# how to dynamic update value in vars\_file **URL:** \ **Category:** Ansible Project\ **Created:** [May 13, 2020, 1:34am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/how-to-dynamic-update-value-in-vars-file/32920 "2020-05-13T01:34:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Eric\_Chang](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e68b1a/32.png) [@Eric\_Chang](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Eric_Chang)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2020, 1:34am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/how-to-dynamic-update-value-in-vars-file/32920/1 "2020-05-13T01:34:11Z")
I have a var file like ` nodes: - name: rk12 location: tp-101 ma: own: - name: rk14 location: tp-201 ma: p11023 own: p11023 - name: rk15 location: tc-332 ma: own: p92032 ` and I want to update nodes.ma with somevalue based on location in playbook , if ma is not defined. I try lineinfile , but there could be more lines that ma was not defined. (like rk12 , rk15 ) can I update specified nodes.ma in playbook ? ---
**Author:** ![Dick\_Visser](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d9b06d/32.png) [@Dick\_Visser](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Dick_Visser)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2020, 7:04am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/how-to-dynamic-update-value-in-vars-file/32920/2 "2020-05-13T07:04:14Z")
Update vars files based on the content of a variable it contains sounds like doing things backwards. Could you tell more about your ACTUAL deployment goal(s)? I.e. what are you trying to achieve with ansible? ---
**Author:** ![Eric\_Chang](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e68b1a/32.png) [@Eric\_Chang](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Eric_Chang)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2020, 7:32am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/how-to-dynamic-update-value-in-vars-file/32920/3 "2020-05-13T07:32:04Z")
like I said , I want to update [nodes.ma](http://nodes.ma) with somevalue based on location in playbook , if ma is not defined. ma is matainer’s id , owner is customer’s id. with different location , there are different matainers. and because some reason , we didn’t keep all that records , so there are plenty of missing maintainers I want to update these data via ansible , if ma is missing , then I will assign a employee to it based on location. thats what I want to do. Dick Visser於 2020年5月13日星期三 UTC+8下午3時04分42秒寫道： ---
**Author:** ![racke](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/ansible/user_avatar/forum.ansible.com/racke/32/4767_2.png) [@racke](https://forum.ansible.com/u/racke)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2020, 8:02am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/how-to-dynamic-update-value-in-vars-file/32920/4 "2020-05-13T08:02:50Z")
> like I said , I want to update nodes.ma \<[http://nodes.ma](http://nodes.ma)\> with somevalue based on location in playbook , if ma is not > defined. > ma is matainer's id , owner is customer's id. > with different location , there are different matainers. > and because some reason , we didn't keep all that records , so there are plenty of missing maintainers > I want to update these data via ansible , if ma is missing , then I will assign a employee to it based on location. > thats what I want to do. How does your playbook look like right now? Regards         Racke ---
**Author:** ![Eric\_Chang](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e68b1a/32.png) [@Eric\_Chang](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Eric_Chang)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2020, 1:58pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/how-to-dynamic-update-value-in-vars-file/32920/5 "2020-05-13T13:58:34Z")
location is defined in inventory file , but I have trouble to update nodes.pub ` - hosts: srvs become: yes vars: location: l13 tasks: - name: debug vars debug: var: nodes - name: update vars.yml when pub is not defined lineinfile: line: “public: none” path: vars.yml state: present when: item.location == location and item.pub == “” with\_items: “{{ nodes }}” ` Stefan Hornburg (Racke)於 2020年5月13日星期三 UTC+8下午4時03分16秒寫道： ---
**Author:** ![racke](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/ansible/user_avatar/forum.ansible.com/racke/32/4767_2.png) [@racke](https://forum.ansible.com/u/racke)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2020, 2:12pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/how-to-dynamic-update-value-in-vars-file/32920/6 "2020-05-13T14:12:23Z")
> location is defined in inventory file , but I have trouble to update nodes.pub lineinfile is not appropriate for any structured data (JSON, YAML, XML, ...). Regards         Racke ---
**Author:** ![Eric\_Chang](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e68b1a/32.png) [@Eric\_Chang](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Eric_Chang)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2020, 1:30pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/how-to-dynamic-update-value-in-vars-file/32920/7 "2020-05-14T13:30:46Z")
so , what module you recommend ? Stefan Hornburg (Racke)於 2020年5月13日星期三 UTC+8下午10時12分58秒寫道：