# Using with\_subelements, cannot reference dict item's key (v 2.2.0) **URL:** \ **Category:** Ansible Project\ **Created:** [June 29, 2016, 6:43pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/using-with-subelements-cannot-reference-dict-items-key-v-2-2-0/21891 "2016-06-29T18:43:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![jdelaporte](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/ansible/user_avatar/forum.ansible.com/jdelaporte/32/366_2.png) [@jdelaporte](https://forum.ansible.com/u/jdelaporte)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2016, 6:43pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/using-with-subelements-cannot-reference-dict-items-key-v-2-2-0/21891/1 "2016-06-29T18:43:39Z")
Here’s my version: ansible 2.2.0 (devel 87928ff56b) last updated 2016/06/22 13:32:23 (GMT -500) I’m not sure if this is a bug, or misplaced syntax. When I attempt to use a dictionary, referencing the key of the dictionary and a subelement, I get the error `FAILED! => {"failed": true, "msg": "'dict object' has no attribute 'key'"}` Here is my task: ` - name: Add users to groups shell: ‘ipa group-add-member {{item.1}} --users={{item.0.key}}’ with\_subelements: - ‘{{staff|default()}}’ - ‘extragroups’ - skip\_missing: yes ` If I use item.0 instead of item.0.key, it tries to pass in the entire dictionary object rather than just the key, and the command spits back a “too many arguments” error, which is expected. I need just the username, eg the argument I want to pass is --users=user1. Is there a reason I cannot access it with item.0.key? My dict object looks like this: ` ---
**Author:** ![jdelaporte](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/ansible/user_avatar/forum.ansible.com/jdelaporte/32/366_2.png) [@jdelaporte](https://forum.ansible.com/u/jdelaporte)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2016, 4:11pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/using-with-subelements-cannot-reference-dict-items-key-v-2-2-0/21891/2 "2016-06-30T16:11:58Z")
Apparently with\_subelements needs a list, not a dict? ---
**Author:** ![jdelaporte](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/ansible/user_avatar/forum.ansible.com/jdelaporte/32/366_2.png) [@jdelaporte](https://forum.ansible.com/u/jdelaporte)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2016, 8:13pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/using-with-subelements-cannot-reference-dict-items-key-v-2-2-0/21891/3 "2016-07-05T20:13:36Z")
For a little while I thought maybe subelements cannot use a dict, but I just saw someone else’s error that with\_subelements needs a dict or a list as its first argument. So, how do I access {{item.0.key}} from a dict using with\_subelements? ---
**Author:** ![Slavek\_Jurkowski](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9fc348/32.png) [@Slavek\_Jurkowski](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Slavek_Jurkowski)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2016, 2:06pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/using-with-subelements-cannot-reference-dict-items-key-v-2-2-0/21891/4 "2016-10-13T14:06:12Z")
Joanna, Did you find any solution to this? I’m facing the same issue and it sure sucks! Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![jdelaporte](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/ansible/user_avatar/forum.ansible.com/jdelaporte/32/366_2.png) [@jdelaporte](https://forum.ansible.com/u/jdelaporte)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2016, 6:14pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/using-with-subelements-cannot-reference-dict-items-key-v-2-2-0/21891/5 "2016-10-13T18:14:29Z")
Slavek, I converted my dicts to lists. 😛 It didn’t take too long with some snappy regex in vim. Joanna ---
**Author:** ![Slavek\_Jurkowski](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9fc348/32.png) [@Slavek\_Jurkowski](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Slavek_Jurkowski)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2016, 6:21pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/using-with-subelements-cannot-reference-dict-items-key-v-2-2-0/21891/6 "2016-10-13T18:21:04Z")
Thanks for the quick response. I think i’m going to just hack the name into the dict like so as i want to preserve the dict structure and this least bad way i see of doing that. My dict var is auto populated from another tool so it shouldn’t be hard for me to keep these in sync. Slavek ---
**Author:** ![Guy\_Matz1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b5e925/32.png) [@Guy\_Matz1](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Guy_Matz1)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2016, 6:03pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/using-with-subelements-cannot-reference-dict-items-key-v-2-2-0/21891/7 "2016-11-07T18:03:52Z")
I think you want {{ [item.0.name](http://item.0.name) }} ---
**Author:** ![Slavek\_Jurkowski](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9fc348/32.png) [@Slavek\_Jurkowski](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Slavek_Jurkowski)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2016, 6:10pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/using-with-subelements-cannot-reference-dict-items-key-v-2-2-0/21891/8 "2016-11-07T18:10:46Z")
yes you are right… my code example wasn’t tested in this thread. My actual use case does have the brackets. ---
**Author:** ![Hugo\_Slabbert](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/76d3ee/32.png) [@Hugo\_Slabbert](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Hugo_Slabbert)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2017, 8:07pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/using-with-subelements-cannot-reference-dict-items-key-v-2-2-0/21891/9 "2017-06-14T20:07:42Z")
This would be a super helfpul feature to have, even if it’s another lookup separate from with\_subelements. The use case I have for this is a set of interfaces on a host that are in a dict with the keys being the interface names, e.g.: `