# Check if all the values of a yml matches a string else throw error and exit in ansible **URL:** \ **Category:** Ansible Project\ **Created:** [May 20, 2018, 5:48am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/check-if-all-the-values-of-a-yml-matches-a-string-else-throw-error-and-exit-in-ansible/27568 "2018-05-20T05:48:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![BIJAY\_PARIDA](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7feea3/32.png) [@BIJAY\_PARIDA](https://forum.ansible.com/u/BIJAY_PARIDA)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2018, 5:48am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/check-if-all-the-values-of-a-yml-matches-a-string-else-throw-error-and-exit-in-ansible/27568/1 "2018-05-20T05:48:13Z")
Hi, I have two files file1.yml and file2.yml which I am passing from the deployment level. I want to verify that all the values of the file1 matches to a string else exits with error message, same with the 2nd file. file1.yml (value field is same) ---
**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:** [May 20, 2018, 8:28am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/check-if-all-the-values-of-a-yml-matches-a-string-else-throw-error-and-exit-in-ansible/27568/2 "2018-05-20T08:28:20Z")
Not pretty but it should get the job done.    - include\_vars:        file: file1.yml        name: file1    - set\_fact:        file1values: "{{ file1values | default() + [item.1] }}"      with\_items:        - "{{ file1 | dictsort }}"    - assert:          that: file1values | unique | length == 1 ---
**Author:** ![BIJAY\_PARIDA](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7feea3/32.png) [@BIJAY\_PARIDA](https://forum.ansible.com/u/BIJAY_PARIDA)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2018, 9:30am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/check-if-all-the-values-of-a-yml-matches-a-string-else-throw-error-and-exit-in-ansible/27568/3 "2018-05-20T09:30:50Z")
Thanks a lot Kai for the response. Here I don’t want to include the vars, just want to check if the file exists and it contains the string. Is there any alternate? I meant without using the include\_vars option. ---
**Author:** ![BIJAY\_PARIDA](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7feea3/32.png) [@BIJAY\_PARIDA](https://forum.ansible.com/u/BIJAY_PARIDA)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2018, 10:12am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/check-if-all-the-values-of-a-yml-matches-a-string-else-throw-error-and-exit-in-ansible/27568/4 "2018-05-20T10:12:22Z")
The length comparison works well. But when comparing the string it fails. - assert: # that: “file1values | unique | length == 1” that: file1values.get(‘values’) | unique == ‘drop’ - Tried with get values. ---
**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:** [May 20, 2018, 10:20am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/check-if-all-the-values-of-a-yml-matches-a-string-else-throw-error-and-exit-in-ansible/27568/5 "2018-05-20T10:20:09Z")
You can always use shell    - shell: cut -f2 -d":" /path/to/file1.yml | uniq | wc -l      register: r    - assert:        that: r.stdout == "1" ---
**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:** [May 20, 2018, 10:29am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/check-if-all-the-values-of-a-yml-matches-a-string-else-throw-error-and-exit-in-ansible/27568/6 "2018-05-20T10:29:17Z")
file1values is a list so the get method wont work. unique return a list of unique values of a list, ["a", "a", "b"] becomes ["a", "b"] and ["a", "a", "a"] becomes ["a"] so you can't compare that to a string. ---
**Author:** ![BIJAY\_PARIDA](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7feea3/32.png) [@BIJAY\_PARIDA](https://forum.ansible.com/u/BIJAY_PARIDA)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2018, 10:34am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/check-if-all-the-values-of-a-yml-matches-a-string-else-throw-error-and-exit-in-ansible/27568/7 "2018-05-20T10:34:23Z")
Thanks a lot for the help, I will take it forward from here to add some more conditional checks.