# How can I iterate through user input data with "with\_items" loop?

**URL:** <https://forum.ansible.com/t/how-can-i-iterate-through-user-input-data-with-with-items-loop/17533>\
**Category:** Ansible Project\
**Created:** [February 17, 2015, 8:52am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/how-can-i-iterate-through-user-input-data-with-with-items-loop/17533 "2015-02-17T08:52:21Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Mario\_Vazquez](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ec9cab/32.png) [@Mario\_Vazquez](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Mario_Vazquez)\
**Post date:** [February 17, 2015, 8:52am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/how-can-i-iterate-through-user-input-data-with-with-items-loop/17533/1 "2015-02-17T08:52:21Z")

</div>

Hello all,

I need help with a loop iterating through user input data. I have a prompt variable in my playbook that is filled with usernames. The value its something like “test1 test2 test3”.

I need to iterate through this values within “with\_items” iterator.

If I use with\_items: variableName the loop iterates only once (the value was test1 test2 test3).

Any ideas?

Thank you in advance.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**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:** [February 17, 2015, 1:32pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/how-can-i-iterate-through-user-input-data-with-with-items-loop/17533/2 "2015-02-17T13:32:22Z")

</div>

Try:

with\_items: variableName.split()

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Mario\_Vazquez](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ec9cab/32.png) [@Mario\_Vazquez](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Mario_Vazquez)\
**Post date:** [February 18, 2015, 8:38am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/how-can-i-iterate-through-user-input-data-with-with-items-loop/17533/3 "2015-02-18T08:38:58Z")

</div>

Hello Matt,

It is working with .split().

Thank you very much.