# Using extra\_vars in playbook tasks

**URL:** <https://forum.ansible.com/t/using-extra-vars-in-playbook-tasks/14069>\
**Category:** Ansible Project\
**Created:** [December 5, 2013, 6:07am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/using-extra-vars-in-playbook-tasks/14069 "2013-12-05T06:07:11Z")\
**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:** [December 5, 2013, 6:07am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/using-extra-vars-in-playbook-tasks/14069/1 "2013-12-05T06:07:11Z")

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Hi,

If I call ansible-playbook using: -e “foo=bar”, I know I can use {{ foo }} in the vars\_files of a playbook, but can the variable foo be used in tasks?

I just tried to run:

- debug: msg=“{{ foo }}”

… in the playbook tasks and it came up blank!?

Thanks  
GS

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<div class="post-metadata">

**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:** [December 5, 2013, 6:19am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/using-extra-vars-in-playbook-tasks/14069/2 "2013-12-05T06:19:54Z")

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Here’s another example that doesn’t work:

- hosts: “{{ target }}”  
vars\_files:
- vars/{{ environment }}.yaml  
tasks:
- debug: msg=“{{ environment }}”  
when: environment == ‘test’

If I run this playbook with -e “environment=test”, Ansible says “skipping” for the debug task. Any ideas?

GS

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<div class="post-metadata">

**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:** [December 5, 2013, 6:44am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/using-extra-vars-in-playbook-tasks/14069/3 "2013-12-05T06:44:01Z")

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I think using the variable “environment” was a bad move as Ansible uses that for setting environment variables. I changed that to ‘env’ and it worked a lot better.

GS