# Why no variable substitution in top level includes? **URL:** \ **Category:** Ansible Project\ **Created:** [February 21, 2014, 7:47pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/why-no-variable-substitution-in-top-level-includes/14624 "2014-02-21T19:47:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![anatoly\_techtonik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@anatoly\_techtonik](https://forum.ansible.com/u/anatoly_techtonik)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2014, 7:47pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/why-no-variable-substitution-in-top-level-includes/14624/1 "2014-02-21T19:47:54Z")
From [http://docs.ansible.com/playbooks\_roles.html#task-include-files-and-encouraging-reuse](http://docs.ansible.com/playbooks_roles.html#task-include-files-and-encouraging-reuse) > Note that you cannot do variable substitution when including one playbook inside another. I actually wanted to do this in my - setup-new-server.yml playbook: - include: client-dns-setup.yml host=new-server But it looks this is impossible. Why? P.S. It is possible to [turn on pasting of code snippets](https://code.google.com/p/rainforce/wiki/GoogleCodeChecklist#Make_your_project_accessible) in Google Groups settings. P.P.S. Ansible was very awesome so far. =) ---
**Author:** ![Brian\_Coca1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Brian\_Coca1](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Brian_Coca1)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2014, 7:52pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/why-no-variable-substitution-in-top-level-includes/14624/2 "2014-02-21T19:52:13Z")
Variable substitution works, just not with inventory variables, which confuses people a lot. ---
**Author:** ![anatoly\_techtonik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@anatoly\_techtonik](https://forum.ansible.com/u/anatoly_techtonik)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2014, 7:58pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/why-no-variable-substitution-in-top-level-includes/14624/3 "2014-02-21T19:58:02Z")
Just to clarify - do you mean inventory variables in included files are immune? Because I am passing a hardcoded string as playbook parameter. ---
**Author:** ![Brian\_Coca1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Brian\_Coca1](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Brian_Coca1)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2014, 7:59pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/why-no-variable-substitution-in-top-level-includes/14624/4 "2014-02-21T19:59:38Z")
include gets evaluated before hosts are included and you cannot use a inventory variable (host dependant) in the include. Think of it as a ‘preprocessing macro’ more than a task. ---
**Author:** ![anatoly\_techtonik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@anatoly\_techtonik](https://forum.ansible.com/u/anatoly_techtonik)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2014, 8:22pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/why-no-variable-substitution-in-top-level-includes/14624/5 "2014-02-21T20:22:41Z")
> include gets evaluated before hosts are included and you cannot use a inventory variable (host dependant) in the include. > > Think of it as a ‘preprocessing macro’ more than a task. I still don’t get it. I have the file showdist.yml: > * * * > > - hosts: “{{ host | default(‘localhost’) }}” > tasks: > - name: show OS version info > debug: msg=“{{ansible\_distribution}} {{ansible\_distribution\_version}}” Now I include it from main playbook.yml: > * * * > > - hosts: localhost > - include: showdist.yml It fails with: PLAY [otherhost] \*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\* skipping: no hosts matched But when I do this: > * * * > > - hosts: localhost > - include: showdist.yml host=‘localhost’ It works. And I am surprised, because for more complicated file it didn’t work. ---
**Author:** ![Michael\_DeHaan1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5e9695/32.png) [@Michael\_DeHaan1](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Michael_DeHaan1)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2014, 8:47pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/why-no-variable-substitution-in-top-level-includes/14624/6 "2014-02-21T20:47:36Z")
> - include: showdist.yml host=‘localhost’ You have no variables here, so this is not an inventory variable substitution issue. But you would be setting a variable called “host” that has no special meaning for Ansible. Minor pet-peeve/process note – when you say something doesn’t work, share what it did, and what it expected to do. I don’t know what “doesn’t work” means 80% of the time. ---
**Author:** ![anatoly\_techtonik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@anatoly\_techtonik](https://forum.ansible.com/u/anatoly_techtonik)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2014, 6:33am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/why-no-variable-substitution-in-top-level-includes/14624/7 "2014-02-23T06:33:38Z")
Let me try again: **playbook.yml** - this file doesn’t change ` ---
**Author:** ![Michael\_DeHaan1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5e9695/32.png) [@Michael\_DeHaan1](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Michael_DeHaan1)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2014, 1:54pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/why-no-variable-substitution-in-top-level-includes/14624/8 "2014-02-23T13:54:02Z")
The basics here are that task includes can pass parameters, playbook includes never had that implemented. ---
**Author:** ![anatoly\_techtonik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@anatoly\_techtonik](https://forum.ansible.com/u/anatoly_techtonik)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2014, 5:06am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/why-no-variable-substitution-in-top-level-includes/14624/9 "2014-02-24T05:06:32Z")
But both examples are playbook includes. Is it a bug? ---
**Author:** ![anatoly\_techtonik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@anatoly\_techtonik](https://forum.ansible.com/u/anatoly_techtonik)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2014, 5:10am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/why-no-variable-substitution-in-top-level-includes/14624/10 "2014-02-24T05:10:06Z")
Does this one means that 1.5.0 will have this implemented? [https://github.com/ansible/ansible/issues/5801](https://github.com/ansible/ansible/issues/5801) ---
**Author:** ![Michael\_DeHaan1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5e9695/32.png) [@Michael\_DeHaan1](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Michael_DeHaan1)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2014, 1:12pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/why-no-variable-substitution-in-top-level-includes/14624/11 "2014-02-24T13:12:13Z")
“But both examples are playbook includes. Is it a bug?” Not really, there’s not an attach point for variables at that level. -e sets global variables, task level include variables are a thing, etc. ---
**Author:** ![Michael\_DeHaan1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5e9695/32.png) [@Michael\_DeHaan1](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Michael_DeHaan1)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2014, 1:14pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/why-no-variable-substitution-in-top-level-includes/14624/12 "2014-02-24T13:14:13Z")
Ok, I stand corrected, this is interjecting into the vars field. I can’t say I understand the details of James’s patch as the dict constructor should be equivalent. ---
**Author:** ![anatoly\_techtonik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@anatoly\_techtonik](https://forum.ansible.com/u/anatoly_techtonik)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2014, 4:49pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/why-no-variable-substitution-in-top-level-includes/14624/13 "2014-02-26T16:49:52Z")
I still don't understand. There are different levels of variables, but how do they stacked and overriden? Is it like this? (I can't check right now) [globals] (-e) - variable overrides everything below if set [playbook] (vars section) - variable is accessible by includes [task include] (no vars section) - uses variables from caller [top include] (no vars section) - uses variables from caller [top include] (vars section) - replaces all vars from levels above