# Playbook variables, documentation confusing **URL:** \ **Category:** Ansible Project\ **Created:** [June 15, 2013, 2:13pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/playbook-variables-documentation-confusing/12965 "2013-06-15T14:13:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![martin\_f\_krafft](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8797f3/32.png) [@martin\_f\_krafft](https://forum.ansible.com/u/martin_f_krafft)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2013, 2:13pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/playbook-variables-documentation-confusing/12965/1 "2013-06-15T14:13:07Z")
Dear list, I am using the tip of Ansible development:   % ansible-playbook --version   ansible-playbook 1.3 (devel 0bd5fe9951) last updated 2013/06/15 16:06:49 (GMT +200) On [http://www.ansibleworks.com/docs/playbooks.html](http://www.ansibleworks.com/docs/playbooks.html), I read the following paragraph (under "Vars section"):   These variables can be used later in the playbook like this:     $varname or ${varname} or {{ varname }}   If you ever want to do anything complex like uppercasing a string,   {{ varname }} is best, as it uses the Jinja2 templating engine. It   is a good idea to get in the habit of using this form most of the   time when the output is to be a string. However, if I try to use the Jinja2-syntax in a playbook, I get an error:   % ansible-playbook motd.yml   ERROR: Syntax Error while loading YAML script, motd.yml   Note: The error may actually appear before this position: line 6, column 16     - role: motd       override: {{motd.override}} While trying to figure out what is going on, I found that docsite/playbooks.html severly differs from the online documentation. Specifically, under "Vars section", there is no mention of the ability to use the Jinja2-syntax in a playbook. What's going on? Am I wrong in assuming that docsite/\* in the source checkout should be /more/ up-to-date than the website? I have also set   legacy\_playbook\_variables=no in ~/.ansible.cfg, but I can use $variable just like before, without any problems. In fact, that's the only way to access a variable. Any clues? ---
**Author:** ![Vincent\_Van\_der\_Kuss](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/7c8e57/32.png) [@Vincent\_Van\_der\_Kuss](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Vincent_Van_der_Kuss)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2013, 2:21pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/playbook-variables-documentation-confusing/12965/2 "2013-06-15T14:21:14Z")
Not sure if you can use the override with rolls there, but guess you need to indent it with 2 spaces. ---
**Author:** ![martin\_f\_krafft](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8797f3/32.png) [@martin\_f\_krafft](https://forum.ansible.com/u/martin_f_krafft)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2013, 2:33pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/playbook-variables-documentation-confusing/12965/3 "2013-06-15T14:33:28Z")
also sprach Vincent Van der Kussen \ [2013.06.15.1621 +0200]: > Not sure if you can use the override with rolls there, Yes, I can, and it works. The problem is with the expansion of variables. > but guess you need to indent it with 2 spaces. Nope, that would be invalid syntax. The syntax is fine. ---
**Author:** ![Vincent\_Van\_der\_Kuss](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/7c8e57/32.png) [@Vincent\_Van\_der\_Kuss](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Vincent_Van_der_Kuss)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2013, 2:40pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/playbook-variables-documentation-confusing/12965/4 "2013-06-15T14:40:54Z")
I was guessing because i saw this % ansible-playbook motd.yml ERROR: Syntax Error while loading YAML script, motd.yml ---
**Author:** ![martin\_f\_krafft](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8797f3/32.png) [@martin\_f\_krafft](https://forum.ansible.com/u/martin_f_krafft)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2013, 3:23pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/playbook-variables-documentation-confusing/12965/5 "2013-06-15T15:23:26Z")
also sprach Vincent Van der Kussen \ [2013.06.15.1640 +0200]: > I was guessing because i saw this > >   % ansible-playbook motd.yml >   ERROR: Syntax Error while loading YAML script, motd.yml That was a good spot. It turs out that   - role: test     override: {{override}} is a syntax error, due to the {} characters. Doing this:   - role: test     override: '{{override}}' instead works. And it makes sense when you think of it. python-yaml parses the YAML file and only then does Ansible run the data through Jinja2 for interpolation. Since {} are reserved characters in YAML, they need to be quoted. Thanks, Vincent, your hawk eye and patience allowed me to figure this out. This still leaves the differences between the in-checkout documentation and the website… ---
**Author:** ![Brian\_Coca1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Brian\_Coca1](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Brian_Coca1)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2013, 3:38pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/playbook-variables-documentation-confusing/12965/6 "2013-06-15T15:38:50Z")
The website was normally refreshed manually, a certain lag was expected. That said, recently there have been major changes in location and style so not sure if /docsite is still relevant. ---
**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:** [June 15, 2013, 4:19pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/playbook-variables-documentation-confusing/12965/7 "2013-06-15T16:19:44Z")
docsite is still quite active in the repository and is the source of all documentation still. Don’t worry, nothing has changed! We just haven’t pushed updates every single day because of being engaged with AnsibleFest!