# when condition on a variable starting with a string value

**URL:** <https://forum.ansible.com/t/when-condition-on-a-variable-starting-with-a-string-value/23663>\
**Category:** Ansible Project\
**Created:** [February 7, 2017, 1:45pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/when-condition-on-a-variable-starting-with-a-string-value/23663 "2017-02-07T13:45:44Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 8\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![fanvalt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/2bfe46/32.png) [@fanvalt](https://forum.ansible.com/u/fanvalt)\
**Post date:** [February 7, 2017, 1:45pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/when-condition-on-a-variable-starting-with-a-string-value/23663/1 "2017-02-07T13:45:44Z")

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Hello,

Actually I wrote my playbook this way to set values id the dual variable is the string value SRV:

- set\_fact:  
distrib: “{{ distribsrv }}”  
Directoryname: “{{ Directorysrv }}”  
when: dual == ‘SRV’

I would like to modify the when condition to run it when dual == ‘SRV1’, "SRV2’ … etc, is there a way to do a when condition : when : dual like ‘SRV\*’ ?

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**Author:** ![fanvalt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/2bfe46/32.png) [@fanvalt](https://forum.ansible.com/u/fanvalt)\
**Post date:** [February 7, 2017, 2:53pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/when-condition-on-a-variable-starting-with-a-string-value/23663/2 "2017-02-07T14:53:30Z")

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I wrote this:

vars:  
services:

- SRV

- SRV[1:99]

- set\_fact:  
distrib: “{{ distribsrv }}”  
when: dual in services

but dual is SRV2 and the set\_fact module has been ignored

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![fanvalt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/2bfe46/32.png) [@fanvalt](https://forum.ansible.com/u/fanvalt)\
**Post date:** [February 7, 2017, 3:32pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/when-condition-on-a-variable-starting-with-a-string-value/23663/3 "2017-02-07T15:32:17Z")

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if I write this, i do not get a variable list:

- set\_fact:  
services: “{{ services + item }}”  
with\_sequence: count=99
- debug: msg=“sequence {{ services }}”

ok: [SRV1] =\> {  
“msg”: “sequence SRV123456789101112131415161718192021222324252627282930313233343536373839404142434445464748495051525354555657585960616263646566676869707172737475767778798081828384858687888990919293949596979899”  
}

the result expected is SRV1, SRV2, SRV3 …

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![fanvalt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/2bfe46/32.png) [@fanvalt](https://forum.ansible.com/u/fanvalt)\
**Post date:** [February 7, 2017, 3:34pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/when-condition-on-a-variable-starting-with-a-string-value/23663/4 "2017-02-07T15:34:39Z")

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My issue is: I would like to run a task when a variable start with ‘SRV’ (srv1, SRV2 …) ad I don’t know how to write the condition: when: dual like ‘SRV\*’

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**Author:** ![Stankovic\_Marko](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e495f1/32.png) [@Stankovic\_Marko](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Stankovic_Marko)\
**Post date:** [February 7, 2017, 3:48pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/when-condition-on-a-variable-starting-with-a-string-value/23663/5 "2017-02-07T15:48:32Z")

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I know this is weird, but can't think of something better:

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- set\_fact:  
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;distrib: "{{ distribsrv }}"  
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Directoryname: "{{ Directorysrv }}"  
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;when: dual | regex\_replace( '^SRV.\*', 'True') | bool

Cheers,  
Marko  
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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![fanvalt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/2bfe46/32.png) [@fanvalt](https://forum.ansible.com/u/fanvalt)\
**Post date:** [February 7, 2017, 3:52pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/when-condition-on-a-variable-starting-with-a-string-value/23663/6 "2017-02-07T15:52:33Z")

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thank you I will have a look at your solution, I finally found this way to proceed otherwise:

- set\_fact:  
services: “{{ services }} + SRV{{item }}”

with\_sequence: count=5

- set\_fact:  
distrib: “{{ distribsrv }}”  
when: dual in services

TASK [debug] \*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*  
ok: [SRV1] =\> {  
“msg”: “sequence SRV + SRV1 + SRV2 + SRV3 + SRV4 + SRV5”  
}

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![fanvalt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/2bfe46/32.png) [@fanvalt](https://forum.ansible.com/u/fanvalt)\
**Post date:** [February 7, 2017, 4:07pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/when-condition-on-a-variable-starting-with-a-string-value/23663/7 "2017-02-07T16:07:41Z")

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Thanks a lot Marko, I used your syntax:  
dual\>regex\_replace(‘^SRV(.\*)’, ‘True’)

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**Author:** ![Johannes\_Kastl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Johannes\_Kastl](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Johannes_Kastl)\
**Post date:** [February 8, 2017, 8:14am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/when-condition-on-a-variable-starting-with-a-string-value/23663/8 "2017-02-08T08:14:29Z")

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> Thanks a lot Marko, I used your syntax:  
> dual\>regex\_replace('^SRV(.\*)', 'True')

Did you try the following?

> No need to use regex for pattern searching. You can use search like  
> this:
> 
> when: name\_prefix | search("stage-dbs")

from  
[https://stackoverflow.com/questions/34429842/how-to-evaluate-a-when-condition-for-ansible-task](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/34429842/how-to-evaluate-a-when-condition-for-ansible-task)

In your case this should be:

when: dual | search("SRV")

Johannes