# pretty printing 'complete' dictionary vars in a file after reading from a list of dicts **URL:** \ **Category:** Ansible Project\ **Created:** [February 27, 2018, 2:54pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/pretty-printing-complete-dictionary-vars-in-a-file-after-reading-from-a-list-of-dicts/26860 "2018-02-27T14:54:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ishan\_jain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/dc4da7/32.png) [@ishan\_jain](https://forum.ansible.com/u/ishan_jain)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2018, 2:54pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/pretty-printing-complete-dictionary-vars-in-a-file-after-reading-from-a-list-of-dicts/26860/1 "2018-02-27T14:54:39Z")
I have a large number of YAML files prepared manually which have a fixed structure - list of dictionaries. But within different files, sequence of these keys and their values differ. I need to manage them automatically, so i am writing a kind of converter to add marker blocks. But i am stuck at this point: example input YAML file ` #something keyA: A1: - bla - bla A2: bla bla A3: A3.1: bla A3.2: bla keyA: C1: - bla C2: bla bla C3: C3.1: bla keyB: B1: - bla - bla B2: bla bla B3: B3.1: bla B3.2: bla B3.3: bla B4: - bla - bla ` playbook to load one of the YAML, and try to write the same variables again with markers appended ` - include\_vars: file: “path to one of the YAML file” name: yamlVars - template: src: updated.yaml.j2 dest: “path to that same file” ` the template ` {% for key, value in yamlVars.iteritems() %} # BEGIN BLOCK {{ key }} {{ value | to\_nice\_yaml }} # END BLOCK {{ key }} {% endfor %} ` Poblem is, always the contents of each key is printed: (manually prepared output to hide my variables) actual output ` # BEGIN BLOCK keyA A1: - bla - bla A2: bla bla A3: A3.1: bla A3.2: bla # END BLOCK keyA # BEGIN BLOCK keyC C1: - bla C2: bla bla C3: C3.1: bla # END BLOCK keyC # BEGIN BLOCK keyB B1: - bla - bla B2: bla bla B3: B3.1: bla B3.2: bla B3.3: bla B4: - bla - bla # END BLOCK keyB ` expected output ` # BEGIN BLOCK keyA keyA: A1: - bla - bla A2: bla bla A3: A3.1: bla A3.2: bla # END BLOCK keyA # BEGIN BLOCK keyC keyC: C1: - bla C2: bla bla C3: C3.1: bla # END BLOCK keyC # BEGIN BLOCK keyB keyB: B1: - bla - bla B2: bla bla B3: B3.1: bla B3.2: bla B3.3: bla B4: - bla - bla # END BLOCK keyB ` ---
**Author:** ![sivel](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/ansible/user_avatar/forum.ansible.com/sivel/32/1198_2.png) [@sivel](https://forum.ansible.com/u/sivel)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2018, 3:09pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/pretty-printing-complete-dictionary-vars-in-a-file-after-reading-from-a-list-of-dicts/26860/2 "2018-02-27T15:09:02Z")
I _think_ you want the following: {% for key, value in yamlVars.iteritems() %} # BEGIN BLOCK {{ key }} {{ key }}: {{ value | to\_nice\_yaml | indent }} # END BLOCK {{ key }} {% endfor %} [http://jinja.pocoo.org/docs/dev/templates/#indent](http://jinja.pocoo.org/docs/dev/templates/#indent) ---
**Author:** ![ishan\_jain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/dc4da7/32.png) [@ishan\_jain](https://forum.ansible.com/u/ishan_jain)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2018, 3:34pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/pretty-printing-complete-dictionary-vars-in-a-file-after-reading-from-a-list-of-dicts/26860/3 "2018-02-27T15:34:17Z")
Hi Matt, Yes, you are thinking in the right direction. Unfortunately it is still not working as intended. The indentation generated is crazy. Basically i want idempotency by maintaining the actual indentation of the complete file always. ---
**Author:** ![sivel](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/ansible/user_avatar/forum.ansible.com/sivel/32/1198_2.png) [@sivel](https://forum.ansible.com/u/sivel)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2018, 3:39pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/pretty-printing-complete-dictionary-vars-in-a-file-after-reading-from-a-list-of-dicts/26860/4 "2018-02-27T15:39:47Z")
You are going to have to not use vars files then. Or you will need to store the data as strings. If you don’t want formatting to change at all, you can’t convert from YAML to python dict, to YAML, to jinja2+YAML. You will need to find a way to join them without going through those steps. ---
**Author:** ![ishan\_jain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/dc4da7/32.png) [@ishan\_jain](https://forum.ansible.com/u/ishan_jain)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2018, 3:54pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/pretty-printing-complete-dictionary-vars-in-a-file-after-reading-from-a-list-of-dicts/26860/5 "2018-02-27T15:54:17Z")
Hi, To add markers in all of them, i either have the option of lineinefile with regex or this. Regex for such a case look almost impossible. So i have to make this work. When i print the complete **yamlVars** , it works perfectly fine. Can i not append each key-value pair to a temporary dictionary and print that dictionary ? ---
**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:** [February 27, 2018, 4:22pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/pretty-printing-complete-dictionary-vars-in-a-file-after-reading-from-a-list-of-dicts/26860/6 "2018-02-27T16:22:02Z")
Have you tried this for 2 space indentation # BEGIN BLOCK {{ key }} {{ key }}:   {{ value | to\_nice\_yaml(indent=2) }} # END BLOCK {{ key }} for 4 space you can use this # BEGIN BLOCK {{ key }} {{ key }}:     {{ value | to\_nice\_yaml(indent=4) }} # END BLOCK {{ key }} You will never managed to create this with to\_nice\_yaml keyA:   A1:     - bla     - bla Since the correct 2 space indentation is keyA:   A1:   - bla   - bla But if you can live with that the code above should work. Another thing, dictionary is not sorted so you can get different order of the keyX between subsequent runs. ---
**Author:** ![ishan\_jain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/dc4da7/32.png) [@ishan\_jain](https://forum.ansible.com/u/ishan_jain)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2018, 12:56pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/pretty-printing-complete-dictionary-vars-in-a-file-after-reading-from-a-list-of-dicts/26860/7 "2018-02-28T12:56:01Z")
Hi, More indentation doesn’t work. Maybe i should think of some other approach entirely. Thanks for your help. BR, Ishan ---
**Author:** ![senorsmile](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/ansible/user_avatar/forum.ansible.com/senorsmile/32/9024_2.png) [@senorsmile](https://forum.ansible.com/u/senorsmile)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2018, 4:09pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/pretty-printing-complete-dictionary-vars-in-a-file-after-reading-from-a-list-of-dicts/26860/8 "2018-02-28T16:09:46Z")
I have done similar things. With enough “experimentation”, you can get it right. Here’s an example from a recent project: `