# Run ansible playbook in uninitialized env?

**URL:** <https://forum.ansible.com/t/run-ansible-playbook-in-uninitialized-env/18884>\
**Category:** Ansible Project\
**Created:** [July 29, 2015, 2:39pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/run-ansible-playbook-in-uninitialized-env/18884 "2015-07-29T14:39:30Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Valeriy\_Solovyov](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Valeriy\_Solovyov](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Valeriy_Solovyov)\
**Post date:** [July 29, 2015, 2:39pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/run-ansible-playbook-in-uninitialized-env/18884/1 "2015-07-29T14:39:30Z")

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Hello,

I use some script that executes a ansible playbook from upstart.  
If I use lookup for variable playbook/task/defaults/main.yml:  
user: “{{ lookup(‘env’,‘USER’) }}”

home: “{{ lookup(‘env’,‘HOME’) }}”

It will the empty variables. Because upstart doesn’t provide root or etc env.

My question is how to setup default value if lookup will return the empty result?

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**Author:** ![Brian\_Coca](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6de8d8/32.png) [@Brian\_Coca](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Brian_Coca)\
**Post date:** [July 29, 2015, 2:49pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/run-ansible-playbook-in-uninitialized-env/18884/2 "2015-07-29T14:49:55Z")

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user: "{{ lookup('env','USER')|default('root') }}"