when condition in ansible playbook

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

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