# Problem when dynamically constructing dict variables with string list as values

**URL:** <https://forum.ansible.com/t/problem-when-dynamically-constructing-dict-variables-with-string-list-as-values/28884>\
**Category:** Ansible Project\
**Tags:** awx\
**Created:** [October 28, 2018, 2:56pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/problem-when-dynamically-constructing-dict-variables-with-string-list-as-values/28884 "2018-10-28T14:56:48Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Lu\_Liu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Lu\_Liu](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Lu_Liu)\
**Post date:** [October 28, 2018, 2:56pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/problem-when-dynamically-constructing-dict-variables-with-string-list-as-values/28884/1 "2018-10-28T14:56:48Z")

</div>

##### SUMMARY

When dynamically creating a dict var with a list as its value, it’s working when the list elements are int but will fallback to a string when the list elements are strings.

##### ISSUE TYPE

- Not sure if this is a bug in Ansible, YAML or Jinja2, or is a feature by design

##### COMPONENT NAME

n/a

##### ANSIBLE VERSION

```paste
2.7.0

```

##### OS / ENVIRONMENT

```auto
Linux awx 3.10.0-862.14.4.el7.x86_64 #1 SMP Wed Sep 26 15:12:11 UTC 2018 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux

```

(Ansible AWX 2.0.1 official docker image)

##### STEPS TO REPRODUCE

The points are:

1. the dict’s key has to be dynamic with vars passed at runtime
2. the dict’s value has to be a string list

A sample play:

```yaml
- name: Dynamically construct dict with string list and pass to some role
hosts: test
remote_user: tester
become: no
roles:
- role: some_role
variables: "{
'{{ dynamic_key }}_KEY': '{{ [\"value1\"] + [\"value2\"] }}'
}"

```

With the above play, `variables` we got in `some_role` is as follows when give it `var1` for `dynamic_key`:

```auto
ok: [test] => {
"variables": "{ 'var1_KEY': '['value1', 'value2']' }"
}

```

where both the templating of `dynamic_key` and list concatenating worked as expected, but the dict became a string as a whole. However, if we change the two lists into integer lists, it will work fine:

input:

```yaml
- name: Dynamically construct dict with int list and pass to some role
hosts: test
remote_user: tester
become: no
roles:
- role: some_role
variables: "{
'{{ dynamic_key }}_KEY': '{{ [1,2,3] + [4,5,6] }}'
}"

```

output:

```auto
ok: [test] => {
"variables": {
"var1_KEY": "[1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6]"
}
}

```

in this case, the whole dict are constructed correctly. I would like to know if this is a feature by design or a bug.

Maybe some of you may ask why I don’t construct and pass the `variables` like this:

```yaml
- name: Dynamically construct dict with int list and pass to some role
hosts: test
remote_user: tester
become: no
roles:
- role: some_role
variables:
"{{ dynamic_key }}_KEY": "{{ [1,2,3] + [4,5,6] }}"

```

The reason is the “{{ dynamic\_key }}\_KEY” won’t get templated and will be kept as `{{ dynamic_key }}_KEY` in the result. I don’t know either this is a feature or a bug.

I hope I have described everything clearly. Thanks!

##### EXPECTED RESULTS

as above mentioned

##### ACTUAL RESULTS

as above mentionedEnter code here…