# Multiple host variables with same key in Ansible inventory files

**URL:** <https://forum.ansible.com/t/multiple-host-variables-with-same-key-in-ansible-inventory-files/24673>\
**Category:** Ansible Project\
**Created:** [June 7, 2017, 6:08pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/multiple-host-variables-with-same-key-in-ansible-inventory-files/24673 "2017-06-07T18:08:21Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Apoorva\_Mittal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f08c70/32.png) [@Apoorva\_Mittal](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Apoorva_Mittal)\
**Post date:** [June 7, 2017, 6:08pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/multiple-host-variables-with-same-key-in-ansible-inventory-files/24673/1 "2017-06-07T18:08:21Z")

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I have multiple meta\_addons variable associated with a host, like:

host\_name meta\_addons=grafana meta\_addons=elasticsearch meta\_addons=prometheus

When I access them in my jinja2 template, it reads only the last one- prometheus. Is there a way of iterating over all of them one by one?

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**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:** [June 8, 2017, 5:04pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/multiple-host-variables-with-same-key-in-ansible-inventory-files/24673/2 "2017-06-08T17:04:35Z")

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no, last one will overrite previous ones make it a list,

host\_vars/host\_name.yml  
meta\_addons:  
&nbsp;&nbsp;- grafana  
&nbsp;&nbsp;- elasticsearch  
&nbsp;&nbsp;- prometheus

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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:** [June 8, 2017, 5:05pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/multiple-host-variables-with-same-key-in-ansible-inventory-files/24673/3 "2017-06-08T17:05:09Z")

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That's because it will overwrite the variable so only the last one will stick.

You need to make it a list and loop over it with with\_items.

host\_name meta\_addons=['grafana','elasticsearch','prometheus']

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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:** [June 8, 2017, 6:05pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/multiple-host-variables-with-same-key-in-ansible-inventory-files/24673/4 "2017-06-08T18:05:03Z")

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This won't work so go for Brian's solution.