# Register variable numerical comparisons

**URL:** <https://forum.ansible.com/t/register-variable-numerical-comparisons/13887>\
**Category:** Ansible Project\
**Created:** [November 12, 2013, 5:50am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/register-variable-numerical-comparisons/13887 "2013-11-12T05:50:53Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Gonzalo\_Servat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/71c47a/32.png) [@Gonzalo\_Servat](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Gonzalo_Servat)\
**Post date:** [November 12, 2013, 5:50am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/register-variable-numerical-comparisons/13887/1 "2013-11-12T05:50:53Z")

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Hi All,

I’ve seen [some examples](http://www.ansibleworks.com/docs/playbooks_conditionals.html#register-variables) of using the shell module with register, but I can’t find any that allow a numerical comparison to be made on stdout. For example:

- hosts: all  
gather\_facts: False  
tasks:

- name: Get file count  
shell: ls /tmp | wc -l  
register: filecount

- name: Show a debug message  
debug: msg=“{{ inventory\_hostname }}”  
when: filecount.stdout \> 100

I am not trying to implement monitoring with Ansible 🙂 It is a one-off operation and I’m trying to just print a message if the output from wc is \> a number. I assume that because filecount.stdout is a string, the comparison fails, but how can I convert stdout to an integer?

- Gonzalo

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**Author:** ![kahlil.hodgson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b9bd4f/32.png) [@kahlil.hodgson](https://forum.ansible.com/u/kahlil.hodgson)\
**Post date:** [November 12, 2013, 5:52am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/register-variable-numerical-comparisons/13887/2 "2013-11-12T05:52:41Z")

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try using the 'int' filter, i.e.,

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;when: filecount.stdout|int \> 100

Kahlil (Kal) Hodgson GPG: C9A02289  
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means, do not use a hammer." -- IBM maintenance manual, 1925

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**Author:** ![Gonzalo\_Servat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/71c47a/32.png) [@Gonzalo\_Servat](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Gonzalo_Servat)\
**Post date:** [November 12, 2013, 5:58am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/register-variable-numerical-comparisons/13887/3 "2013-11-12T05:58:01Z")

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Ah, thanks Kahlil 🙂

- Gonzalo