Special Variables

Magic

These variables cannot be set directly by the user; Ansible will always override them to reflect internal state.

• ansible_check_mode
• Boolean that indicates if we are in check mode or not
• ansible_dependent_role_names
• The names of the roles currently imported into the current play as dependencies of other plays
• ansible_diff_mode
• Boolean that indicates if we are in diff mode or not
• ansible_forks
• Integer reflecting the number of maximum forks available to this run
• ansible_inventory_sources
• List of sources used as inventory
• ansible_limit
• Contents of the —limit CLI option for the current execution of Ansible
• ansible_loop
• A dictionary/map containing extended loop information when enabled via loop_control.extended
• ansible_loop_var
• The name of the value provided to loop_control.loop_var. Added in 2.8
• ansible_index_var
• The name of the value provided to loop_control.index_var. Added in 2.9
• ansible_parent_role_names
• When the current role is being executed by means of an include_role or import_role action, this variable contains a list of all parent roles, with the most recent role (i.e. the role that included/imported this role) being the first item in the list.When multiple inclusions occur, this list lists the last role (i.e. the role that included this role) as the first item in the list. It is also possible that a specific role exists more than once in this list.

For example: When role A includes role B, inside role B, ansible_parent_role_names will equal to ['A']. If role B then includes role C, the list becomes ['B', 'A'].

• ansible_parent_role_paths
• When the current role is being executed by means of an include_role or import_role action, this variable contains a list of all parent roles, with the most recent role (i.e. the role that included/imported this role) being the first item in the list.Please refer to ansible_parent_role_names for the order of items in this list.
• ansible_play_batch
• List of active hosts in the current play run limited by the serial, aka ‘batch’. Failed/Unreachable hosts are not considered ‘active’.
• ansible_play_hosts
• The same as ansible_play_batch
• ansible_play_hosts_all
• List of all the hosts that were targeted by the play
• ansible_play_role_names
• The names of the roles currently imported into the current play. This list does not contain the role names that areimplicitly included via dependencies.
• ansible_playbook_python
• The path to the python interpreter being used by Ansible on the controller
• ansible_role_names
• The names of the roles currently imported into the current play, or roles referenced as dependencies of the rolesimported into the current play.
• ansible_run_tags
• Contents of the —tags CLI option, which specifies which tags will be included for the current run.
• ansible_search_path
• Current search path for action plugins and lookups, i.e where we search for relative paths when you do template: src=myfile
• ansible_skip_tags
• Contents of the —skip_tags CLI option, which specifies which tags will be skipped for the current run.
• ansible_verbosity
• Current verbosity setting for Ansible
• ansible_version
• Dictionary/map that contains information about the current running version of ansible, it has the following keys: full, major, minor, revision and string.
• group_names
• List of groups the current host is part of
• groups
• A dictionary/map with all the groups in inventory and each group has the list of hosts that belong to it
• hostvars
• A dictionary/map with all the hosts in inventory and variables assigned to them
• inventory_hostname
• The inventory name for the ‘current’ host being iterated over in the play
• inventory_hostname_short
• The short version of inventory_hostname
• inventory_dir
• The directory of the inventory source in which the inventory_hostname was first defined
• inventory_file
• The file name of the inventory source in which the inventory_hostname was first defined
• omit
• Special variable that allows you to ‘omit’ an option in a task, i.e - user: name=bob home={{ bobs_home|default(omit) }}
• play_hosts
• Deprecated, the same as ansible_play_batch
• ansible_play_name
• The name of the currently executed play. Added in 2.8.
• playbook_dir
• The path to the directory of the playbook that was passed to the ansible-playbook command line.
• role_name
• The name of the role currently being executed.
• role_names
• Deprecated, the same as ansible_play_role_names
• role_path
• The path to the dir of the currently running role

Facts

These are variables that contain information pertinent to the current host (inventory_hostname). They are only available if gathered first.

• ansible_facts
• Contains any facts gathered or cached for the _inventory_hostname_Facts are normally gathered by the setup module automatically in a play, but any module can return facts.
• ansible_local
• Contains any ‘local facts’ gathered or cached for the inventory_hostname.The keys available depend on the custom facts created.See the setup module for more details.

Connection variables

Connection variables are normally used to set the specifics on how to execute actions on a target. Most of them correspond to connection plugins, but not all are specific to them; other plugins like shell, terminal and become are normally involved.Only the common ones are described as each connection/become/shell/etc plugin can define its own overrides and specific variables.See Controlling how Ansible behaves: precedence rules for how connection variables interact with configuration settings, command-line options, and playbook keywords.

• ansible_become_user
• The user Ansible ‘becomes’ after using privilege escalation. This must be available to the ‘login user’.
• ansible_connection
• The connection plugin actually used for the task on the target host.
• ansible_host
• The ip/name of the target host to use instead of inventory_hostname.
• ansible_python_interpreter
• The path to the Python executable Ansible should use on the target host.
• ansible_user
• The user Ansible ‘logs in’ as.