# using groups\_vars in INVENTORY

**URL:** <https://forum.ansible.com/t/using-groups-vars-in-inventory/29321>\
**Category:** Ansible Developer\
**Created:** [December 24, 2018, 1:08pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/using-groups-vars-in-inventory/29321 "2018-12-24T13:08:01Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 7\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![aidewuado](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ba9def/32.png) [@aidewuado](https://forum.ansible.com/u/aidewuado)\
**Post date:** [December 24, 2018, 1:08pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/using-groups-vars-in-inventory/29321/1 "2018-12-24T13:08:01Z")

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Hello comunity  
I’m trying to set up “group\_vars” in inventory, but for some reason it does not work.

I’ve tried with .ini and .yml files, in both I get the same error:

`

ERROR! failed to combine variables, expected dicts but got a ‘dict’ and a ‘AnsibleUnicode’:  
{}

`

my ansible.conf is a default and my my file struct is:

 ![Capture.PNG](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/ansible/original/2X/e/e35f236772b7a3eb6a5f25c49c7dda42bda5dc72.png)

my inventory in .ini:

`

[win-mssql]  
[lab-sql1.DOMAIN.cl](http://lab-sql1.domain.cl/)

`

and .yml:

`

win-mssql:  
hosts:  
lab-sql1.e-contact.cl:

`

my archive of groups vars in ini:

`

`  
ansible\_user=[svc-ansible-dev@DOMAIN.CL](mailto:svc-ansible-dev@DOMAIN.CL)  
ansible\_password=PASS  
ansible\_port=5986  
ansible\_connection=winrm  
ansible\_winrm\_server\_cert\_validation=ignore  
ansible\_winrm\_transport=kerberos  
ansible\_winrm\_service=HOST

`

`

and .yml

`

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Ludovic\_Petetin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Ludovic\_Petetin](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Ludovic_Petetin)\
**Post date:** [December 24, 2018, 1:32pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/using-groups-vars-in-inventory/29321/2 "2018-12-24T13:32:27Z")

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I guess the issue comes the “:” in the hostname “[lab-sql1.e-contact.cl](http://lab-sql1.e-contact.cl/):”

The YAML parser expects a dict. If the “:” is needed then I guess you need to put double quotes around

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![aidewuado](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ba9def/32.png) [@aidewuado](https://forum.ansible.com/u/aidewuado)\
**Post date:** [December 24, 2018, 1:43pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/using-groups-vars-in-inventory/29321/3 "2018-12-24T13:43:02Z")

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i change and the same error appears

---

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**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:** [December 24, 2018, 2:09pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/using-groups-vars-in-inventory/29321/4 "2018-12-24T14:09:15Z")

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a couple of things:

1/ your group is called win-mssql but the file is win-mssql\_.ini (with an extra underscore)  
2/ don’t use .ini as an extension, those are supposed to be configuration to dynbamic scripts, and are not parsed by ansible directly  
3/ group\_vars files must be yaml, not ini

> **(attachments)**
>
> ![Capture.PNG](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/ansible/original/2X/e/e35f236772b7a3eb6a5f25c49c7dda42bda5dc72.png)

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![aidewuado](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ba9def/32.png) [@aidewuado](https://forum.ansible.com/u/aidewuado)\
**Post date:** [December 24, 2018, 2:16pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/using-groups-vars-in-inventory/29321/5 "2018-12-24T14:16:42Z")

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sorry the snap not updated, i using .yml extension

 ![Capture.PNG](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/ansible/original/2X/9/9af97613c422371059d098fa7aace5c86a69564b.png)

> **(attachments)**
>
> ![Capture.PNG](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/ansible/original/2X/9/9af97613c422371059d098fa7aace5c86a69564b.png)

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![aidewuado](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ba9def/32.png) [@aidewuado](https://forum.ansible.com/u/aidewuado)\
**Post date:** [January 3, 2019, 4:09pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/using-groups-vars-in-inventory/29321/6 "2019-01-03T16:09:05Z")

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im using yml extension and error is the same

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![aidewuado](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ba9def/32.png) [@aidewuado](https://forum.ansible.com/u/aidewuado)\
**Post date:** [February 11, 2019, 1:20pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/using-groups-vars-in-inventory/29321/7 "2019-02-11T13:20:16Z")

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The problem is solved, ima upgrade the version of ansible