# Need help with conditionals and a dict (?) or variable... **URL:** \ **Category:** Ansible Project\ **Created:** [March 6, 2016, 1:23pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/need-help-with-conditionals-and-a-dict-or-variable/20785 "2016-03-06T13:23:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Johannes\_Kastl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Johannes\_Kastl](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Johannes_Kastl)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2016, 1:23pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/need-help-with-conditionals-and-a-dict-or-variable/20785/1 "2016-03-06T13:23:07Z")
Hi everyone, I need help getting a role to run. Especially the part where one host has a list of users defined, and the other host has not. In the host\_vars for hostA I have this: ---
**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:** [March 6, 2016, 1:51pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/need-help-with-conditionals-and-a-dict-or-variable/20785/2 "2016-03-06T13:51:53Z")
you made the default dict, it should be a list with\_items: “{{ ssh\_users|default() }}” ssh\_users is already a list so no problem there. ---
**Author:** ![Johannes\_Kastl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Johannes\_Kastl](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Johannes_Kastl)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2016, 5:56pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/need-help-with-conditionals-and-a-dict-or-variable/20785/3 "2016-03-06T17:56:13Z")
Hi Brian, thanks for the fast answer. > you made the default dict, it should be a list > >   with\_items: "{{ ssh\_users|default() }}" > > ssh\_users is already a list so no problem there. Sorry, but I'm not sure I understand what you mean. Do you mean that my ssh\_users is a list and not a dict? Dict being somewhere along the lines of: ssh\_users   - user1: foo   - user2: bar Using 'default{()}' returns a dict, not a list, is that what you meant? ---
**Author:** ![Johannes\_Kastl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Johannes\_Kastl](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Johannes_Kastl)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2016, 6:35pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/need-help-with-conditionals-and-a-dict-or-variable/20785/4 "2016-03-06T18:35:50Z")
I'll answer myself... ---
**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:** [March 7, 2016, 6:31pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/need-help-with-conditionals-and-a-dict-or-variable/20785/5 "2016-03-07T18:31:47Z")
> - name: This runs if there is something ssh\_users >   copy: >     src='...' >     dest='...' >   with\_items: "{{ ssh\_users|default([1]) }}" >   when: ssh\_users is defined > ################ ​remove the when: it executes PER item, in the default you are forcing 1 item and then skipping it. ​   with\_items: "{{ ssh\_users|default() }}" ​ssh\_users is a list: ssh\_users:   - user1: foo   - user2: bar this is how it would be for a dict: ssh\_users:   user1: foo   user2: bar ​ (no -, which signifies 'list item') ​^ this will skip the task due to the loop list being empty ​ ---
**Author:** ![Johannes\_Kastl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Johannes\_Kastl](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Johannes_Kastl)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2016, 7:14pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/need-help-with-conditionals-and-a-dict-or-variable/20785/6 "2016-03-07T19:14:12Z")
Hi Brian, > > - name: This runs if there is something ssh\_users > >   copy: > >     src='...' > >     dest='...' > >   with\_items: "{{ ssh\_users|default([1]) }}" > >   when: ssh\_users is defined > > ################ > > ​remove the when: it executes PER item, in the default you are forcing 1 > item and then skipping it. If I leave out the 'when'-statement (and use '...|default{}' without the 1), I do not get any hint in the ansible-playbook output whether this task is skipped or not. > ​ssh\_users is a list: > > ssh\_users: >   - user1: foo >   - user2: bar > > this is how it would be for a dict: > > ssh\_users: >   user1: foo >   user2: bar > ​ > (no -, which signifies 'list item') OK, now I got it. Thanks! > ​^ this will skip the task due to the loop list being empty I am not sure where this line belongs to, but I assume my example is not totally wrong and will not break with the next release, so Im good. Thanks, Brian! Johannes