# Using playbook|command line|included vars in inventory vars

**URL:** <https://forum.ansible.com/t/using-playbook-command-line-included-vars-in-inventory-vars/13674>\
**Category:** Ansible Project\
**Created:** [October 14, 2013, 9:47pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/using-playbook-command-line-included-vars-in-inventory-vars/13674 "2013-10-14T21:47:51Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Brice\_Burgess](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/d2c977/32.png) [@Brice\_Burgess](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Brice_Burgess)\
**Post date:** [October 14, 2013, 9:47pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/using-playbook-command-line-included-vars-in-inventory-vars/13674/1 "2013-10-14T21:47:51Z")

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I have a situation where it would be helpful to utilize included/playbook variables within inventory variables. For instance;

[group\_vars/lab.yml]

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**Author:** ![Michael\_DeHaan2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/da6949/32.png) [@Michael\_DeHaan2](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Michael_DeHaan2)\
**Post date:** [October 14, 2013, 10:44pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/using-playbook-command-line-included-vars-in-inventory-vars/13674/2 "2013-10-14T22:44:59Z")

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Variables are late bound, but I’m curious how you are deciding that it’s not substituting.

name lines don’t show things in inventory scope as they differ between hosts.

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**Author:** ![Brice\_Burgess](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/d2c977/32.png) [@Brice\_Burgess](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Brice_Burgess)\
**Post date:** [October 15, 2013, 4:07am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/using-playbook-command-line-included-vars-in-inventory-vars/13674/3 "2013-10-15T04:07:13Z")

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Michael,

My version of ansible is -master (currently 1.4). I realized it wasn’t substituting by testing with and without the variable. So for instance;

[group\_vars/lab.yml]

---

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**Author:** ![Michael\_DeHaan2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/da6949/32.png) [@Michael\_DeHaan2](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Michael_DeHaan2)\
**Post date:** [October 15, 2013, 1:54pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/using-playbook-command-line-included-vars-in-inventory-vars/13674/4 "2013-10-15T13:54:53Z")

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I don’t know where you expect remote\_user to be coming from.

Did you mean “ansible\_ssh\_user” ?

Also did you want a literal “+” in the filename?

In any event, ‘ansible\_ssh\_user’ is basically an input variable based on who you connect to, and I wouldn’t expect you could use it there.

It would not make sense to put that in inventory because you might connect as a variety of users.

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**Author:** ![Brice\_Burgess](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/d2c977/32.png) [@Brice\_Burgess](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Brice_Burgess)\
**Post date:** [October 15, 2013, 4:52pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/using-playbook-command-line-included-vars-in-inventory-vars/13674/5 "2013-10-15T16:52:52Z")

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Michael,

remote\_user was a bad example. I am really trying to substitute an INCLUDED or PLAYBOOK variable inside of an inventory variable. Here’s a better example:

[group\_vars/lab.yml]

---

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**Author:** ![Michael\_DeHaan2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/da6949/32.png) [@Michael\_DeHaan2](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Michael_DeHaan2)\
**Post date:** [October 15, 2013, 11:31pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/using-playbook-command-line-included-vars-in-inventory-vars/13674/6 "2013-10-15T23:31:25Z")

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Please open a github ticket with a linked gist or playbook that reproduces this in hello-world kind of form and I can see if I can reproduce this.

Thanks!