to set `vlan: "2"` so that `vlan` is a string, or use `vlan_list[vlan|string]` in your debug.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Spiro\_Mitsialis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c57346/32.png) [@Spiro\_Mitsialis](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Spiro_Mitsialis)\
**Post date:** [December 13, 2019, 3:49pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/accessing-a-dictionary-item-using-a-variable/31818/3 "2019-12-13T15:49:21Z")

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Thanks Matt,

That worked. I also found the following works (by trial and error)

vlan\_list[“{{ vlan }}”]