# How to define with\_items by variables in ansible 1.4? **URL:** \ **Category:** Ansible Project\ **Created:** [December 5, 2013, 7:47am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/how-to-define-with-items-by-variables-in-ansible-1-4/14070 "2013-12-05T07:47:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![rella.guo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d2c977/32.png) [@rella.guo](https://forum.ansible.com/u/rella.guo)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2013, 7:47am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/how-to-define-with-items-by-variables-in-ansible-1-4/14070/1 "2013-12-05T07:47:49Z")
In ansible 1.0, I can use $foo in with\_items. For example, with\_items: - $404\_error\_page - $503\_error\_page - $403\_error\_page Ansible 1.0 works well. It can find the variable and replace the value. In Ansible 1.4, I try to use {{ foo }} or “{{ foo }}”, but both are wrong. Case1, Syntax Error. with\_items: - {{ 404\_error\_page }} - {{ 503\_error\_page }} - {{ 403\_error\_page }} Case2, ansible would not find the variable. with\_items: - “{{ 404\_error\_page }}” - “{{ 503\_error\_page }}” - “{{ 403\_error\_page }}” Who knows how to define with\_items by variables in ansible 1.4? ---
**Author:** ![Michael\_DeHaan2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/da6949/32.png) [@Michael\_DeHaan2](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Michael_DeHaan2)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2013, 1:18pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/how-to-define-with-items-by-variables-in-ansible-1-4/14070/2 "2013-12-05T13:18:26Z")
with\_items: - bar - baz Is all you need now – Michael ---
**Author:** ![rella.guo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d2c977/32.png) [@rella.guo](https://forum.ansible.com/u/rella.guo)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2013, 7:21am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/how-to-define-with-items-by-variables-in-ansible-1-4/14070/3 "2013-12-06T07:21:51Z")
I tried, but it is failed. My task is: - name: Transfer custom error pages and restart httpd service action: copy src={{ local\_custom\_error\_pages\_loc }}/{{ item }} dest={{ custom\_error\_page\_dir }}/{{ item }} owner=root group=root mode=0644 with\_items: - 404\_error\_page - 503\_error\_page - 403\_error\_page Note: 404\_error\_page, 503\_error\_page and 403\_error\_page are variable names which are defined in vars.yml. 404\_error\_page: 404\_ErrorPage.html 503\_error\_page: MaintenancePage.html 403\_error\_page: 403\_ErrorPage.html The error message is: failed: [192.168.126.143] =\> (item=404\_error\_page) =\> {“failed”: true, “item”: “404\_error\_page”} msg: could not find src=/home/agilairedev/playbooks/jboss\_deploy\_harden/repositories/custom\_error\_pages/ **404\_error\_page** failed: [192.168.126.143] =\> (item=503\_error\_page) =\> {“failed”: true, “item”: “503\_error\_page”} msg: could not find src=/home/agilairedev/playbooks/jboss\_deploy\_harden/repositories/custom\_error\_pages/503\_error\_page failed: [192.168.126.143] =\> (item=403\_error\_page) =\> {“failed”: true, “item”: “403\_error\_page”} msg: could not find src=/home/agilairedev/playbooks/jboss\_deploy\_harden/repositories/custom\_error\_pages/403\_error\_page FATAL: all hosts have already failed – aborting We can see, variable 404\_error\_page is not replaced with its value, 404\_ErrorPage.html. If I use $foo, it works well. with\_items: - $404\_error\_page - $503\_error\_page - $403\_error\_page ---
**Author:** ![Michael\_DeHaan2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/da6949/32.png) [@Michael\_DeHaan2](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Michael_DeHaan2)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2013, 12:53pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/how-to-define-with-items-by-variables-in-ansible-1-4/14070/4 "2013-12-06T12:53:49Z")
Hmm, it sounds like you want to use the names of the variables, and the system is trying to evaluate them for you. You can solve this by renaming the variables. ---
**Author:** ![rella.guo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d2c977/32.png) [@rella.guo](https://forum.ansible.com/u/rella.guo)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2013, 5:47am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/how-to-define-with-items-by-variables-in-ansible-1-4/14070/5 "2013-12-09T05:47:59Z")
**I changed the variable name from 404\_error\_page to error\_404\_page which starts with letter. But it cannot resolve the issue.** **I wrote:** with\_items: - error\_404\_page **The error still occur.** failed: [192.168.126.143] =\> (item=error\_404\_page) =\> {“failed”: true, “item”: “error\_404\_page”} msg: could not find src=/home/dev/playbooks/harden/repositories/custom\_error\_pages/error\_404\_page **We can see that the system didn’t take it as a variable.** **If I write:** with\_items: - {{ error\_404\_page }} Syntax Error ---
**Author:** ![Michael\_DeHaan2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/da6949/32.png) [@Michael\_DeHaan2](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Michael_DeHaan2)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2013, 1:55pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/how-to-define-with-items-by-variables-in-ansible-1-4/14070/6 "2013-12-09T13:55:11Z")
- “{{ error\_404\_page }}” If that’s the name of your variable. Hopefully, you will note Ansible gave you a longer syntax error message that told you exactly what to do about quoting, read the rest of the output 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![rella.guo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d2c977/32.png) [@rella.guo](https://forum.ansible.com/u/rella.guo)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2013, 3:00am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/how-to-define-with-items-by-variables-in-ansible-1-4/14070/7 "2013-12-10T03:00:59Z")
Thank you. Quoting resolves the issue. But I want to say, indeed, the rest of the output didn’t tell me what to do. 🙂 The whole output is: ERROR: Syntax Error while loading YAML script, /home/dev/playbooks/harden/install.yml Note: The error may actually appear before this position: line 39, column 8 with\_items: - {{ error\_404\_page }} I know some Syntax Error messages describe exactly what to do about quoting. But “with\_items” does not. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Michael\_DeHaan2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/da6949/32.png) [@Michael\_DeHaan2](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Michael_DeHaan2)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2013, 4:30pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/how-to-define-with-items-by-variables-in-ansible-1-4/14070/8 "2013-12-10T16:30:37Z")
I’ll file a ticket to add this to the suggester code, thanks!