Skip to content

Ansible Convert List to String

https://www.linkedin.com/in/gineesh/ https://twitter.com/GiniGangadharan

I noticed many users are using different and wrong methods to convert a list data to string format. You can use existing filters and functions in Ansible to achieve the same.

Here is our list

  vars:
    my_list:
      - "apple"
      - "mango"
      - "orange"

Now we need to convert this to a single string with comma separated (or separated by any other character). I found users are using loops and adding to a string value but there is a simple way to do this as shown below.

    - name: Concatenate a list to string
      set_fact:
        my_string: "{{ my_list | join(',') }}"

Find the full playbook below.

---
- name: List to String Conversion
  hosts: localhost
  vars:
    my_list:
      - "apple"
      - "mango"
      - "orange"
  tasks:
    - name: Print the List
      debug:
        msg: "{{ my_list }}"

    - name: Concatenate a list to string
      set_fact:
        my_string: "{{ my_list | join(',') }}"

    - name: Print the String
      debug:
        msg: "{{ my_string }}"

Sample execution

$ ansible-playbook site.yml

PLAY [List to String Conversion] *********************************************************************************

TASK [Gathering Facts] *******************************************************************************************

ok: [localhost]

TASK [Print the List] ********************************************************************************************
ok: [localhost] => {
    "msg": [
        "apple",
        "mango",
        "orange"
    ]
}

TASK [Concatenate a list to string] ******************************************************************************
ok: [localhost]

TASK [Print the String] ******************************************************************************************
ok: [localhost] => {
    "msg": "apple,mango,orange"
}

PLAY RECAP *******************************************************************************************************
localhost                  : ok=4    changed=0    unreachable=0    failed=0    skipped=0    rescued=0    ignored=0

Check Ansible Real Life GitHub repository for all use cases.

Want to learn Ansible from scratch ? Check you YouTube Playlist.

Disclaimer: The views expressed and the content shared are those of the author and do not reflect the views of the author’s employer or techbeatly platform.


https://www.linkedin.com/in/gineesh/ https://twitter.com/GiniGangadharan
Gineesh Madapparambath is the founder of techbeatly and he is the author of the book - ๐—”๐—ป๐˜€๐—ถ๐—ฏ๐—น๐—ฒ ๐—ณ๐—ผ๐—ฟ ๐—ฅ๐—ฒ๐—ฎ๐—น-๐—Ÿ๐—ถ๐—ณ๐—ฒ ๐—”๐˜‚๐˜๐—ผ๐—บ๐—ฎ๐˜๐—ถ๐—ผ๐—ป. He has worked as a Systems Engineer, Automation Specialist, and content author. His primary focus is on Ansible Automation, Containerisation (OpenShift & Kubernetes), and Infrastructure as Code (Terraform). (aka Gini Gangadharan - iamgini.com)

Comments

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.