# Is "environment" a reserved variable name? **URL:** \ **Category:** Ansible Project\ **Created:** [November 4, 2013, 2:06pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/is-environment-a-reserved-variable-name/13838 "2013-11-04T14:06:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Joost\_Cassee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/898d66/32.png) [@Joost\_Cassee](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Joost_Cassee)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2013, 2:06pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/is-environment-a-reserved-variable-name/13838/1 "2013-11-04T14:06:36Z")
Hi, When I set the variable name “environment” and use it in a playbook, it is empty. Is it a reserved variable name? Regards, Joost ---
**Author:** ![James\_Cammarata1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d26b3c/32.png) [@James\_Cammarata1](https://forum.ansible.com/u/James_Cammarata1)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2013, 2:35pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/is-environment-a-reserved-variable-name/13838/2 "2013-11-04T14:35:48Z")
Environment is a keyword for playbooks/tasks, however I don't think there's a direct issue with using it as a variable name. To be safe, you should probably use a different variable name anyway as it could be confused. If you change the name and still have issues, please post a sample of the playbook you're having problems with as well as information about the ansible version you're running (the output of "ansible --version"). See [http://www.ansibleworks.com/docs/playbooks\_environment.html](http://www.ansibleworks.com/docs/playbooks_environment.html) for more info about setting environment variables, if that's what you're trying to do. ---
**Author:** ![Joost\_Cassee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/898d66/32.png) [@Joost\_Cassee](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Joost_Cassee)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2013, 2:42pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/is-environment-a-reserved-variable-name/13838/3 "2013-11-04T14:42:36Z")
Well, I am using the word environment in the sense of “deployment environment”, but the term may be a bit general. Anyway, this is the playbook: test.yml: ---
**Author:** ![James\_Cammarata1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d26b3c/32.png) [@James\_Cammarata1](https://forum.ansible.com/u/James_Cammarata1)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2013, 2:49pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/is-environment-a-reserved-variable-name/13838/4 "2013-11-04T14:49:07Z")
Ahh, you can’t do multiple “-e” options, just combine them: -e “foo=bar,environment=qux” ---
**Author:** ![Joost\_Cassee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/898d66/32.png) [@Joost\_Cassee](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Joost_Cassee)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2013, 2:55pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/is-environment-a-reserved-variable-name/13838/5 "2013-11-04T14:55:17Z")
Are you sure? This makes the output change into: PLAY [all] \*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\* GATHERING FACTS \*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\* ok: [localhost] TASK: [debug msg="{{environment}}"] \*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\* ok: [localhost] =\> {"msg": "{}"} TASK: [debug msg="bar,environment=qux"] \*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\* ok: [localhost] =\> {"msg": "bar,environment=qux"} PLAY RECAP \*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\* localhost : ok=3 changed=0 unreachable=0 failed=0 But when I remove foo from the equation, environment is still empty: PLAY [all] \*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\* GATHERING FACTS \*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\* ok: [localhost] TASK: [debug msg="qux"] \*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\* ok: [localhost] =\> {"msg": "{}"} PLAY RECAP \*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\* localhost : ok=2 changed=0 unreachable=0 failed=0 Regards, Joost ---
**Author:** ![Serge\_van\_Ginderacht](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b782af/32.png) [@Serge\_van\_Ginderacht](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Serge_van_Ginderacht)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2013, 2:57pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/is-environment-a-reserved-variable-name/13838/6 "2013-11-04T14:57:10Z")
Yes, environment is a restricted keyword. Initially specific within playbooks, but it gets injected in the runner: inject[‘environment’] = self.environment so it will erase whatever value was set by inventory of vars. ---
**Author:** ![James\_Cammarata1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d26b3c/32.png) [@James\_Cammarata1](https://forum.ansible.com/u/James_Cammarata1)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2013, 2:59pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/is-environment-a-reserved-variable-name/13838/7 "2013-11-04T14:59:16Z")
Oops, my mistake, the variables should be space-separated, not comma-separated. So -e “foo=bar environment=qux” ---
**Author:** ![Joost\_Cassee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/898d66/32.png) [@Joost\_Cassee](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Joost_Cassee)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2013, 3:01pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/is-environment-a-reserved-variable-name/13838/8 "2013-11-04T15:01:03Z")
Thanks for the info. What is the runner environment? And could I have found this out myself? Regards, Joost ---
**Author:** ![Serge\_van\_Ginderacht](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b782af/32.png) [@Serge\_van\_Ginderacht](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Serge_van_Ginderacht)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2013, 3:16pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/is-environment-a-reserved-variable-name/13838/9 "2013-11-04T15:16:14Z")
> \> Yes, environment is a restricted keyword. [...] > > Thanks for the info. What is the runner environment? An ansible internal, it's the basic building block that "runs a task on a host" > And could I have found this out myself? ​Depends if you are familiar with the ansible source code. I basically did a "grep environment​ lib/ -r" to double check this, you can find it in lib/ansible/runner/\_\_init\_\_.py ​If you have further questions on code, be sure to switch to the ansible-devel mailing list. Serge​ ---
**Author:** ![Serge\_van\_Ginderacht](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b782af/32.png) [@Serge\_van\_Ginderacht](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Serge_van_Ginderacht)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2013, 3:16pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/is-environment-a-reserved-variable-name/13838/10 "2013-11-04T15:16:43Z")
​That is actually quite confusing. Even as i use this a lot and have been for quite a while, I keep forgetting these details myself. I wonder what was the rationale to not allow for multiple -e options, which seem ​a lot easier to me. Serge ---
**Author:** ![Joost\_Cassee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/898d66/32.png) [@Joost\_Cassee](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Joost_Cassee)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2013, 3:20pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/is-environment-a-reserved-variable-name/13838/11 "2013-11-04T15:20:54Z")
> > \> Yes, environment is a restricted keyword. [...] > > > > Thanks for the info. What is the runner environment? > > An ansible internal, it's the basic building block that "runs a task on a > host" So is this an internal structure that is leaking out? Or is this something that could be interesting for a task? > > And could I have found this out myself? > > Depends if you are familiar with the ansible source code. [...] > > If you have further questions on code, be sure to switch to the > ansible-devel mailing list. Although the Ansible code is interesting, I was asking from a user's perspective. I was wondering if I overlooked some part of the documentation. Regards, Joost ---
**Author:** ![Serge\_van\_Ginderacht](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b782af/32.png) [@Serge\_van\_Ginderacht](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Serge_van_Ginderacht)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2013, 3:35pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/is-environment-a-reserved-variable-name/13838/12 "2013-11-04T15:35:31Z")
> So is this an internal structure that is leaking out? Or is this > something that could be interesting for a task? Not really leaking, no, it's just the structure that is using 'environment' and hence restriciting it for use to end users. ​​ > Although the Ansible code is interesting, I was asking from a user's > perspective. I was wondering if I overlooked some part of the > documentation. Sorry, I overshoot that one 🙂 I see it's mentioned here: [http://www.ansibleworks.com/docs/playbooks\_variables.html#magic-variables-and-how-to-access-information-about-other-hosts](http://www.ansibleworks.com/docs/playbooks_variables.html#magic-variables-and-how-to-access-information-about-other-hosts) ​​ Serge ---
**Author:** ![Joost\_Cassee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/898d66/32.png) [@Joost\_Cassee](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Joost_Cassee)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2013, 6:33pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/is-environment-a-reserved-variable-name/13838/13 "2013-11-04T18:33:38Z")
Thanks for the link, Serge! Joost ---
**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:** [November 4, 2013, 11:33pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/is-environment-a-reserved-variable-name/13838/14 "2013-11-04T23:33:13Z")
Let me correct this: -e “foo=bar env=qux” It’s key value pairs, just like the rest of ansible. Also, don’t use environment, as it’s a reserved word 🙂 I think it would be nice if the system raised a warning when a variable named env was set, someone should perhaps file a ticket so we can add that 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Joost\_Cassee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/898d66/32.png) [@Joost\_Cassee](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Joost_Cassee)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2013, 11:52pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/is-environment-a-reserved-variable-name/13838/15 "2013-11-05T23:52:21Z")
I am assuming you meant "environment" instead of "env", as the latter is not reserved and created a ticket: [https://github.com/ansible/ansible/issues/4816](https://github.com/ansible/ansible/issues/4816) Hope I got that right. Thanks! Regards, Joost ---
**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:** [November 6, 2013, 2:10pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/is-environment-a-reserved-variable-name/13838/16 "2013-11-06T14:10:42Z")
yep, thanks!