# When Or statement **URL:** \ **Category:** Ansible Project\ **Created:** [November 25, 2020, 3:44pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/when-or-statement/34239 "2020-11-25T15:44:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Jason](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/ansible/user_avatar/forum.ansible.com/jason/32/304_2.png) [@Jason](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Jason)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2020, 3:44pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/when-or-statement/34239/1 "2020-11-25T15:44:41Z")
In an ansible play, is “or” not supported with conditional statements? I have a task that is searching a variable for 2 values. The when statements work alone, but with “or” it runs but doesn’t do what I am expecting. Here is the task, is my syntax wrong or is it just not supported? - - name: Apply policy to the interfaces cisco.ios.ios\_config: parents: interface {{ item.key }} lines: - device-tracking attach-policy IPDT\_POLICY loop: “{{ netbrain\_interface\_attributes|dict2items }}” when: \> item.key is not search(“Port”) or item.key is not search(“Vlan”) ---
**Author:** ![racke](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/ansible/user_avatar/forum.ansible.com/racke/32/4767_2.png) [@racke](https://forum.ansible.com/u/racke)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2020, 4:07pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/when-or-statement/34239/2 "2020-11-25T16:07:37Z")
> In an ansible play, is "or" not supported with conditional statements? I have a task that is searching a variable for 2 > values. The when statements work alone, but with "or" it runs but doesn't do what I am expecting. Here is the task, is > my syntax wrong or is it just not supported? - > > ``` > \- name: Apply policy to the interfaces > cisco\.ios\.ios\_config: > parents: interface \{\{ item\.key \}\} > lines: > \- device\-tracking attach\-policy IPDT\_POLICY > loop: "\{\{ netbrain\_interface\_attributes|dict2items \}\}" > when: > > item\.key is not search\("Port"\) > or item\.key is not search\("Vlan"\) > > ``` Maybe you need ( ) around both conditions, but you can also use (untested)    item.key is not regex("(Port|Vlan)") Regards        Racke ---
**Author:** ![Jason](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/ansible/user_avatar/forum.ansible.com/jason/32/304_2.png) [@Jason](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Jason)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2020, 5:42pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/when-or-statement/34239/3 "2020-11-25T17:42:32Z")
I apologize I did miss a line in my task when I copied. So I used the (Port|Vlan). Which again works as a single statement. Also tried putting the statements in () - name: Apply policy to the interfaces cisco.ios.ios\_config: parents: interface {{ item.key }} lines: - device-tracking attach-policy IPDT\_POLICY loop: “{{ netbrain\_interface\_attributes|dict2items }}” when: \> item.key is not regex(“(Port|Vlan)”) or item.key not in po\_ints - name: Apply policy to the interfaces cisco.ios.ios\_config: parents: interface {{ item.key }} lines: - device-tracking attach-policy IPDT\_POLICY loop: “{{ netbrain\_interface\_attributes|dict2items }}” when: \> (item.key is not regex(“(Port|Vlan)”)) or (item.key not in po\_ints) ---
**Author:** ![Jason](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/ansible/user_avatar/forum.ansible.com/jason/32/304_2.png) [@Jason](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Jason)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2020, 3:14pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/when-or-statement/34239/4 "2020-11-30T15:14:23Z")
Hello, Just thought I would uypdate. I was not able to find the correct syntax for an or in a when statement. What I end up doing, and I am sure there is a better way to do it, was create separate lists then adding them together. - name: Create a list without Gigabit interfaces set\_fact: exclude1: “{{ ex | reject(‘search’, ‘Giga’) | list }}” - name: Create a list of GigabitEthernet0/0 set\_fact: exclude2: “{{ ex | select(‘search’, ‘GigabitEthernet0/0’) | list }}” - name: Gather the Port Channel Summary ansible.netcommon.cli\_parse: command: “show etherchannel summary” parser: name: ansible.netcommon.pyats set\_fact: eth\_sum - name: Get the PO Channel Interfaces set\_fact: po\_ints: “{{ eth\_sum.interfaces|json\_query(query)| flatten }}” cacheable: yes vars: query: ‘\*.port\_channel.port\_channel\_member\_intfs’ - name: Create one list to be used in a future play set\_fact: exclude\_interfaces: “{{ exclude1 + exclude2 + po\_ints }}” cacheable: yes ---
**Author:** ![James\_Lagermann](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/8491ac/32.png) [@James\_Lagermann](https://forum.ansible.com/u/James_Lagermann)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2020, 4:17pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/when-or-statement/34239/5 "2020-12-01T16:17:39Z")
Have you tried to put the line in double quotes? I’m not sure if it’s always required, however, some of my ‘or’ statements will not work without them so I just put all of them in double quotes. when: “(item.key is not regex(”(Port|Vlan)“)) or (item.key not in po\_ints)” ---
**Author:** ![racke](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/ansible/user_avatar/forum.ansible.com/racke/32/4767_2.png) [@racke](https://forum.ansible.com/u/racke)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2020, 4:36pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/when-or-statement/34239/6 "2020-12-01T16:36:37Z")
> Have you tried to put the line in double quotes? I'm not sure if it's always required, however, some of my 'or' > statements will not work without them so I just put all of them in double quotes. > > ``` > when: "\(item\.key is not regex\("\(Port|Vlan\)"\)\) or \(item\.key not in po\_ints\)" > > ``` That might work, but in this case you need to use single quotes for the regex:         when: "(item.key is not regex('(Port|Vlan)')) or (item.key not in po\_ints)" Regards        Racke