# string comparison

**URL:** <https://forum.ansible.com/t/string-comparison/15221>\
**Category:** Ansible Project\
**Created:** [May 13, 2014, 1:40pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/string-comparison/15221 "2014-05-13T13:40:12Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Christian\_Huck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Christian\_Huck](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Christian_Huck)\
**Post date:** [May 13, 2014, 1:40pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/string-comparison/15221/1 "2014-05-13T13:40:12Z")

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Hi,

this

`when: item.mount != "/`

does unfortunatly no do what it is supposed to do. The condition fails even though item.mount contains a “/”.

For explanation: item.mount is derived from ansible\_mounts and describes the root partition.

Any help appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Michael\_DeHaan1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5e9695/32.png) [@Michael\_DeHaan1](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Michael_DeHaan1)\
**Post date:** [May 14, 2014, 12:22pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/string-comparison/15221/2 "2014-05-14T12:22:27Z")

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You’re not understanding what a string equality test is.

“apple” is not equal to “a”, apple _starts_ with a.

when: not item.mount.startswith(“/”)

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Christian\_Huck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Christian\_Huck](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Christian_Huck)\
**Post date:** [May 15, 2014, 10:16am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/string-comparison/15221/3 "2014-05-15T10:16:21Z")

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sorry - that was a stupid question I guess.  
Thanks for the response though.  
I fixed that issue.