Ansible: Set Variable In Task

Variables in Ansible can be defined in many different places, such as in inventory, in playbooks, in reusable files, in roles, and at the command-line.

Ansible also allows to set variables directly in a task by using the set_fact module.

Variables defined using the set_fact become associated with the host that the task is running against, that makes them available across subsequent tasks for the entire duration of the play.

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Set Variable In Task

Variable Precedence: Per the standard Ansible variable precedence rules, other types of variables have a higher priority, so a variable defined using the set_fact module may be overridden.

Below you will find an example of how to set and use variables in Ansible tasks using the set_fact module:

# roles/ansible_variables/tasks/main.yml
---
- name: "Set variables"
  set_fact:
    user_name: "admin"
    user_permissions: "rwx"

- debug:
    msg: "The user '{{ user_name }}' has permissions '{{ user_permissions }}'"

Sample output:

TASK [ansible_variables : Set variables] *********************************
ok: [127.0.0.1] => {
    "ansible_facts": {
        "user_name": "admin",
        "user_permissions": "rwx"
    },
    "changed": false
}

TASK [ansible_variables : debug] ******************************************
ok: [127.0.0.1] => {
    "msg": "The user 'admin' has permissions 'rwx'"
}

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