# Why aren't template\_path and template\_fullpath expanded to different values? **URL:** \ **Category:** Ansible Project\ **Created:** [March 16, 2021, 10:00am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/why-arent-template-path-and-template-fullpath-expanded-to-different-values/34788 "2021-03-16T10:00:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![mike2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9a140/32.png) [@mike2](https://forum.ansible.com/u/mike2)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2021, 10:00am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/why-arent-template-path-and-template-fullpath-expanded-to-different-values/34788/1 "2021-03-16T10:00:40Z")
> **[ansible.builtin.template module – Template a file out to a target host —...](https://docs.ansible.com/projects/ansible/latest/collections/ansible/builtin/template_module.html)** says - template\_path is the path of the template. - template\_fullpath is the absolute path of the template. Can someone explain how “the path” is suppose to be different from “the absolute path”? If I put both those variables in a template, they are expanded to the absolute path to the template on the source filesystem e.g. # {{ template\_fullpath }} # {{ template\_path }} in a template results in this: # /home/mike/gitrepos/ansibletesting/roles/foo/templates/blah.txt # /home/mike/gitrepos/ansibletesting/roles/foo/templates/blah.txt I’ve found a few other mentions of people saying the same thing, e.g. [Ansible template Module Tutorial + Examples | TopTechSkills.com](https://www.toptechskills.com/ansible-tutorials-courses/ansible-template-module-tutorial-examples/) says: “template\_fullpath - Same as template\_path in my experience” and in this old issue [GitHub · Where software is built](https://github.com/ansible/ansible/issues/29995) which seems to have gone nowhere someone says “There are two vars that play out to the same value.”. I assume template\_path and template\_fullpath are supposed to be different values, but different how, and under what circumstances? ---
**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:** [March 16, 2021, 11:00am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/why-arent-template-path-and-template-fullpath-expanded-to-different-values/34788/2 "2021-03-16T11:00:15Z")
> [https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/latest/collections/ansible/builtin/template\_module.html](https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/latest/collections/ansible/builtin/template_module.html) > says > # > > template\_path is the path of the template. > > # > > template\_fullpath is the absolute path of the template. > > Can someone explain how "the path" is suppose to be different from "the absolute path"? If I put both those variables in > a template, they are expanded to the absolute path to the template on the source filesystem e.g. > > # {{ template\_fullpath }} > # {{ template\_path }} > > in a template results in this: > > # /home/mike/gitrepos/ansibletesting/roles/foo/templates/blah.txt > # /home/mike/gitrepos/ansibletesting/roles/foo/templates/blah.txt > > I've found a few other mentions of people saying the same thing, e.g. > [https://www.toptechskills.com/ansible-tutorials-courses/ansible-template-module-tutorial-examples/](https://www.toptechskills.com/ansible-tutorials-courses/ansible-template-module-tutorial-examples/) says: > "template\_fullpath - Same as template\_path in my experience" and in this old issue > [https://github.com/ansible/ansible/issues/29995](https://github.com/ansible/ansible/issues/29995) which seems to have gone nowhere someone says "There are two vars that > play out to the same value.". > > I assume template\_path and template\_fullpath are supposed to be different values, but different how, and under what > circumstances? Hello, why did you need to know the template paths? What is your usecase for them? Regards          Racke ---
**Author:** ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/ansible/original/1X/1882d9a01da5d8996a862359b0913cc568a39b84.svg) [@system](https://forum.ansible.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2021, 1:38pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/why-arent-template-path-and-template-fullpath-expanded-to-different-values/34788/3 "2021-03-16T13:38:56Z")
A bit of history here, initially path was the 'relative path' passed to src: for the template action and fullpath was the 'absolute resolved path' to the template file. But later on a request for these same variables added to the template lookup created a change and moved them to a centralize function, but now that function receives only the resolved path (i consider this a bug) so they are always the same. ---
**Author:** ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/ansible/original/1X/1882d9a01da5d8996a862359b0913cc568a39b84.svg) [@system](https://forum.ansible.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2021, 1:48pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/why-arent-template-path-and-template-fullpath-expanded-to-different-values/34788/4 "2021-03-16T13:48:43Z")
This should fix the issue and show the correct value in all cases [https://github.com/ansible/ansible/pull/73924](https://github.com/ansible/ansible/pull/73924) ---
**Author:** ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/ansible/original/1X/1882d9a01da5d8996a862359b0913cc568a39b84.svg) [@system](https://forum.ansible.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2021, 1:49pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/why-arent-template-path-and-template-fullpath-expanded-to-different-values/34788/5 "2021-03-16T13:49:05Z")
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**Author:** ![mike2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9a140/32.png) [@mike2](https://forum.ansible.com/u/mike2)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2021, 2:57pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/why-arent-template-path-and-template-fullpath-expanded-to-different-values/34788/6 "2021-03-16T14:57:10Z")
Thanks, Brian, that was all very helpful. I look forward to the fix hitting release. I’m looking at those variables because of the documented implications of the {file} part of ansible\_managed being absolute, what was said in [https://github.com/ansible/ansible/pull/15559](https://github.com/ansible/ansible/pull/15559) about ansible\_managed maybe being removed, and how much I like comments in files which explain which template was used to create them. Whilst looking at making my own variable to use in place of ansible\_managed I’ve come up with {{ template\_fullpath | regex\_replace(‘^._/roles/(._)’,‘\1’) }} which comes out as something like “foo/templates/blah.txt”. (Which is somewhat inelegant but the only way I could think of to deal with there being an unpredictable number of directories above the one called “roles”.)