# Question / Confusion re: Variables

**URL:** <https://forum.ansible.com/t/question-confusion-re-variables/19091>\
**Category:** Ansible Project\
**Created:** [August 23, 2015, 7:14pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/question-confusion-re-variables/19091 "2015-08-23T19:14:21Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Brian\_Swanson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e480ec/32.png) [@Brian\_Swanson](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Brian_Swanson)\
**Post date:** [August 23, 2015, 7:14pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/question-confusion-re-variables/19091/1 "2015-08-23T19:14:21Z")

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Hey – was hoping somebody could explain to me what is going on here.

**group\_vars/all:**

db\_name: top\_level\_db

**roles/role\_name/vars/main.yml:**

db\_name: role\_level\_db  
db\_name\_test: “{{db\_name}}”

env:  
DB\_NAME: “{{db\_name}}”

When I run code in roles/role\_name/tasks/main.yml, when I try to use the variables, I see that db\_name\_test is as I expect (it returns the value role\_level\_db), but the env.DB\_NAME value is surprising to me (it shows top\_level\_db)

Any comments/clarification are appreciated!

Thanks

Brian