# How to use a variable inside of a regex string? (search filter)

**URL:** <https://forum.ansible.com/t/how-to-use-a-variable-inside-of-a-regex-string-search-filter/25920>\
**Category:** Ansible Project\
**Created:** [November 3, 2017, 5:14pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/how-to-use-a-variable-inside-of-a-regex-string-search-filter/25920 "2017-11-03T17:14:34Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![coolcps](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a4c791/32.png) [@coolcps](https://forum.ansible.com/u/coolcps)\
**Post date:** [November 3, 2017, 5:14pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/how-to-use-a-variable-inside-of-a-regex-string-search-filter/25920/1 "2017-11-03T17:14:34Z")

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It looks like this is working, but I get an error. Does anyone know the proper way to do this? Thanks!

```auto
- name: configure hostname
  ios_config:
    commands:
      - ip domain-name {{ domain_name }}
  when: not ansible_net_config | search("(ip domain-name {{ domain_name }}|ip domain name {{ domain_name }})")

```

```auto

```

```auto

```

[WARNING]: when statements should not include jinja2 templating delimiters such as {{ }} or {% %}. Found: not ansible\_net\_config | search(“(ip domain-name {{ domain\_name }}|ip domain name {{  
domain\_name }})”)

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**Author:** ![Kai\_Stian\_Olstad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e19adc/32.png) [@Kai\_Stian\_Olstad](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Kai_Stian_Olstad)\
**Post date:** [November 3, 2017, 6:32pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/how-to-use-a-variable-inside-of-a-regex-string-search-filter/25920/2 "2017-11-03T18:32:06Z")

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According to the template documentation[1] ~ (tilde) is used for concatenation of strings, so is just a matter of concatenate the elements.

when: not ansible\_net\_config | search("(ip domain-name " ~ domain\_name ~ "|ip domain name " ~ domain\_name ~ ")")

[1] [http://jinja.pocoo.org/docs/dev/templates/#other-operators](http://jinja.pocoo.org/docs/dev/templates/#other-operators)

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![coolcps](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a4c791/32.png) [@coolcps](https://forum.ansible.com/u/coolcps)\
**Post date:** [November 4, 2017, 1:23am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/how-to-use-a-variable-inside-of-a-regex-string-search-filter/25920/3 "2017-11-04T01:23:35Z")

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Works, thank you!