# Can I combine with\_items and when? **URL:** \ **Category:** Ansible Project\ **Created:** [February 26, 2018, 2:39pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/can-i-combine-with-items-and-when/26849 "2018-02-26T14:39:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Nico\_Sabbi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ba8739/32.png) [@Nico\_Sabbi](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Nico_Sabbi)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2018, 2:39pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/can-i-combine-with-items-and-when/26849/1 "2018-02-26T14:39:09Z")
HI, can I combine when: and with\_items clauses as in this example? become: true become\_user: root tasks: - block: - debug: msg: “riga {{item}}” - user: name: “{{ item.split(‘:’)[0] }}” home: “{{ item.split(‘:’)[1] }}” when: item search(“:”) with\_items: [“abc:def”, “yyy.zzz”] The sad output is the following, indicating that “item” is undefined in the loop. TASK [debug] \*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\* fatal: [localhost]: FAILED! =\> {“msg”: “The task includes an option with an undefined variable. The error was: ‘item’ is undefined\n\nThe error appears to have been in ‘/home/nico2601/block.yml’: line 25, column 9, but may\nbe elsewhere in the file depending on the exact syntax problem.\n\nThe offending line appears to be:\n\n - block:\n - debug:\n ^ here\n\nexception type: \\nexception: ‘item’ is undefined”} to retry, use: --limit @/home/nico2601/block.retry What I want to do is ensuring that the user before the : is set only when the string that I’m looping over does contain : What’s the right way to do it? Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![Kai\_Stian\_Olstad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e19adc/32.png) [@Kai\_Stian\_Olstad](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Kai_Stian_Olstad)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2018, 3:38pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/can-i-combine-with-items-and-when/26849/2 "2018-02-26T15:38:24Z")
> HI, > can I combine when: and with\_items clauses as in this example? > >   become: true >   become\_user: root >   tasks: >     - block: >       - debug: >           msg: "riga {{item}}" >       - user: >           name: "{{ item.split(':')[0] }}" >           home: "{{ item.split(':')[1] }}" >         when: item search(":") >         with\_items: ["abc:def", "yyy.zzz"] > > The sad output is the following, indicating that "item" is undefined in > the loop. when is executing before the loop so that's the reason this will not work. > TASK [debug] > \*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\* > fatal: [localhost]: FAILED! =\> {"msg": "The task includes an option with an > undefined variable. The error was: 'item' is undefined\n\nThe error appears > to have been in '/home/nico2601/block.yml': line 25, column 9, but may\nbe > elsewhere in the file depending on the exact syntax problem.\n\nThe > offending line appears to be:\n\n - block:\n - debug:\n ^ > here\n\nexception type: \ 'ansible.errors.AnsibleUndefinedVariable'\>\nexception: 'item' is undefined"} > to retry, use: --limit @/home/nico2601/block.retry > > What I want to do is ensuring that the user before the : is set only when > the string that I'm looping over does contain : > What's the right way to do it? If you but the user code in a file and use include\_tasks it will work. user.yml ---
**Author:** ![flowerysong1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ecae2f/32.png) [@flowerysong1](https://forum.ansible.com/u/flowerysong1)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2018, 4:14pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/can-i-combine-with-items-and-when/26849/3 "2018-02-26T16:14:19Z")
You’ll note that this error is from the ‘debug’ task, which has neither a loop nor a ‘when’ clause. `item` is undefined because `item` has not been defined for that task. If you were attempting to apply the loop to the entire block, that is not supported. ---
**Author:** ![Kai\_Stian\_Olstad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e19adc/32.png) [@Kai\_Stian\_Olstad](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Kai_Stian_Olstad)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2018, 4:18pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/can-i-combine-with-items-and-when/26849/4 "2018-02-26T16:18:51Z")
You are right, I don't know what I was thinking. So Nico, forget what I wrote. ---
**Author:** ![Nico\_Sabbi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ba8739/32.png) [@Nico\_Sabbi](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Nico_Sabbi)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2018, 4:22pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/can-i-combine-with-items-and-when/26849/5 "2018-02-26T16:22:28Z")
OK, it’s working now. Thanks! become: true become\_user: root tasks: - block: #- debug: # msg: “riga {{item}}” - include\_tasks: user.yml when: item | search(“:”) with\_items: [“abc:/home/def”, “ghi:/home/jkh”] But as noted by floweryoursong… ---
**Author:** ![Nico\_Sabbi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ba8739/32.png) [@Nico\_Sabbi](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Nico_Sabbi)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2018, 4:23pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/can-i-combine-with-items-and-when/26849/6 "2018-02-26T16:23:45Z")
Yes, I was trying to loop the whole block, the equivalent of while(something) { -1 -2 -3 } So ansible can’t do it? ---
**Author:** ![Kai\_Stian\_Olstad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e19adc/32.png) [@Kai\_Stian\_Olstad](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Kai_Stian_Olstad)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2018, 4:28pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/can-i-combine-with-items-and-when/26849/7 "2018-02-26T16:28:27Z")
You can't loop block. To loop two or more tasks you would need to put it in a file and use include\_tasks as I described. Allowed directives for block is listed here [https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/latest/playbooks\_keywords.html#block](https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/latest/playbooks_keywords.html#block) ---
**Author:** ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/ansible/original/1X/1882d9a01da5d8996a862359b0913cc568a39b84.svg) [@system](https://forum.ansible.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2018, 5:06pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/can-i-combine-with-items-and-when/26849/8 "2018-02-26T17:06:09Z")
FYI, when executes INSIDE the loop, contrary to what was mentioned above. ---
**Author:** ![Kai\_Stian\_Olstad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e19adc/32.png) [@Kai\_Stian\_Olstad](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Kai_Stian_Olstad)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2018, 5:16pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/can-i-combine-with-items-and-when/26849/9 "2018-02-26T17:16:43Z")
Yeah, it was a brain fart on my side, don't know why since I use when and loop a lot.