# Variable syntax warning in ansible 1.4.1

**URL:** <https://forum.ansible.com/t/variable-syntax-warning-in-ansible-1-4-1/14035>\
**Category:** Ansible Project\
**Created:** [November 29, 2013, 9:47pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/variable-syntax-warning-in-ansible-1-4-1/14035 "2013-11-29T21:47:05Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Anand\_Buddhdev2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/48db29/32.png) [@Anand\_Buddhdev2](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Anand_Buddhdev2)\
**Post date:** [November 29, 2013, 9:47pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/variable-syntax-warning-in-ansible-1-4-1/14035/1 "2013-11-29T21:47:05Z")

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All my playbook runs are now emitting this warning at the start:

**[WARNING]: It is unneccessary to use ‘{{’ in loops, leave variables in loop**

**expressions bare.**

However, my playbook is quite large, and includes several roles for several classes of servers, so I have no idea which play or template is causing this warning to be issued. I’ve tried adding -vvv to ansible-playbook, but it doesn’t give me any more information. How can I figure out what is causing this warning?

Anand

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**Author:** ![Timothy\_Gerla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/977dab/32.png) [@Timothy\_Gerla](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Timothy_Gerla)\
**Post date:** [November 29, 2013, 10:09pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/variable-syntax-warning-in-ansible-1-4-1/14035/2 "2013-11-29T22:09:28Z")

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You can narrow it down by grepping for “with\_items”, perhaps? Or other with\_ loop keywords? You maybe have something like this:

with\_items: “{{ mythings }}”

This just needs to be:

with\_items: mythings

-Tim

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**Author:** ![Anand\_Buddhdev2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/48db29/32.png) [@Anand\_Buddhdev2](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Anand_Buddhdev2)\
**Post date:** [November 29, 2013, 10:19pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/variable-syntax-warning-in-ansible-1-4-1/14035/3 "2013-11-29T22:19:14Z")

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Timothy, thank you! That was exactly my issue. I had one task where the with\_items: had a variable name surrounded by braces. I removed them and the warning went away.

Anand