Tag: when

In this tutorial, we will learn about when condition in ansible playbook

We don’t have If condition here. Instead of that we can use when condition

Syntax

when: {condition}
when: inventory_hostname == "local"

In below example we are using when condition based on host

Example

---
- hosts: 127.0.0.1
  tasks:
  - name:  Make a directory  
    shell: "mkdir sample"
    when: inventory_hostname == "127.0.0.1"
    
  - name: make directory
    shell: "mkdir sample"
    when: inventory_hostname == "10.118.226.25" or inventory_hostname == "10.118.225.65"

Execute Command

ansible-playbook whenexample.yml

Output

PLAY [127.0.0.1] *************************************************************************************************************************************

TASK [Gathering Facts] *******************************************************************************************************************************
ok: [127.0.0.1]

TASK [Make a directory] ******************************************************************************************************************************
[WARNING]: Consider using the file module with state=directory rather than running 'mkdir'.  If you need to use command because file is insufficient
you can add 'warn: false' to this command task or set 'command_warnings=False' in ansible.cfg to get rid of this message.

changed: [127.0.0.1]

TASK [make directory] ********************************************************************************************************************************
skipping: [127.0.0.1]

PLAY RECAP *******************************************************************************************************************************************
127.0.0.1                  : ok=2    changed=1    unreachable=0    failed=0    skipped=1    rescued=0    ignored=0   

when condition matches you can see the changed: [127.0.0.1]in result.
Else it will skip the task skipping: [127.0.0.1] in result

Reference

Below is Ansible documentation for conditions https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/latest/user_guide/playbooks_conditionals.html

Related Articles

ignore warning message in ansible

Ignore Error in Ansible playbook