# Creating users & groups with vars - not working **URL:** \ **Category:** Ansible Project\ **Created:** [July 7, 2017, 2:01am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/creating-users-groups-with-vars-not-working/24918 "2017-07-07T02:01:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Anfield](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@Anfield](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Anfield)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2017, 2:01am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/creating-users-groups-with-vars-not-working/24918/1 "2017-07-07T02:01:29Z")
Trying to create users and groups with vars inline…this is not working…what am I missing here? — # Users and Groups - hosts: localhost become: yes vars: groups: - devops - dbadbmins - serveradmins users: - frank - joe - dave tasks: - name: Create groups group: name: “{{ item.groups }}” state: present with\_items: “{{groups}}” ignore\_errors: yes - name: Create users user: name: “{{ item.user }}” state: present with\_items: “{{users}}” Output - PLAY [localhost] \*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\* TASK [Gathering Facts] \*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\* ok: [localhost] TASK [Create groups] \*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\* fatal: [localhost]: FAILED! =\> {“failed”: true, “msg”: “the field ‘args’ has an invalid value, which appears to include a variable that is undefined. The error was: ‘ansible.vars.unsafe\_proxy.AnsibleUnsafeText object’ has no attribute ‘groups’\n\nThe error appears to have been in ‘/etc/ansible/playbooks/usersgroups.yml’: line 15, column 7, but may\nbe elsewhere in the file depending on the exact syntax problem.\n\nThe offending line appears to be:\n\n tasks:\n - name: Create groups\n ^ here\n”} …ignoring TASK [Create users] \*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\* fatal: [localhost]: FAILED! =\> {“failed”: true, “msg”: “the field ‘args’ has an invalid value, which appears to include a variable that is undefined. The error was: ‘ansible.vars.unsafe\_proxy.AnsibleUnsafeText object’ has no attribute ‘user’\n\nThe error appears to have been in ‘/etc/ansible/playbooks/usersgroups.yml’: line 22, column 7, but may\nbe elsewhere in the file depending on the exact syntax problem.\n\nThe offending line appears to be:\n\n\n - name: Create users\n ^ here\n”} to retry, use: --limit @/etc/ansible/playbooks/usersgroups.retry ---
**Author:** ![Daniel\_JD](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f19dbf/32.png) [@Daniel\_JD](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Daniel_JD)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2017, 8:35am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/creating-users-groups-with-vars-not-working/24918/2 "2017-07-07T08:35:50Z")
You are trying to access item.groups, but there is not item.groups. The groupname is item itself. The same thing for item.user! Just change item.groups to item and item.user to item ---
**Author:** ![Brian\_Coca](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6de8d8/32.png) [@Brian\_Coca](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Brian_Coca)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2017, 1:19pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/creating-users-groups-with-vars-not-working/24918/3 "2017-07-07T13:19:46Z")
To put Daniel's response into clear example:   - name: Create groups       group:         name: "{{ item }}"         state: present       with\_items: "{{groups}}"       ignore\_errors: yes     - name: Create users       user:         name: "{{ item }}"         state: present       with\_items: "{{users}}" ---
**Author:** ![Daniel\_JD](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f19dbf/32.png) [@Daniel\_JD](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Daniel_JD)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2017, 6:39pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/creating-users-groups-with-vars-not-working/24918/4 "2017-07-07T18:39:53Z")
Thanks Brian! ---
**Author:** ![Anfield](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@Anfield](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Anfield)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2017, 7:24pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/creating-users-groups-with-vars-not-working/24918/5 "2017-07-07T19:24:48Z")
Thanks. It works but only if I swap with\_items: “{{groups}}” for with\_items: “{{grouplist}}” and call my vars grouplist also. Something it didnt like about calling those 2 groups ---
**Author:** ![Brian\_Coca](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6de8d8/32.png) [@Brian\_Coca](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Brian_Coca)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2017, 10:22pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/creating-users-groups-with-vars-not-working/24918/6 "2017-07-07T22:22:44Z")
i should have noticed, 'groups' is a reserved var, which has a dictionary with the inventory groups and the hosts that belong to them. No matter what you set, the 'groups' from Ansible will overwrite it.