Skip Ansible task when variable not defined

Question

I have the following task in a playbook:

- name: task xyz  
  copy:  
    src=\"{{ item }}\"  
    dest=\"/tmp/{{ item }}\"  
  with_items: \"{{ y.z }}\"  
          


        

Answer 1

The problem here is that with_items is evaluated before when. Actually in real scenarios you put item in the when conditional. See: Loops and Conditionals.

This task will work for you:

- name: task xyz
  copy:  
    src: "{{ item }}"  
    dest: "/tmp/{{ item }}"  
  with_items: "{{ (y|default([])).z | default([]) }}"