# How to loop over an array inside a dictionary **URL:** \ **Category:** Ansible Project\ **Created:** [November 18, 2014, 6:55pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/how-to-loop-over-an-array-inside-a-dictionary/16814 "2014-11-18T18:55:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Thomas\_Krahn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/958977/32.png) [@Thomas\_Krahn](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Thomas_Krahn)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2014, 6:55pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/how-to-loop-over-an-array-inside-a-dictionary/16814/1 "2014-11-18T18:55:42Z")
Hi All i’m trying to migrate my Oracle installation from Puppet to Ansible. As i need severyl ORACLE\_HOME on one server i have defned the following dictionary variable: oracle\_app\_directory=/app oracle\_db\_homes: dbhome\_1: version: 12.1.0 path: “{{ oracle\_app\_directory }}/oracle/product/12.1.0/dbhome\_1” installation\_files\_directory: /share/oracle/12.1.0/patches installation\_files: - linuxamd64\_12c\_database\_1of2.zip - linuxamd64\_12c\_database\_2of2.zip unpack\_directory: /share/oracle/12.1.0/unpacked dbhome\_2: version: 11.2.0 path: “{{ oracle\_app\_directory }}/oracle/product/11.2.0/dbhome\_1” installation\_files\_directory: /share/oracle/11.2.0/patches installation\_files: - linuxamd64\_11g\_database\_1of2.zip - linuxamd64\_11g\_database\_2of2.zip unpack\_directory: /share/oracle/11.2.0/unpacked I need to loop over the dictionary (oracle\_db\_homes) to unpack the files (installation\_files) for each defined ORACLE\_HOME into a directory (unpack\_directory). How can i do that with Ansible ? ---
**Author:** ![jorginator74](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f19dbf/32.png) [@jorginator74](https://forum.ansible.com/u/jorginator74)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2014, 9:29pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/how-to-loop-over-an-array-inside-a-dictionary/16814/2 "2014-11-18T21:29:45Z")
Hi > Hi All > > i'm trying to migrate my Oracle installation from Puppet to Ansible. As i need > severyl ORACLE\_HOME on one server i have defned the following dictionary > variable: > > oracle\_app\_directory=/app > oracle\_db\_homes: >   dbhome\_1: >     version: 12.1.0 >     path: "{{ oracle\_app\_directory }}/oracle/product/12.1.0/dbhome\_1" >     installation\_files\_directory: /share/oracle/12.1.0/patches >     installation\_files: >     - linuxamd64\_12c\_database\_1of2.zip >     - linuxamd64\_12c\_database\_2of2.zip >     unpack\_directory: /share/oracle/12.1.0/unpacked >   dbhome\_2: >     version: 11.2.0 >     path: "{{ oracle\_app\_directory }}/oracle/product/11.2.0/dbhome\_1" >     installation\_files\_directory: /share/oracle/11.2.0/patches >     installation\_files: >     - linuxamd64\_11g\_database\_1of2.zip >     - linuxamd64\_11g\_database\_2of2.zip >     unpack\_directory: /share/oracle/11.2.0/unpacked > > I need to loop over the dictionary (oracle\_db\_homes) to unpack the files > (installation\_files) for each defined ORACLE\_HOME into a directory > (unpack\_directory). > > How can i do that with Ansible ? [http://docs.ansible.com/playbooks\_loops.html#looping-over-hashes](http://docs.ansible.com/playbooks_loops.html#looping-over-hashes) should help. For example:   tasks:     - name: Do clever stuff       command: echo {{item.key}}: Oracle version {{item.value.version}} goes into {{item.value.path}}       with\_dict: oracle\_db\_homes But your data structure looks a bit odd to me: Does each entry in oracle\_db\_homes need to have a name? If not, you can define it as an array rather than a dict/hash: oracle\_db\_homes: - version: 12.1.0   path: "{{oracle\_app\_directory}}/oracle/somewhere/here" - version: 11.2.0   path: "{{oracle\_app\_directory}}/oracle/somewhere/else" Hope this helps ---
**Author:** ![Thomas\_Krahn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/958977/32.png) [@Thomas\_Krahn](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Thomas_Krahn)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2014, 1:25pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/how-to-loop-over-an-array-inside-a-dictionary/16814/3 "2014-11-19T13:25:05Z")
Hi Karl, Thanks for your answer. The name is needed as I need to reference it from another data structure. My problem is really not how to loop over a dict. My problem is the array installation\_files where I need to loop additionally. I need to unpack the installation files for every home 😉 Thomas ---
**Author:** ![James\_Martin1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/0ea827/32.png) [@James\_Martin1](https://forum.ansible.com/u/James_Martin1)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2014, 3:06pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/how-to-loop-over-an-array-inside-a-dictionary/16814/4 "2014-11-19T15:06:43Z")
Karl is correct. Your data structure is making things difficult. If you make your datastructure a list of dictionaries, you can use the with\_subelements function, described here: [http://docs.ansible.com/playbooks\_loops.html#looping-over-subelements](http://docs.ansible.com/playbooks_loops.html#looping-over-subelements) ` - hosts: localhost vars: oracle\_app\_directory: /app oracle\_db\_homes: - version: 12.1.0 path: “{{ oracle\_app\_directory }}/oracle/product/12.1.0/dbhome\_1” installation\_files\_directory: /share/oracle/12.1.0/patches installation\_files: - linuxamd64\_12c\_database\_1of2.zip - linuxamd64\_12c\_database\_2of2.zip unpack\_directory: /share/oracle/12.1.0/unpacked - version: 11.2.0 path: “{{ oracle\_app\_directory }}/oracle/product/11.2.0/dbhome\_1” installation\_files\_directory: /share/oracle/11.2.0/patches installation\_files: - linuxamd64\_11g\_database\_1of2.zip - linuxamd64\_11g\_database\_2of2.zip unpack\_directory: /share/oracle/11.2.0/unpacked tasks: - debug: msg=“{{ item.0.version }} – {{ item.1 }}” with\_subelements: - oracle\_db\_homes - installation\_files ` ---
**Author:** ![Brian\_Coca](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6de8d8/32.png) [@Brian\_Coca](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Brian_Coca)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2014, 3:40pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/how-to-loop-over-an-array-inside-a-dictionary/16814/5 "2014-11-19T15:40:18Z")
a slight change can make the structure a lot more usable: oracle\_db\_homes: - orahome: dbhome\_1 version: 12.1.0 ---
**Author:** ![Thomas\_Krahn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/958977/32.png) [@Thomas\_Krahn](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Thomas_Krahn)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2014, 4:28pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/how-to-loop-over-an-array-inside-a-dictionary/16814/6 "2014-11-19T16:28:34Z")
Hi James thanks a lot for you help. My first problem is solved :-). Let me try to explain why i think i need the “dbhome\_1” and “dbhome\_2”. If one of you guys has a solution for this also than my migration to Ansible can go one. Second Problem: I have several databases on one host so i wanted to define another variable like this: oracle\_databases: DB1: dbhome: dbhome\_1 … some other stuff… DB2: dbhome: dbhome\_1 DB3: dbhome: dbhome\_2 So my idea (like i do it in Puppet) is to use the value of _oracle\_database.dbhome_ to reference to _oracle\_db\_home[dbhome].path_. Any idea? ---
**Author:** ![James\_Martin1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/0ea827/32.png) [@James\_Martin1](https://forum.ansible.com/u/James_Martin1)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2014, 6:06pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/how-to-loop-over-an-array-inside-a-dictionary/16814/7 "2014-11-19T18:06:50Z")
I stand corrected, it does seem you can use with\_subelements with a dictionary. The following (on ansible 1.8-devel) will loop through all the installation\_files ` - hosts: localhost vars: oracle\_app\_directory: /app oracle\_db\_homes: DB1: path: “{{ oracle\_app\_directory }}/oracle/product/12.1.0/dbhome\_1” installation\_files\_directory: /share/oracle/12.1.0/patches installation\_files: - linuxamd64\_12c\_database\_1of2.zip - linuxamd64\_12c\_database\_2of2.zip unpack\_directory: /share/oracle/12.1.0/unpacked DB2: path: “{{ oracle\_app\_directory }}/oracle/product/11.2.0/dbhome\_1” installation\_files\_directory: /share/oracle/11.2.0/patches installation\_files: - linuxamd64\_11g\_database\_1of2.zip - linuxamd64\_11g\_database\_2of2.zip unpack\_directory: /share/oracle/11.2.0/unpacked tasks: - debug: msg=" {{ item.1 }}" with\_subelements: - oracle\_db\_homes - installation\_files ansible-playbook -i hosts test.yml |grep msg TASK: [debug msg=" {{ item.1 }}“] \*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\* “msg”: " linuxamd64\_12c\_database\_1of2.zip” “msg”: " linuxamd64\_12c\_database\_2of2.zip" “msg”: " linuxamd64\_11g\_database\_1of2.zip" “msg”: " linuxamd64\_11g\_database\_2of2.zip" `