# Unable to use Parentheses for Jinja2 functions in Conditionals

**URL:** <https://forum.ansible.com/t/unable-to-use-parentheses-for-jinja2-functions-in-conditionals/10843>\
**Category:** Get Help\
**Tags:** template, conditional, jinja2\
**Created:** [November 12, 2024, 2:39am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/unable-to-use-parentheses-for-jinja2-functions-in-conditionals/10843 "2024-11-12T02:39:33Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![AnthonyAnsible](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/278dde/32.png) [@AnthonyAnsible](https://forum.ansible.com/u/AnthonyAnsible)\
**Post date:** [November 12, 2024, 2:39am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/unable-to-use-parentheses-for-jinja2-functions-in-conditionals/10843/1 "2024-11-12T02:39:33Z")

</div>

Hello,

I’m having problems using a Jinja2 function in an Ansible conditional and was hoping someone could please help me find a way around it.

As far as I can tell I must use both parentheses and single quotes in the Jinja2 function I’m using but these mean that I cannot avoid Ansible reporting template errors.

- I want a role to run at all times EXCEPT between 01:45 to 02:20 UTC.
- I cannot ensure that the OS uses UTC timezone, so found the Jinja2 `now()` function is the best way to determine this.

I’ve tried a few different varients of the conditionals below but this is the easiest format to read:

```auto
- name: workstation role
  hosts: localhost
  connection: local
  become: true
  tasks:
    - name: WORKSTATION_ROLE
      include_role:
        name: workstation
      # Skip role execution during daily patch window to avoid conflicts with apt lock. Do not run between 01:45 and 02:20
      when:
        - not ( now('utc').hour == 01 and now('utc').minute >= 45 )
        - not ( now('utc').hour == 02 and now('utc').minute < 20 )

```

Ansible returns the error:

```auto
The error was: template error while templating string: expected token ')', got 'integer'. String: {% if not ( now('utc').hour == 01 and now('utc').minute >= 45 ) %} True {% else %} False {% endif %}

```

but I need to use those parentheses for the now() function and also cannot use single quotes to escape them as they are required for the ‘utc’ argument.

EDIT: _I’ve also tried negating the whole conditional, but then need to use parentheses because I need to use a logical OR instead of a logical AND._

Any tips for what I should try please?

Thank you in advance!

_PS: I could not find any complex examples of the use of parentheses in official Ansible documentation and nothing like the problem I have with needing to use them inside the conditional “template”._

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![AnthonyAnsible](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/278dde/32.png) [@AnthonyAnsible](https://forum.ansible.com/u/AnthonyAnsible)\
**Post date:** [November 12, 2024, 4:50am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/unable-to-use-parentheses-for-jinja2-functions-in-conditionals/10843/2 "2024-11-12T04:50:40Z")

</div>

If anyone tries to test this, note that the conditional only fails when the hour is either 01 or 02. Please change those hours to suit whenever you are testing.

Ansible-lint doesn’t pick up this problem either.

TIA!

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![flowerysong](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/ansible/user_avatar/forum.ansible.com/flowerysong/32/2305_2.png) [@flowerysong](https://forum.ansible.com/u/flowerysong)\
**Post date:** [November 12, 2024, 5:10am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/unable-to-use-parentheses-for-jinja2-functions-in-conditionals/10843/3 "2024-11-12T05:10:31Z")

</div>

The issue has nothing to do with functions or parentheses, it’s your erroneous leading zeros.

```yaml
        - not ( now('utc').hour == 1 and now('utc').minute >= 45 )
        - not ( now('utc').hour == 2 and now('utc').minute < 20 )

```

`01` is not a valid integer literal, so it confuses the parsing and you get an error related to the enclosing context.

```yaml
- hosts: localhost
  tasks:
    - debug:
      when:
        - '02'

```

```plaintext
TASK [debug] *******************************************************************
fatal: [localhost]: FAILED! => 
    msg: |-
        The conditional check '02' failed. The error was: template error while templating string: expected token 'end of statement block', got 'integer'. String: {% if 02 %} True {% else %} False {% endif %}. expected token 'end of statement block', got 'integer'

```

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![AnthonyAnsible](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/278dde/32.png) [@AnthonyAnsible](https://forum.ansible.com/u/AnthonyAnsible)\
**Post date:** [November 12, 2024, 5:41am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/unable-to-use-parentheses-for-jinja2-functions-in-conditionals/10843/4 "2024-11-12T05:41:07Z")

</div>

Thank you very much! That’s it!

I wasn’t sure of the format of `now('utc').hour` was and hadn’t thought about that.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/ansible/original/1X/1882d9a01da5d8996a862359b0913cc568a39b84.svg) [@system](https://forum.ansible.com/u/system)\
**Post date:** [December 12, 2024, 5:41am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/unable-to-use-parentheses-for-jinja2-functions-in-conditionals/10843/5 "2024-12-12T05:41:19Z")

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