ansible.builtin.set_fact (v2.8.20) — module

Set host facts from a task

| "added in version" 1.2 of ansible.builtin"

Authors: Dag Wieers (@dagwieers)

stableinterface | supported by core

Install Ansible via pip

Install with pip install ansible==2.8.20

Description

This module allows setting new variables.

Variables are set on a host-by-host basis just like facts discovered by the setup module.

These variables will be available to subsequent plays during an ansible-playbook run.

Set C(cacheable) to C(yes) to save variables across executions using a fact cache. Variables created with set_fact have different precedence depending on whether they are or are not cached.

Per the standard Ansible variable precedence rules, many other types of variables have a higher priority, so this value may be overridden.

This module is also supported for Windows targets.

Usage examples

  • Success
    Steampunk Spotter scan finished with no errors, warnings or hints.
# Example setting host facts using key=value pairs, note that this always creates strings or booleans
- set_fact: one_fact="something" other_fact="{{ local_var }}"
  • Success
    Steampunk Spotter scan finished with no errors, warnings or hints.
# Example setting host facts using complex arguments
- set_fact:
     one_fact: something
     other_fact: "{{ local_var * 2 }}"
     another_fact: "{{ some_registered_var.results | map(attribute='ansible_facts.some_fact') | list }}"
  • Success
    Steampunk Spotter scan finished with no errors, warnings or hints.
# Example setting facts so that they will be persisted in the fact cache
- set_fact:
    one_fact: something
    other_fact: "{{ local_var * 2 }}"
    cacheable: yes
  • Success
    Steampunk Spotter scan finished with no errors, warnings or hints.
# 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:
- set_fact:
    one_fact: yes
    other_fact: no

Inputs

    
cacheable:
    default: false
    description:
    - This boolean converts the variable into an actual 'fact' which will also be added
      to the fact cache, if fact caching is 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.
      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 persistance
      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.'
    type: bool
    version_added: '2.4'
    version_added_collection: ansible.builtin

key_value:
    description:
    - The C(set_fact) module takes key=value pairs as variables to set in the playbook
      scope. Or alternatively, accepts complex arguments using the C(args:) statement.
    required: true

See also