# with\_items collapses lists **URL:** \ **Category:** Ansible Project\ **Created:** [September 16, 2013, 5:46pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/with-items-collapses-lists/13487 "2013-09-16T17:46:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![C\_Morgan\_Hamill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ebca7d/32.png) [@C\_Morgan\_Hamill](https://forum.ansible.com/u/C_Morgan_Hamill)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2013, 5:46pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/with-items-collapses-lists/13487/1 "2013-09-16T17:46:19Z")
Running HEAD as of several minutes ago:     - hosts: foo       tasks:         - debug: msg={{item}}           with\_items:             - [foo, hey]             - [doo, noway] Prints:     ok: [foo] =\> (item=foo) =\> {"item": "foo", "msg": "foo"}     ok: [foo] =\> (item=hey) =\> {"item": "hey", "msg": "hey"}     ok: [foo] =\> (item=doo) =\> {"item": "doo", "msg": "doo"}     ok: [foo] =\> (item=noway) =\> {"item": "noway", "msg": "noway"} Is this expected behavior? I though this is what "with\_flattened" is for and "with\_items" was supposed to preserve structures like this. ---
**Author:** ![Serge\_van\_Ginderacht](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b782af/32.png) [@Serge\_van\_Ginderacht](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Serge_van_Ginderacht)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2013, 6:00pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/with-items-collapses-lists/13487/2 "2013-09-16T18:00:38Z")
​Actually, it is. While I wrote the flattened plugin, I didn't notice this behaviour of the items plugin. The difference between both is that flattened basically goes several levels deeper, and will ​template at any level, while the items plugin only templates something like "with items: var' (on one line). If I had realized this behaviour earlier, I might have proposed to integrate those extra features from flalttened into items; not sure if this has implications though. (Possibly unrelated, nut that being said, I'm noticing several lookup plugins don't template stuff in the same con,sequent way; I have been wondering if that is a good thing; personally I find this confusing) Serge ---
**Author:** ![C\_Morgan\_Hamill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ebca7d/32.png) [@C\_Morgan\_Hamill](https://forum.ansible.com/u/C_Morgan_Hamill)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2013, 6:35pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/with-items-collapses-lists/13487/3 "2013-09-16T18:35:22Z")
Excerpts from Serge van Ginderachter's message of 2013-09-16 14:00:38 -0400: > Actually, it is. While I wrote the flattened plugin, I didn't notice this > behaviour of the items plugin. > The difference between both is that flattened basically goes several levels > deeper, and will template at any level, > while the items plugin only templates something like "with items: var' (on > one line). That's...pretty subtle stuff. Certainly bumped up against my intuition. If it's too late to change, in the sense of maintaining backwards compatibility, then the workaround of using a list of hashes instead of a list of lists works fine for me. > If I had realized this behaviour earlier, I might have proposed to > integrate those extra features from flalttened into items; not sure if this > has implications though. Probably does. > (Possibly unrelated, nut that being said, I'm noticing several lookup > plugins don't template stuff in the same con,sequent way; I have been > wondering if that is a good thing; personally I find this confusing) Out of curiosity, how do they differ? ---
**Author:** ![Serge\_van\_Ginderacht](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b782af/32.png) [@Serge\_van\_Ginderacht](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Serge_van_Ginderacht)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2013, 6:43pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/with-items-collapses-lists/13487/4 "2013-09-16T18:43:13Z")
​Some plugins will automatically resolve complex variables; some might just template them (and give you a string); and ​others will only template if you explicitly use jinja2 notation {{ }}. It can also happen (resolve) only if you note "with\_LOOKUP: variable" on one line, whilst others might do it within the list items. Disclaimer: this is my general feeling, I didn't make a full overview of that, but at least some plugins behave differently in this way. items and flattened being the best example. Serge ---
**Author:** ![Michael\_DeHaan2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/da6949/32.png) [@Michael\_DeHaan2](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Michael_DeHaan2)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2013, 9:21pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/with-items-collapses-lists/13487/5 "2013-09-16T21:21:47Z")
with\_items is meant to walk over lists of lists one item at a time, so you can do things like define a list of two packages and do yum: name={{item}} state=latest with\_items: - base\_packages - app\_packages and so on