# Split up an ansible inventory **URL:** \ **Category:** Ansible Project\ **Created:** [January 23, 2014, 9:39am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/split-up-an-ansible-inventory/14405 "2014-01-23T09:39:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Guillaume\_Subiron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c77e96/32.png) [@Guillaume\_Subiron](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Guillaume_Subiron)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2014, 9:39am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/split-up-an-ansible-inventory/14405/1 "2014-01-23T09:39:22Z")
Hi, I have my production inventory in one file (inventory/prod) and I'm looking for a way to split up this file. For instance, I would like to have a "servers" file and a "groups" file. The important thing is that I need to define objects (hosts, groups) in the first file and use them in the second. I thought I had found a solution with the -i directory option, but this doesn't seem to "concatenate" the files. It treats them as independent inventories, so I get errors. Is there a way to do that ? Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![Serge\_van\_Ginderacht](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b782af/32.png) [@Serge\_van\_Ginderacht](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Serge_van_Ginderacht)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2014, 10:10am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/split-up-an-ansible-inventory/14405/2 "2014-01-23T10:10:37Z")
​You can point -i to a directory which can have several files and subdirectories.​ ---
**Author:** ![Guillaume\_Subiron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c77e96/32.png) [@Guillaume\_Subiron](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Guillaume_Subiron)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2014, 11:04am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/split-up-an-ansible-inventory/14405/3 "2014-01-23T11:04:47Z")
Le 14/01/23 11:10, Serge van Ginderachter claviotta : ---
**Author:** ![Serge\_van\_Ginderacht](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b782af/32.png) [@Serge\_van\_Ginderacht](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Serge_van_Ginderacht)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2014, 11:57am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/split-up-an-ansible-inventory/14405/4 "2014-01-23T11:57:37Z")
​That's true. You'll need to look at the order in which the files are parsed, and make sure you repeat certain references, It's enough to e.g. define an empty group, in the one file which is defined with hosts in another, etc.​ ---
**Author:** ![Guillaume\_Subiron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c77e96/32.png) [@Guillaume\_Subiron](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Guillaume_Subiron)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2014, 1:23pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/split-up-an-ansible-inventory/14405/5 "2014-01-23T13:23:16Z")
Le 14/01/23 12:57, Serge van Ginderachter claviotta : > \> Yes, that's exactly what I said, but this doesn't work as expected, > \> because in the second file I can't reference objects that are created > \> in the first. > \> > > ​That's true. You'll need to look at the order in which the files are > parsed, and make sure you repeat certain references, > > It's enough to e.g. define an empty group, in the one file which is defined > with hosts in another, etc.​ I'm sorry but I don't think that information redundancy will simplify my inventory… This is really not a solution. Don't you think the expected behavior would be that all non-executables files in the inventory directory be concatenated before being read by lib/ansible/inventory/dir.py ? All the static files in the directory should be parsed as a unique inventory. ---
**Author:** ![Guillaume\_Subiron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c77e96/32.png) [@Guillaume\_Subiron](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Guillaume_Subiron)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2014, 3:49pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/split-up-an-ansible-inventory/14405/6 "2014-01-23T15:49:26Z")
Le 14/01/23 14:23, Guillaume Subiron claviotta : > Le 14/01/23 12:57, Serge van Ginderachter claviotta : > \> > \> \> Yes, that's exactly what I said, but this doesn't work as expected, > \> \> because in the second file I can't reference objects that are created > \> \> in the first. > \> \> > \> > \> ​That's true. You'll need to look at the order in which the files are > \> parsed, and make sure you repeat certain references, > \> > \> It's enough to e.g. define an empty group, in the one file which is defined > \> with hosts in another, etc.​ > > I'm sorry but I don't think that information redundancy will simplify > my inventory… This is really not a solution. > > Don't you think the expected behavior would be that all > non-executables files in the inventory directory be concatenated > before being read by lib/ansible/inventory/dir.py ? > > All the static files in the directory should be parsed as a unique > inventory. I made a pull request : [https://github.com/ansible/ansible/pull/5735](https://github.com/ansible/ansible/pull/5735)