# Does anyone use hash\_behaviour=merge?

**URL:** <https://forum.ansible.com/t/does-anyone-use-hash-behaviour-merge/7112>\
**Category:** Get Help\
**Tags:** ansible-core\
**Created:** [July 7, 2024, 8:31pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/does-anyone-use-hash-behaviour-merge/7112 "2024-07-07T20:31:32Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 20\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![igielskv](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/ansible/user_avatar/forum.ansible.com/igielskv/32/4119_2.png) [@igielskv](https://forum.ansible.com/u/igielskv)\
**Post date:** [July 7, 2024, 8:31pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/does-anyone-use-hash-behaviour-merge/7112/1 "2024-07-07T20:31:32Z")

</div>

I’d like to say hello to all of you Ansible guys.

I’ve seen a lot of discussion about hash\_behaviour=merge being deprecated, than about holding back with deprecation…

I’d like to know, anybody out there is still using hash\_behaviour=merge ?

Is it really bad?

Is it considered as bad praxis, that should be avoided? Is it gonna be deprecated in the future maybe? (because that would mean rewriting of all Ansible code significantly).

My goal is to have var (dictionary) ideally of the same common name defined partially in role defaults and partially overridden from group\_vars and for the tasks in the role to function properly I need to merge these dictionaries together from defaults and group\_vars. I believe that hash\_behaviour=merge would do and will probably be the easiest possible way to achieve this, but… am I wrong?

My approach is wrong? Is it something that should never be done? Should there be only vars of distinguished names for defaults and group\_vars and they should be combined into “merged” dictionary inside the role, only?

Thank you in advance for your ideas, opinion, I’m really looking for the best praxis recommendation, something that will stay, will be simple and maintainable and will not require change in near future.

Have great day everyone…

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Thulium-Drake](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/ansible/user_avatar/forum.ansible.com/thulium-drake/32/833_2.png) [@Thulium-Drake](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Thulium-Drake)\
**Post date:** [July 7, 2024, 9:53pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/does-anyone-use-hash-behaviour-merge/7112/2 "2024-07-07T21:53:39Z")

</div>

If I understand your question correctly, you basically want to have something like this:

_group\_vars/all.yml_:

```auto
---
global_stuff:
  - 'my_first_list'
  - 'bananas'

```

_group\_vars/database\_servers.yml_:

```auto
group_stuff:
  - 'mangos'
  - 'bbq'

```

_group\_vars/webservers.yml_:

```auto
other_group_stuff:
  - 'cow'
  - 'chicken'

```

And then turn it into a single list for each host, like so:

_db1_:

```auto
stuff:
  - 'my_first_list'
  - 'bananas'
  - 'mangos'
  - 'bbq'

```

_web1_:

```auto
stuff:
  - 'my_first_list'
  - 'bananas'
  - 'cow'
  - 'chicken'

```

Right?

If that’s the case, you’ll want to take a look at `community.general.merge_variables`. It works like this:

1. Make the lists in your configuration, as you did above
2. Add the following to _group\_vars/all.yml_

```auto
stuff: "{{ lookup('community.general.merge_variables', '_stuff', pattern_type='suffix', initial_value=[]) }}"

```

This will create the `stuff` list for each host based on the suffix `_stuff` on all variables for _that_ specific host/group.

The docs for this module are here: [community.general.merge\_variables lookup – merge variables with a certain suffix — Ansible Community Documentation](https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/latest/collections/community/general/merge_variables_lookup.html)

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![bvitnik](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/ansible/user_avatar/forum.ansible.com/bvitnik/32/4132_2.png) [@bvitnik](https://forum.ansible.com/u/bvitnik)\
**Post date:** [July 7, 2024, 11:42pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/does-anyone-use-hash-behaviour-merge/7112/3 "2024-07-07T23:42:35Z")

</div>

I personally have never relied on `hash_behaviour=merge`. It was not really portable because not much people is aware of it nor do they make adjustments to `ansible.cfg` to make use of it.

Lookup plugin `merge_variables` also did not exist at the time when I needed such functionality. I did implement my own version of `merge_variables` at the time but opted out of using it to make my code more portable.

Instead, I went along the path of using a combination of `varnames` and `vars` lookup plugins which are builtin. This gave me a lot of power and flexibility. It looks a little bit ugly in the code but I can do all kind of stuff, not just simple merging, like variable priority, partial sorting of lists, merging both lists and dicts… Also, by explicitly merging vars, you are less likely to accidentally merge vars you did not intend to merge.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![flowerysong](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/ansible/user_avatar/forum.ansible.com/flowerysong/32/2305_2.png) [@flowerysong](https://forum.ansible.com/u/flowerysong)\
**Post date:** [July 8, 2024, 2:07am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/does-anyone-use-hash-behaviour-merge/7112/4 "2024-07-08T02:07:50Z")

</div>

Yes, people use it.

No, you shouldn’t use it. It makes the behaviour of variables even harder to understand, and you can accomplish everything it does (and more) with explicit merging of variables.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![utoddl](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/ansible/user_avatar/forum.ansible.com/utoddl/32/249_2.png) [@utoddl](https://forum.ansible.com/u/utoddl)\
**Post date:** [July 8, 2024, 2:22am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/does-anyone-use-hash-behaviour-merge/7112/5 "2024-07-08T02:22:09Z")

</div>

We often need the default hash behaviour, so changing the default would cause serious breakage for us.

Like apparently a lot of other folks, we (I) implemented a lookup - ours is called [mergevars](https://github.com/utoddl/ansible-plugins#pluginslookupmergevarspy) - that allows us to merge dicts or lists by name and/or regex. This was before `community.general.merge_variables` was _a thing_. In fact, it was before collections were _a thing_. It’s got some, er, “interesting differences” from `c.g.merge_variables`, but with so much code using it, and as simple as it is, there’s very little incentive to replace it.

In contrast to `c.g.merge_variables`, `mergevars` can take a list of variable names and/or in-line data, and it will merge those first. It also accepts a regex, and any existing variable names that match _which haven’t already been merged_ will be merged in lexicographical order. It takes a flag indicating whether to de-duplicate resulting lists, and whether to recursively merge dicts. Anyone is welcome to use it, etc. If you break it, you get to keep the pieces. 🙂

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![utoddl](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/ansible/user_avatar/forum.ansible.com/utoddl/32/249_2.png) [@utoddl](https://forum.ansible.com/u/utoddl)\
**Post date:** [July 8, 2024, 2:51am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/does-anyone-use-hash-behaviour-merge/7112/6 "2024-07-08T02:51:41Z")

</div>

I just noticed a curious difference between how we use `mergevars` and the way `community.general.merge_variables` is documented. The latter seems to be oriented toward a common _suffix_ for selecting variables to merge. In practice, we use a common _prefix_.

For example, in our Linux systems project `./roles/sssd/tasks/main.yml` file, we have this variable definition:

```yaml
    sssd_allow_groups: "{{ lookup('mergevars',
                  'sssd_allow_groups_default',
                  regex='^sssd_allow_groups_') | sort | unique }}"

```

In `./roles/sssd/defaults/main.yml` we define the variable `sssd_allow_groups_default` which gets merged first. In various `./group_vars/...` files we define `sssd_allow_groups_hostgroupfoo`, `sssd_allow_groups_hostgroupbar`, `sssd_allow_groups_hostgroupbaz`, etc., and similarly in some `./host_vars/...` files.

This is just convention of course; one could match on either suffix or prefix with either `mergevars` or `c.g.merge_variables`. It just struck me as odd that we had chosen to use prefix way back in the day. I’m almost certain we never even considered matching on a common suffix. 🤔 Especially since variables specifically relevant to local roles all start with the roles’ names.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![igielskv](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/ansible/user_avatar/forum.ansible.com/igielskv/32/4119_2.png) [@igielskv](https://forum.ansible.com/u/igielskv)\
**Post date:** [July 8, 2024, 6:04am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/does-anyone-use-hash-behaviour-merge/7112/7 "2024-07-08T06:04:00Z")

</div>

Thanks all of you for taking your time and reply to my post, I really appreciate you gave me an opinions and also alternative solutions.

What I take out of it, well, people use it, but it should not be used, that’s it.

Also meanwhile I came across this comment in `ansible.cfg` (when it’s generated using `ansible-config init --disabled --type all`), that is quite clear, and is completely in accordance with what you have written here.

```auto
# (string) This setting controls how duplicate definitions of dictionary variables (aka hash, map, associative array) are handled in Ansible.
# This does not affect variables whose values are scalars (integers, strings) or arrays.
# **WARNING** , changing this setting is not recommended as this is fragile and makes your content (plays, roles, collections) nonportable, leading to continual confusion and misuse. Don't change this setting unless you think you have an absolute need for it.
# We recommend avoiding reusing variable names and relying on the ``combine`` filter and ``vars`` and ``varnames`` lookups to create merged versions of the individual variables. In our experience, this is rarely needed and is a sign that too much complexity has been introduced into the data structures and plays.
# For some uses you can also look into custom vars_plugins to merge on input, even substituting the default ``host_group_vars`` that is in charge of parsing the ``host_vars/`` and ``group_vars/`` directories. Most users of this setting are only interested in inventory scope, but the setting itself affects all sources and makes debugging even harder.
# All playbooks and roles in the official examples repos assume the default for this setting.
# Changing the setting to ``merge`` applies across variable sources, but many sources will internally still overwrite the variables. For example ``include_vars`` will dedupe variables internally before updating Ansible, with 'last defined' overwriting previous definitions in same file.
# The Ansible project recommends you **avoid ``merge`` for new projects.**
# It is the intention of the Ansible developers to eventually deprecate and remove this setting, but it is being kept as some users do heavily rely on it. New projects should **avoid 'merge'**.

```

So I’m reworking my approach and I’ll try NOT to reuse vars names at various places and NOT rely on merging mechanisms as it probably brings unnecessary complexity.

Have a nice day everyone.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![igielskv](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/ansible/user_avatar/forum.ansible.com/igielskv/32/4119_2.png) [@igielskv](https://forum.ansible.com/u/igielskv)\
**Post date:** [July 8, 2024, 8:57am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/does-anyone-use-hash-behaviour-merge/7112/8 "2024-07-08T08:57:14Z")

</div>

Hi and thanks for reply,

just to clarify, I do care mainly about merging hash “dictionaries” (not interested so much about “lists”)

The main interest was to have common hash dictionaries with some key: value pairs defined in role defaults and some key: value pairs defined in group\_vars (or host\_vars), so they can either combine or override what role gets from it’s defaults for complete functionality.

But problem comes when some of necessary key: value pairs are not present in group\_vars or host\_vars. The whole hash dictionary is replaced with one that is of higher priority and at the end some of the key: value pairs (which were already present in role defaults) are unfortunately missing.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![utoddl](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/ansible/user_avatar/forum.ansible.com/utoddl/32/249_2.png) [@utoddl](https://forum.ansible.com/u/utoddl)\
**Post date:** [July 8, 2024, 12:38pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/does-anyone-use-hash-behaviour-merge/7112/9 "2024-07-08T12:38:40Z")

</div>

That’s exactly the scenario fitting most of our usage: combining hashes for that reason. Sometimes we have a default list of “things” that applies to all hosts, but a few specific hosts or hosts in a host group need a few more, so we use the same technique for lists.

I did some `grep`ping to generate the following list of regexes we use in our Linux system project, just to give a sense of how much we use this technique. Again, this is just one project:

`^cups_printerlist_`, `^id_group_defs_`, `^id_groups_`, `^id_local_overrides_`, `^id_users_`, `^iptable_chains_`, `^iptable_rules_`, `^limits_conf_`, `^limits_files_`, `^limits_remove_files_`, `^logrotate_scripts_`, `^mw_linux_yum_yumconf_`, `^nfsmount_mount_defs`, `^nfsmount_mounts_`, `^nfsmount_server_defs`, `^postfix_conf_`, `^rsyslog_files_`, `^selinux_allow_`, `^selinux_boolean_`, `^selinux_fcontext_`, `^selinux_login_`, `^selinux_permissive_`, `^selinux_port_`, `^selinux_restorecond_`, `^selinux_restore_dir_`, `^ssh_authorized_keys_ids_`, `^sssd_allow_groups_`, `^sssd_allow_users_`, `^sudoers_configs_`, `^sudoers_full_groups_`, `^sudoers_full_users_`, `^sysctl_settings_`, `^uncfile_files_`, `^uncfirewalld_`, `^yumrepo_setrepo_`, `^yumrepo_skipunavilable_`

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Thulium-Drake](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/ansible/user_avatar/forum.ansible.com/thulium-drake/32/833_2.png) [@Thulium-Drake](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Thulium-Drake)\
**Post date:** [July 8, 2024, 1:20pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/does-anyone-use-hash-behaviour-merge/7112/10 "2024-07-08T13:20:31Z")

</div>

Looks very familiar to what we do 🙂 but as we used to use [GitHub - leapfrogonline/ansible-merge-vars: An Ansible action plugin to explicitly merge inventory variables](https://github.com/leapfrogonline/ansible-merge-vars) we’re ‘stuck’ with the `__to_merge` suffix, but OTOH, it’s very clear those variables are shared and cobbled together in some way.

And on the plus side, the lookup plugin made it easier for us to apply it (even for roles that don’t have support for this ‘layered’ approach to setting/overriding/adding variables).

EDIT: Oh, and before I forget, mergevars (the link) also does supports merging parts of dicts into one big dict. I haven’t needed it so far and I don’t know if c.g.merge\_variables supports it. But looking at the replies in the topic, I think there’s enough options around 🙂

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![igielskv](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/ansible/user_avatar/forum.ansible.com/igielskv/32/4119_2.png) [@igielskv](https://forum.ansible.com/u/igielskv)\
**Post date:** [July 8, 2024, 1:28pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/does-anyone-use-hash-behaviour-merge/7112/11 "2024-07-08T13:28:50Z")

</div>

Thanks the problem what I see with your approach is that it’s probably mainly useful for “lists”, but what I’m looking for is merge of dictionaries like for example this is the output I get from `community.general.merge_variables`:

```auto
TASK [ansible : Debug merge] *********************************************************************************************
ok: [ansible-testing-1] => {
    "ansible_common": {
        "home": "/var/lib/ansible",
        "ssh_keys": [
            "ssh-ed25519 AAAAC3NzaC1lZDI1NTE5AAAAIJA6YzPY5j2lrHD/dbCnnu4mmD5p8lr79omYSBtbWsBh igielskv@icloud.com",
            "ssh-ed25519 AAAAC3NzaC1lZDI1NTE5AAAAICPUx75bIDUQquaYStRxMwid4itArEKG8ANWe4P7ATY9 vladislav.igielski@logicworks.cz",
            "ssh-ed25519 AAAAC3NzaC1lZDI1NTE5AAAAIJA6YzPY5j2lrHD/dbCnnu4mmD5p8lr79omYSBtbWsBh igielskv@icloud.com"
        ],
        "ssh_keys_removed": [],
        "ssh_max_startups": "10:30:100"
    }
}

```

The problem here is when some value is defined more than one time I see it merged multiple times from different places. Obviously, that’s why U use `| sort | unique` but whenever I try this, seems like plugin converts merge into the list and strips off the key value pairs and outcome like this is not what I’m looking for:

```auto
TASK [ansible : Debug merge] *********************************************************************************************
ok: [ansible-testing-1] => {
    "ansible_common": [
        "home",
        "ssh_keys",
        "ssh_keys_removed",
        "ssh_max_startups"
    ]
}

```

# To be more specific what I’m trying to achieve?

For example, the initial idea was to have:

`group_vars/all/main.yml`

```auto
---
ansible_common:
  ssh_keys:
    - "{{ lookup('file', 'users/personal_ed25519.pub') }}"
    - "{{ lookup('file', 'users/lw_ed25519.pub') }}"

```

`roles/ansible/defaults/main.yml`

```auto
---
# defaults file for roles/ansible

ansible_common:
  home: /var/lib/ansible
  ssh_keys_removed: []
  ssh_max_startups: 10:30:100

```

`roles/ansible/tasks/main.yml`

```auto
---
# tasks file for roles/ansible

- name: Debug merge
  ansible.builtin.debug:
    var: ansible_common

```

with following output:

```auto
TASK [ansible : Debug merge] *********************************************************************************************
ok: [ansible-testing-1] => {
    "ansible_common": {
        "home": "/var/lib/ansible",
        "ssh_keys": [
            "ssh-ed25519 AAAAC3NzaC1lZDI1NTE5AAAAIJA6YzPY5j2lrHD/dbCnnu4mmD5p8lr79omYSBtbWsBh igielskv@icloud.com",
            "ssh-ed25519 AAAAC3NzaC1lZDI1NTE5AAAAICPUx75bIDUQquaYStRxMwid4itArEKG8ANWe4P7ATY9 vladislav.igielski@logicworks.cz"
        ],
        "ssh_keys_removed": [],
        "ssh_max_startups": "10:30:100"
    }
}

```

Super easy with `hash_behaviour=merge` but very difficult with `hash_behaviour=replace` (by default).

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![bvitnik](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/ansible/user_avatar/forum.ansible.com/bvitnik/32/4132_2.png) [@bvitnik](https://forum.ansible.com/u/bvitnik)\
**Post date:** [July 8, 2024, 2:36pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/does-anyone-use-hash-behaviour-merge/7112/12 "2024-07-08T14:36:29Z")

</div>

Just use the `combine` filter like this:

`group_vars/all/main.yml`

```yaml
---
ansible_common_specific:
  ssh_keys:
    - "{{ lookup('file', 'users/personal_ed25519.pub') }}"
    - "{{ lookup('file', 'users/lw_ed25519.pub') }}"

```

`roles/ansible/defaults/main.yml`

```yaml
---
# defaults file for roles/ansible

ansible_common_common:
  home: /var/lib/ansible
  ssh_keys_removed: []
  ssh_max_startups: 10:30:100

```

`roles/ansible/tasks/main.yml`

```yaml
---
# tasks file for roles/ansible

- name: Debug merge
  ansible.builtin.debug:
    var: ansible_common
  vars:
    ansible_common: "{{ query('ansible.builtin.vars', ['ansible_common_common', 'ansible_common_specific']) | ansible.builtin.combine(recursive=true) }}"

```

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![utoddl](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/ansible/user_avatar/forum.ansible.com/utoddl/32/249_2.png) [@utoddl](https://forum.ansible.com/u/utoddl)\
**Post date:** [July 8, 2024, 4:15pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/does-anyone-use-hash-behaviour-merge/7112/13 "2024-07-08T16:15:06Z")

</div>

I see. But if you don’t set `hash_behaviour=merge ` (and, yeah, don’t) then you can’t have multiple _identically named_ variables from different sources contributing values to the final result. One of them - and only one - will “win”, and the others will disappear.

Instead, you’d need to name all the contributing variables uniquely. The convention apparently everyone adopts is either a common suffix or prefix, plus some “uniquifying” bit to prevent them clobbering each other. (Ah, like in @bvitnik’s example just above this post.)

> [@igielskv](#):
>
> Obviously, that’s why U use `| sort | unique`

I picked a poor example; that one happened to use a list while we were talking about dicts. But both `c.g.merge_variables` and `mergevars` will happily do either. The latter will also de-duplicate lists.

I am curious, though, about how you ended up with the results you showed just above your “To be more specific…” heading. Did you get that from my `mergevars` plugin, or the `community.general.merge_variables` plugin, or something else? (You can direct message me if we’re straying too far off-topic, but that does look like a bug that I’d like to fix.)

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![igielskv](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/ansible/user_avatar/forum.ansible.com/igielskv/32/4119_2.png) [@igielskv](https://forum.ansible.com/u/igielskv)\
**Post date:** [July 8, 2024, 8:04pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/does-anyone-use-hash-behaviour-merge/7112/14 "2024-07-08T20:04:04Z")

</div>

> [@utoddl](#):
>
> I am curious, though, about how you ended up with the results you showed just above your “To be more specific…” heading. Did you get that from my `mergevars` plugin, or the `community.general.merge_variables` plugin, or something else?

Yes I’ve got that weird output from `community.general.merge_variables` when combined with `| sort | unique` like this:

`"{{ lookup('community.general.merge_variables', 'ansible_common_', pattern_type='prefix') | sort | unique }}"`

But that plugin is maybe not quite ready for that and what you were talking about before was your `mergevars` plugin which might have slightly different behavior.

Anyway when I remove those `| sort | unique` the output is more or les what I want (I know it might not be unique and might have dupes if same stuff is defined on more than one place, which should not happen).

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![bvitnik](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/ansible/user_avatar/forum.ansible.com/bvitnik/32/4132_2.png) [@bvitnik](https://forum.ansible.com/u/bvitnik)\
**Post date:** [July 8, 2024, 8:07pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/does-anyone-use-hash-behaviour-merge/7112/15 "2024-07-08T20:07:54Z")

</div>

But what are you trying to sort here? The order of `ansible_common_*` variables before they are merged?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![igielskv](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/ansible/user_avatar/forum.ansible.com/igielskv/32/4119_2.png) [@igielskv](https://forum.ansible.com/u/igielskv)\
**Post date:** [July 8, 2024, 8:10pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/does-anyone-use-hash-behaviour-merge/7112/16 "2024-07-08T20:10:15Z")

</div>

`sort` is maybe not so important but `unique` would be useful… to make merge a bit more “fail proof”.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![bvitnik](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/ansible/user_avatar/forum.ansible.com/bvitnik/32/4132_2.png) [@bvitnik](https://forum.ansible.com/u/bvitnik)\
**Post date:** [July 8, 2024, 8:16pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/does-anyone-use-hash-behaviour-merge/7112/17 "2024-07-08T20:16:49Z")

</div>

Can you elaborate? Variables are always unique because they are overridden. Multiple variables with same name are going to be collapsed to a single variable based on variable Ansible precedence rules. Dicts keys are also unique.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![igielskv](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/ansible/user_avatar/forum.ansible.com/igielskv/32/4119_2.png) [@igielskv](https://forum.ansible.com/u/igielskv)\
**Post date:** [July 8, 2024, 8:21pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/does-anyone-use-hash-behaviour-merge/7112/18 "2024-07-08T20:21:16Z")

</div>

But I’m also wondering in your example:

> `sssd_allow_groups: "{{ lookup('mergevars', 'sssd_allow_groups_default', regex='^sssd_allow_groups_') | sort | unique }}"`

Why you initialize with `sssd_allow_groups_default` and this you are merging with `regex='^sssd_allow_groups_'`? Would not be `sssd_allow_groups_default` also matched with regex? But maybe it’s not problem in your workflow or you get rid of it using that `unique` thing.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![igielskv](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/ansible/user_avatar/forum.ansible.com/igielskv/32/4119_2.png) [@igielskv](https://forum.ansible.com/u/igielskv)\
**Post date:** [July 8, 2024, 8:27pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/does-anyone-use-hash-behaviour-merge/7112/19 "2024-07-08T20:27:36Z")

</div>

> [@bvitnik](#):
>
> Can you elaborate?

Yes… I have among key: value pairs also key: dict\_value pairs, those ssh\_keys and if I accidentally define same key in group\_vars, and than host\_vars, I end up with an output like this:

```auto
TASK [ansible : Debug merge] *********************************************************************************************
ok: [ansible-testing-1] => {
    "ansible_common": {
        "home": "/var/lib/ansible",
        "ssh_keys": [
            "ssh-ed25519 AAAAC3NzaC1lZDI1NTE5AAAAIJA6YzPY5j2lrHD/dbCnnu4mmD5p8lr79omYSBtbWsBh igielskv@icloud.com",
            "ssh-ed25519 AAAAC3NzaC1lZDI1NTE5AAAAICPUx75bIDUQquaYStRxMwid4itArEKG8ANWe4P7ATY9 vladislav.igielski@logicworks.cz",
            "ssh-ed25519 AAAAC3NzaC1lZDI1NTE5AAAAIJA6YzPY5j2lrHD/dbCnnu4mmD5p8lr79omYSBtbWsBh igielskv@icloud.com"
        ],
        "ssh_keys_removed": [],
        "ssh_max_startups": "10:30:100"
    }
}

```

U see there I have same ssh key twice from two different places, it’s not really desired outcome.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![bvitnik](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/ansible/user_avatar/forum.ansible.com/bvitnik/32/4132_2.png) [@bvitnik](https://forum.ansible.com/u/bvitnik)\
**Post date:** [July 8, 2024, 8:33pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/does-anyone-use-hash-behaviour-merge/7112/20 "2024-07-08T20:33:38Z")

</div>

I can see now. Then this means you have a third variable you have not mentioned? You have one in role defaults, one in group\_vars, the extra third ssh key must be coming from a third variable.

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