# can you use set\_fact to save information about HOSTX and then later in a different play, retrieve from HOSTY?

**URL:** <https://forum.ansible.com/t/can-you-use-set-fact-to-save-information-about-hostx-and-then-later-in-a-different-play-retrieve-from-hosty/20806>\
**Category:** Ansible Project\
**Created:** [March 8, 2016, 6:32pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/can-you-use-set-fact-to-save-information-about-hostx-and-then-later-in-a-different-play-retrieve-from-hosty/20806 "2016-03-08T18:32:32Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![markpattisondev](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/96bed5/32.png) [@markpattisondev](https://forum.ansible.com/u/markpattisondev)\
**Post date:** [March 8, 2016, 6:32pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/can-you-use-set-fact-to-save-information-about-hostx-and-then-later-in-a-different-play-retrieve-from-hosty/20806/1 "2016-03-08T18:32:32Z")

</div>

HI there.

I’ve been playing around with ansible for the past few days and I have run across a question.  
I need a way to set a value on host x … and then have that information available to host y.  
Notice the playbook below:

```auto
- hosts: group1
  tasks:
  - name: count reg on primary
    shell: psql -U widgets widgets -c 'SELECT COUNT(*) FROM location' -t
    register: result
  - debug: var=result.stdout
  - set_fact: the_count={{result.stdout}} 
  - debug: var={{the_count}}

- hosts: group2
  tasks:
  - name: retrieve variable from previous play
    shell: echo hello
  - debug: var={{hostvars}}   

```

When I run this, this is the output i get … in part:

`TASK [set_fact] **************************************************************** `  
`ok: [myserver1.mydomain.com]`  
``TASK [debug] ******************************************************************* ` `ok: [myserver1.mydomain.com] => {` `"the_count": " 2"` `}``  
`PLAY *************************************************************************** `

``

`TASK [retrieve variable from previous play] ************************************ `  
`changed: [myserver1.mydomain.com]`  
`changed: ```[myserver2.mydomain.com]`` `` `TASK [debug] \*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*` `ok: [`myserver1.mydomain.com`] => {` `"<ansible.vars.hostvars.HostVars object at 0x7fa8cff5c1d0>": "VARIABLE IS NOT DEFINED!"` `}` `ok: `[[myserver2.mydomain.com](http://myserver2.mydomain.com)]` => {`  
`"<ansible.vars.hostvars.HostVars object at 0x7fa8cff5c1d0>": "VARIABLE IS NOT DEFINED!"`  
`}`

``

`As you can see, in the first play, the variable seems to be set correctly in the sense that I can query "the_count" and see that the value is 2.`  
`However, once I hit the second play, I am unable to retrieve the value. "group1" only contains myserver1. Group2 includes myserver1 and myserver2 as you can see from the output.`  
`Myserver2 will not have "the_count" set, so I understand why I'm getting the error message about the variable not being defined.`

`But why is this the case for server1?`

`Ultimately, i need to be able to change my hosts file so that "group2" only includes myserver2. Should this code still work in that scenario?`

`I've been reading http://docs.ansible.com/ansible/set_fact_module.html but I wasn't able to find any examples similar to what I'm trying to accomplish.`  
`Perhaps I'm using the wrong function.`

`Any help would be appreciated.`