# Error register variable "The task includes an option with an undefined variable" **URL:** \ **Category:** Ansible Project\ **Created:** [May 19, 2022, 7:32pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/error-register-variable-the-task-includes-an-option-with-an-undefined-variable/36647 "2022-05-19T19:32:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Emanuel\_Gonzalez](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b3f665/32.png) [@Emanuel\_Gonzalez](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Emanuel_Gonzalez)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2022, 7:32pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/error-register-variable-the-task-includes-an-option-with-an-undefined-variable/36647/1 "2022-05-19T19:32:09Z")
Hello, 30 minutes ago I am reviewing my playbook and I do not find the error, I am going crazy, i see this error: I run the playbook this way /usr/bin/ansible-playbook -i hosts --extra-vars “CARRIER=xx” tasks/create\_ec2\_stage.yaml I see this error: fatal: [localhost]: FAILED! =\> {“msg”: “The task includes an option with an undefined variable. The error was: list object has no element 0\n\nThe e rror appears to be in ‘/etc/ansible/loyalty/tasks/create\_ec2\_stage.yaml’: line 63, column 7, but may\nbe elsewhere in the file depending on the exac t syntax problem.\n\nThe offending line appears to be:\n\n register: ec2\_metadata\n - name: Parse \< JSON \>\n ^ here\n”} My playbook: ---
**Author:** ![sivel](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/ansible/user_avatar/forum.ansible.com/sivel/32/1198_2.png) [@sivel](https://forum.ansible.com/u/sivel)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2022, 7:40pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/error-register-variable-the-task-includes-an-option-with-an-undefined-variable/36647/2 "2022-05-19T19:40:00Z")
The problem is with this line: ip\_addr: “{{ ec2\_metadata.instances[0].network\_interfaces[0].private\_ip\_address }}” One of those llist vars is empty. You will probably need to debug them, to see what the data structure is. ---
**Author:** ![Emanuel\_Gonzalez](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b3f665/32.png) [@Emanuel\_Gonzalez](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Emanuel_Gonzalez)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2022, 8:14pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/error-register-variable-the-task-includes-an-option-with-an-undefined-variable/36647/3 "2022-05-19T20:14:03Z")
I tried something a little smaller and it works properly: ---
**Author:** ![dnmvisser](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/8e8cbc/32.png) [@dnmvisser](https://forum.ansible.com/u/dnmvisser)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2022, 3:04pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/error-register-variable-the-task-includes-an-option-with-an-undefined-variable/36647/4 "2022-05-20T15:04:58Z")
A few observations inline: > Hello, 30 minutes ago I am reviewing my playbook and I do not find the error, I am going crazy, i see this error: > > I run the playbook this way > > /usr/bin/ansible-playbook -i hosts --extra-vars "CARRIER=xx" tasks/create\_ec2\_stage.yaml > > I see this error: > > fatal: [localhost]: FAILED! =\> {"msg": "The task includes an option with an undefined variable. The error was: list object has no element 0\n\nThe e > rror appears to be in '/etc/ansible/loyalty/tasks/create\_ec2\_stage.yaml': line 63, column 7, but may\nbe elsewhere in the file depending on the exac > t syntax problem.\n\nThe offending line appears to be:\n\n register: ec2\_metadata\n - name: Parse \< JSON \>\n ^ here\n"} > > My playbook: > > --- > - name: New EC2 instances >   hosts: localhost >   gather\_facts: no >   vars\_files: >     - /etc/ansible/loyalty/vars/vars.yaml >   tasks: >     - name: Run EC2 Instances >       amazon.aws.ec2\_instance: >         name: "new-{{ CARRIER }}.test" >         aws\_secret\_key: "{{ ec2\_secret\_key }}" >         aws\_access\_key: "{{ ec2\_access\_key }}" >         region: us-east-1 >         key\_name: Kiu >         instance\_type: t2.medium >         image\_id: xxxxxxxxxxxxx >         wait: yes >         wait\_timeout: 500 Here you explicitly decrease the wait\_timeout by 100 seconds (default = 600). This may cause the instance(s) to be not ready yet, which in turn might cause the error. Suggestion: either use the default (i.e. do not define wait\_timeout), or use a higher value - to increase the likelihood that all instances are in the state that you want them to be. While we're on that topic - you didn't define this desired state, so the default ('present') is used: [https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/latest/collections/amazon/aws/ec2\_instance\_module.html#parameter-state](https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/latest/collections/amazon/aws/ec2_instance_module.html#parameter-state) If you spin up new instances, state 'present' means just that - it's there. But it might or might not have all of its network interfaces added and/or configured. >         volumes: >           - device\_name: /dev/xvda >             ebs: >               volume\_type: gp3 >               volume\_size: 20 >               delete\_on\_termination: yes >         vpc\_subnet\_id: xxxxxxxxxxxx >         network: >           assign\_public\_ip: no >         security\_groups: ["xxxxxxxxxx", "xxxxxxxxxxx", "xxxxxxxxxxxxxx"] >         tags: >           Enviroment: TEST >         count: 1 >     - name: Pause Few Seconds >       pause: >         seconds: 20 >         prompt: "Please wait" Here you seem to work around the unstable 'present' state that you implicitly required in the previous task? >     - name: Get Information for EC2 Instances >       ec2\_instance\_info: >         region: us-east-1 >         filters: >           "tag:Name": new-{{ CARRIER }}.test >       register: ec2\_metadata >     - name: Parse JSON >       set\_fact: >         ip\_addr: "{{ ec2\_metadata.instances[0].network\_interfaces[0].private\_ip\_address }}" > > Any help, please? 1. Drop the entire pause task 2. Drop the entire ec2\_instance\_info task 3. Remove the 'wait\_timeout' parameter from the ec2\_instance task 4. Add a state parameter with value 'running' to the ec2\_instance task 5. Register the output of the ec2\_instance task in a variable (say 'my\_instances') 6. Add a debug task for the my\_instances variable. This should have the information you are looking for. Based on the exact structure of that you can select the required keys/indices (or use json\_query etc) Dick