# List all variables only defined in hosts file corresponding to a host

**URL:** <https://forum.ansible.com/t/list-all-variables-only-defined-in-hosts-file-corresponding-to-a-host/33150>\
**Category:** Ansible Project\
**Created:** [June 11, 2020, 5:09am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/list-all-variables-only-defined-in-hosts-file-corresponding-to-a-host/33150 "2020-06-11T05:09:40Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![utkarsh\_srivastava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/e47774/32.png) [@utkarsh\_srivastava](https://forum.ansible.com/u/utkarsh_srivastava)\
**Post date:** [June 11, 2020, 5:09am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/list-all-variables-only-defined-in-hosts-file-corresponding-to-a-host/33150/1 "2020-06-11T05:09:40Z")

</div>

Hi

I want to list all variable and it’s value defined in hosts file corresponding to a host  
for example:

[hostgroup1]  
host1 variable1=value1 variable2=value2 variable3=value3

so i want to list all variables defined  
like  
variable1: value1  
variable2: value2  
variable3: value3

I am using

- debug:  
msg: “{{ hostvars[inventory\_hostname] }}”

but in this case, On console output i am getting predefined variables as well related to that host along with manual defined variables

Any help would be appreciated

Thanks in advance.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**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:** [June 11, 2020, 5:35am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/list-all-variables-only-defined-in-hosts-file-corresponding-to-a-host/33150/2 "2020-06-11T05:35:49Z")

</div>

I don’t think you can filter host vars based on where they’re set

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![vbotka](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/ansible/user_avatar/forum.ansible.com/vbotka/32/359_2.png) [@vbotka](https://forum.ansible.com/u/vbotka)\
**Post date:** [June 11, 2020, 7:23am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/list-all-variables-only-defined-in-hosts-file-corresponding-to-a-host/33150/3 "2020-06-11T07:23:18Z")

</div>

You might improve the situation with name-spacing of the variables, e.g  
create unique prefix which can be used to filter variables.

But, this is not solving your problem. IMHO, it's not possible to tell from  
which precedence's level variable comes from  
[https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/latest/user\_guide/playbooks\_variables.html#variable-precedence-where-should-i-put-a-variable](https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/latest/user_guide/playbooks_variables.html#variable-precedence-where-should-i-put-a-variable)

Instead, if really needed, as a hint, it might be possible to select variables  
defined by user. For example, as a first step, remove ansible\_facts\_\* from  
hostvars

&nbsp;&nbsp;- hosts: all  
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;tasks:  
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- set\_fact:  
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;my\_facts\_keys: "{{ ansible\_facts.keys()|  
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;map('regex\_replace', my\_regex, my\_replace)|  
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;list }}"  
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;vars:  
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;my\_regex: '^(.\*)$'  
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;my\_replace: 'ansible\_\1'  
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- set\_fact:  
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;my\_hostvar\_keys: "{{ hostvars[inventory\_hostname].keys()|  
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;list }}"  
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- debug:  
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;msg: "{{ my\_hostvar\_keys|  
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;difference(my\_facts\_keys)|  
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;sort }}"

gives

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"msg": [  
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"ansible\_check\_mode",  
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"ansible\_diff\_mode",  
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"ansible\_facts",  
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"ansible\_forks",  
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"ansible\_inventory\_sources",  
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"ansible\_local",  
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"ansible\_perl\_interpreter",  
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"ansible\_playbook\_python",  
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"ansible\_python\_interpreter",  
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"ansible\_run\_tags",  
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"ansible\_skip\_tags",  
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"ansible\_verbosity",  
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"ansible\_version",  
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"gather\_subset",  
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"group\_names",  
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"groups",  
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"inventory\_dir",  
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"inventory\_file",  
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"inventory\_hostname",  
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"inventory\_hostname\_short",  
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"module\_setup",  
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"my\_facts\_keys",  
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"omit",  
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"playbook\_dir",  
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"var1",  
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"var2",  
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"var3"  
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;]

This is a list of user-defined variables plus Ansible "special variables"  
[https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/latest/reference\_appendices/special\_variables.html#special-variables](https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/latest/reference_appendices/special_variables.html#special-variables)  
If you want to proceed this way create and subtract the list of special  
variables (I don't know how to automate this), and fine-tune the list  
"ansible\_facts, module\_setup, ..." .