set_fact¶

Collection Note

This module is part of the ansible.builtin collection. To install the collection, use:

ansible-galaxy collection install ansible.builtin

Added in version 1.2.

Synopsis¶

This action allows setting variables associated to the current host.
These variables will be available to subsequent plays during an ansible-playbook run via the host they were set on.
Set O(cacheable) to V(true) to save variables across executions using a fact cache. Variables will keep the set_fact precedence for the current run, but will used 'cached fact' precedence for subsequent ones.
Per the standard Ansible variable precedence rules, other types of variables have a higher priority, so this value may be overridden.

Parameters¶

Parameter	Defaults / Choices	Comments
cacheable bool		This boolean converts the variable into an actual 'fact' which will also be added to the fact cache. It does not enable fact caching across runs, it just means it will work with it if already enabled. Normally this module creates 'host level variables' and has much higher precedence, this option changes the nature and precedence (by 7 steps) of the variable created. U(https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/latest/user_guide/playbooks_variables.html#variable-precedence-where-should-i-put-a-variable) This actually creates 2 copies of the variable, a normal 'set_fact' host variable with high precedence and a lower 'ansible_fact' one that is available for persistence via the facts cache plugin. This creates a possibly confusing interaction with C(meta: clear_facts) as it will remove the 'ansible_fact' but not the host variable. Version Added: 2.4
key_value required		The M(ansible.builtin.set_fact) module takes C(key=value) pairs or C(key: value) (YAML notation) as variables to set in the playbook scope. The 'key' is the resulting variable name and the value is, of course, the value of said variable. You can create multiple variables at once, by supplying multiple pairs, but do NOT mix notations.

Notes¶

Note

Because of the nature of tasks, set_fact will produce 'static' values for a variable. Unlike normal 'lazy' variables, the value gets evaluated and templated on assignment.
Some boolean values (yes, no, true, false) will always be converted to boolean type, This is done so the C(var=value) booleans, otherwise it would only be able to create strings, but it also prevents using those values to create YAML strings. Using the setting will restrict k=v to strings, but will allow you to specify string or boolean in YAML.
To create lists/arrays or dictionary/hashes use YAML notation C(var: [val1, val2]).
Since 'cacheable' is now a module param, 'cacheable' is no longer a valid fact name.

Examples¶

- name: Setting host facts using key=value pairs, this format can only create strings or booleans
  ansible.builtin.set_fact: one_fact="something" other_fact="{{ local_var }}"

- name: Setting host facts using complex arguments
  ansible.builtin.set_fact:
    one_fact: something
    other_fact: "{{ local_var * 2 }}"
    another_fact: "{{ some_registered_var.results | map(attribute='ansible_facts.some_fact') | list }}"

- name: Setting facts so that they will be persisted in the fact cache
  ansible.builtin.set_fact:
    one_fact: something
    other_fact: "{{ local_var * 2 }}"
    cacheable: yes

- name: Creating list and dictionary variables
  ansible.builtin.set_fact:
    one_dict:
        something: here
        other: there
    one_list:
        - a
        - b
        - c
# As of Ansible 1.8, Ansible will convert boolean strings ('true', 'false', 'yes', 'no')
# to proper boolean values when using the key=value syntax, however it is still
# recommended that booleans be set using the complex argument style:
- name: Setting booleans using complex argument style
  ansible.builtin.set_fact:
    one_fact: yes
    other_fact: no

- name: Creating list and dictionary variables using 'shorthand' YAML
  ansible.builtin.set_fact:
    two_dict: {'something': here2, 'other': somewhere}
    two_list: [1,2,3]

Authors¶

Dag Wieers (@dagwieers)