# with\_nested on only one list **URL:** \ **Category:** Ansible Project\ **Created:** [February 24, 2014, 10:01am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/with-nested-on-only-one-list/14639 "2014-02-24T10:01:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Jerome\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/76d3ee/32.png) [@Jerome\_Wagner](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Jerome_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2014, 10:01am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/with-nested-on-only-one-list/14639/1 "2014-02-24T10:01:53Z")
Hello, I don’t know if this is normal (feature?) or if it can be considered as a bug that needs to be fixed : - name: my task action: … with\_nested: - myList does not loop over myList with each item referenced as item.0 I always have to go the “with\_items: myList” and this breaks my workflow because - when a task starts needing a nested loop all the item references need to be changed (from item to item.0 for instance). - I cannot copy/paste references between tasks using with\_items and tasks using with\_nested. I can always write - name: my task action: … with\_nested: - myList - [“”] but it feels clunky. Has any of you encountered the same problem ? ---
**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, 1:07pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/with-nested-on-only-one-list/14639/2 "2014-02-24T13:07:47Z")
with\_nested is intended to be iteration over two loops, a nested loop. with\_nested over a single list doesn’t seem to make sense for me, you would just use “with\_items”. A nested loop over _one_ list offends my computer science sensibilities, and may also indicate a typo from the user, I don’t think it should “just attempt to do something else” here. ---
**Author:** ![Jerome\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/76d3ee/32.png) [@Jerome\_Wagner](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Jerome_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2014, 7:48pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/with-nested-on-only-one-list/14639/3 "2014-02-24T19:48:46Z")
Hello, Sorry to insist here I thinks I understand the whole concept of nested loops 😉 A nested loop over _one_ item satisfies my sensibilities because, in this specific case, I feel it plays the same role as “0 for the addition” or “1 for the multiplication”. 3 list case : Loop Loop Loop 2 list case: Loop Loop 1 list case: Loop It doesn’t seem mis-behaved to be. The main reason I am insisting here is because with\_items and with\_nested lead to totally different referencing schemes for the items. with\_items: {{ item }} with\_nested: {{ item.0 }} which creates, in my viewpoint, non-necessary burden when you need to jump from a with\_items scenario to a with\_nested scenario and refactor a role. Is there a way to do a with\_items and still get the items as {{ item.0 }} ? maybe there is something I missed. Thanks ---
**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, 7:58pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/with-nested-on-only-one-list/14639/4 "2014-02-24T19:58:36Z")
I understand what you are saying and that you understand what you are saying, I’m just not sure it’s the best thing. If someone types “with\_nested” and only types one value, that’s kind of a typo 99 times out of 100. The idea that “I need to make a source control change to another line” seems minor in the grand scheme of things. ---
**Author:** ![Jerome\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/76d3ee/32.png) [@Jerome\_Wagner](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Jerome_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2014, 9:02pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/with-nested-on-only-one-list/14639/5 "2014-02-24T21:02:22Z")
you encounter user problems everyday a lot more than me so if it is more harmful than beneficial on a usability perspective let’s not do it ! I can very well live with with\_nested: - myList - [“plug”] Let my explain a bit more my use case (which is not a simple source control problem). Maybe I am the only one but tasks can rapidly become hard to read and hard to write because item.0, item.1,… are not natural (at least to me) so what I do is define in defaults/main.yml a set of macro accessors, like, for instance : m\_config: “{{ bundle[item[0]].item[1] }}” and then in the roles I can simply use everywhere looping permits, m\_config.key1, m\_config.key2, … those “macro accessors” are very useful also when I need to re-organize the model of the datas because I usually simply have to change the macro definitions instead of going through the whole role. My original post stemmed from the fact that with\_items do not have the same references ({{ item }}) as with\_nested ({{ item.0 }}) so the macro accessors cannot be shared between the with\_items and with\_nested cases. I have a solution with the [“plug”], but the “one list” with\_nested could have made this plug non-necessary. Jerome ---
**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, 9:17pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/with-nested-on-only-one-list/14639/6 "2014-02-24T21:17:52Z")
My general theory is when something is hard to explain or hard for me to process, it’s something hard, and we should avoid it. That’s been keeping us going for a while. The idea of “macro accessors” is kind of doing that to my brain right now 🙂