# Parent directory

**URL:** <https://forum.ansible.com/t/parent-directory/18146>\
**Category:** Ansible Project\
**Created:** [May 1, 2015, 3:46pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/parent-directory/18146 "2015-05-01T15:46:15Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Giovanni\_Tirloni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/71c47a/32.png) [@Giovanni\_Tirloni](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Giovanni_Tirloni)\
**Post date:** [May 1, 2015, 3:46pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/parent-directory/18146/1 "2015-05-01T15:46:15Z")

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Hi,

I would like to keep my playbooks all in a single directory like this:

/path/playbooks  
/path/roles  
/path/group\_vars  
/path/host\_vars  
...

I can make it work partially by setting roles\_path in ansible.cfg.  
However, group\_vars and host\_vars are not used.

Is there a way tell Ansible where it should look for group\_vars and  
host\_vars without over-complicating my playbooks?

If not, would it make sense to have a group\_vars\_path and  
host\_vars\_path options in ansible.cfg? Or maybe a parent\_path option to  
tell it where to look for things (instead of in the playbook's $PWD)?

Thanks,  
Giovanni

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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:** [May 1, 2015, 4:00pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/parent-directory/18146/2 "2015-05-01T16:00:23Z")

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group/vars and host vars are either relative to the inventory or the  
the play being executed, there is no way to point to them directly.