# Directory manipulation

**URL:** <https://forum.ansible.com/t/directory-manipulation/23828>\
**Category:** Ansible Project\
**Created:** [February 27, 2017, 1:40pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/directory-manipulation/23828 "2017-02-27T13:40:59Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![John\_Doe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/91b2a8/32.png) [@John\_Doe](https://forum.ansible.com/u/John_Doe)\
**Post date:** [February 27, 2017, 1:40pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/directory-manipulation/23828/1 "2017-02-27T13:40:59Z")

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Hey,

in my playbook {{ playbook\_dir }} is /etc/proftpd , it is possible to add something to playbook\_dir which will output parent directory ? Something like {{ playbook\_dir | …/ }} , is there a way to do something similar with ansible ?

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**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:** [February 27, 2017, 6:04pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/directory-manipulation/23828/2 "2017-02-27T18:04:19Z")

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have you tried 'dirname'?